St. Faith's Water Pump -- Paternoster Square, City of London, UK
N 51° 30.857 W 000° 05.953
30U E 701269 N 5711007
a handsome water pump from the Victorian era, restored, painted and on display where it has stood for over a century in Paternoster Square,
Waymark Code: WMTD1D
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 11/04/2016
Views: 3
St. Faith's water pump is located near the south transept of St Paul's cathedral, in the walkway to Paternoster Square.
St Faith's water pump is a relic of an old parish long ago subsumed by history.
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"St Faith's Water Pump
By wabat on Aug 02, 2013
Between Paternoster Square and St Paul's Cathedral, behind a fence you will find this water pump inscribed thus:
"Erected by St Faith's Parish 1819"
This got me wondering as I was not familiar with St Faith's Parish - though to be fair, I am far from an expert on the parishes of London! On delving deeper I have ascertained the following but still not resolved why the pump was installed (clean water source for residents/visitors I imagine - was it common for churches to erect such pumps? Why was it erected by St Faith's as opposed to St Paul's or St Augustine's). I would love to hear from anyone with information.
St Faith's, as a church, has not existed since 1256 when it was demolished to make way for an extension to the Old St Paul's Cathedral.
While the church disappeared the parish continued to exist - now called the Parish of St Faith under St Paul's - and the parishioners, mostly booksellers in Paternoster Row, still held certain rights - such as special pews and burial rights - and used an area of the cathedral in the west crypt under St Paul's Quire and later the Jesus Chapel.
After the Great Fire of 1666 when all vestiges of the church under St Paul's (together with a vast volume of books moved in under the Cathedral for protection against the fire) were lost with the cathedral itself, the parish was combined with St Augustine's Watling Street which itself joined to St Mary-le-Bow in 1954.
When St Paul's was rebuilt, post the Great Fire (the current St Paul's), a chapel close the foundations of the original St Faith's was dedicated to St Faith and as such St Faith Parishioners retained a link with St Paul's. There are certainly records of St Faith burials in the cathedral in the 1800's - post the date on the water pump. The Chapel of St Faith, in 1960 became the spiritual Home to the Order of the British Empire.
Where the pump fits in I am really not sure but it was previously situated nearby in St Paul's Graveyard close to St Paul's Cross and was moved to its current location in 1973. Very intriguing.
Address Between St Paul's Cathedral and Paternoster Square
Directions Closest Tube: St Paul's
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