Drinking Trough, Shaws Corner, Redhill, Surrey, UK
Posted by: 
AngelPick
N 51° 14.197 W 000° 10.913
30U E 696721 N 5679912
A fine example of a Metropolitan Cattle Trough.
Waymark Code: WMBQ72
Location: South East England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 06/12/2011
Views: 5
All the text below was shamelessly taken from Wikipedia and the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough websites with a few words from myself at the end.
The Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association was set up by Samuel Gurney - philanthropist and Edward Thomas Wakefield - barrister in 1859 to provide free drinking water. Originally called the Metropolitan Free Drinking Fountain Association it changed its name to include cattle troughs in 1867.
Water provision in the nineteenth century was from nine private water companies each with a geographic monopoly, which provided inadequate quantities of water which was often contaminated, as was famously discovered by John Snow during the 1854 cholera epidemic. Population growth in London had been very rapid (more than doubling between 1800 and 1850) without an increase in infrastructure investment. Legislation in the mid nineteenth century gradually improved the situation; the Metropolitan Commission of Sewers was formed, water filtration was made compulsory, and water intakes on the Thames were forced to be moved above the sewage outlets.
In this environment the public drinking fountain movement began, initially in Liverpool where the local government was granted the ability to buy out the private water companies in 1847. It built the first public baths and then encouraged philanthropic public drinking water fountains. This was taken up by Samuel Gurney.
The surviving cattle troughs are mainly large granite ones, in many cases planted with flowers. Earlier designs were of cast iron or zinc lined timber, but both were too easily damaged.
The trough has this inscription on each side Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association
This example was originally located on Shaws Corner but was relocated when the War Memorial was erected in 1923.
Type of Historic Marker: Cattle Trough
Historical Marker Issuing Authority: The Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association
Age/Event Date: 01/01/1867
Related Website: [Web Link]
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