We’ve been talking about Bath making more of its natural water heritage. Celebrating cold springs – and the meandering River Avon – as well as its thermal attractions.
I said Bath had put a banner headline high above the heads of the 4.8 million day tourists who visit the city each year.
Just below the proscenium arch on the Pump Room facade it says ‘Water is Best!’ – only it’s written in ancient Greek.
Well l had forgotten that there is another pro-water statement. Only this time you’ll have to bend down to see it.
It’s written – in English – on the base of the Rebecca (at the well) Fountain on the north side of Bath Abbey and facing Orange Grove.
It was erected by Bath Temperance Association in 1861 and ‘faced off’ all the ale-houses in the High Street.
It’s a white Sicilian marble statue and basin sitting on arcaded piers and looking a little like a church font.
Water hasn’t always continuously flowed from her pitcher over the years – and the fountain has been terribly vandalised – but it’s good to know she is now in working order and here the water of Bath is celebrated again.
I wonder how many meetings – how many stories – have begun or ended at her base
