Oh dear! Got an idea that someone or something has collided with an edge of the Laura Place Fountain.
The ‘ashtray’ – as it is affectionately known – was already looking in a sorry state. The gushing waters it produces have not yet been turned on and one can see how tired and eroded the whole Bath stone structure is.
Now a whole corner of the basin – which dates back to the original A.S. Goodridge fountain of 1877 – has been knocked off. The central structure – with pouring edges looking like cigarette rests – was added in 1977.
A couple of years ago the City of Bath College was going to be called in to do masonry repairs. Something went wrong in the negotiations and nothing happened.
A spokesperson for B&NES has told the Virtual Museum:
‘The Laura Place fountain was damaged by a driver who failed to stop after the collision.
We are arranging to reinstate the knocked out block of stone and repair the damaged section imminently.
The Council is working with the Police to identify the vehicle involved and help pursue compensation for the cost of required repairs.
If anyone has any information relating to the incident then please call the Police on 101.’
Time maybe for some CCTV at this point. It would also have helped catch the vandal who killed the sapling planted last year to replace a tree that was felled because of disease.
Does Great Pulteney Street have a residents’ organisation? Does no one keep an eye on what is going on outside?
For a city that doesn’t exactly celebrate (in large fountain form) its mass of waters – hot and cold – this is a disgrace.
Especially as it sits at one end of one of the most celebrated Georgian streets in the world.
Repair it, improve it – or what about something completely different?
I do hope so – it’s an eyesore, though less of an eyesore than the complete Goodridge horror. Baldwin intended a wonderful space here. I must say, in the 1960s, when just the basin was left with a jet d’eau springing from the centre, it was rather lovely – but then someone who should have known better put up that ghastly pillar thing. I’d be happy to see the jet d’eau back in the simple basin. I’m sure others who remember it will agree.