Bathgate's Drinking Fountain

From Bangalore in India to Rondebosch in Cape Town, from the city of Manaus in Brazil to Bathgate in Scotland. What common feature links these places – and many others – together?

Every time you walk across the Steelyard in Bathgate, or sit in the traffic on George Place, you pass it: the drinking fountain.

The fountain was cast by the Saracen Iron Foundry in Glasgow, then the world’s leading manufacturers of architectural iron work, and it is this fact which links all these cities to Bathgate - each of them has examples of this company’s work, from drinking fountains to iron balustrades, from iron fretwork in botanical gardens to rotundas.

It was presented as a gift to the town in August 1879 by the wife of the then MP Peter McLagan to celebrate the opening of the town's new Water Works at Petershill on the 1st of June 1878.

On its own a drinking fountain is 'only' a drinking fountain so why the fuss? Why did Peter McLagan go to all the bother and expense simply to have a drinking fountain installed – after all, it’s 'only' water?

The new Water Works, which the fountain commemorates, were hugely significant step in Bathgate’s development. One of the speakers who attended the dinner which was held to celebrate the opening of the new water works recalled summers when the town could only be supplied with 20% of its needs from existing wells. The dearth of safe drinking water was one of the principal reasons that the town had not grown as quickly as others. Indeed even as recently as the 1830s the town had witnessed an outbreak of cholera which led to the halls of the new Bathgate Academy in Marjoribanks Street being temporarily used as a hospital - since the Academy was closed during the outbreak – and the sick being attended to both by the Rector and one of the town’s ministers – a fact which endeared him further to his parishioners since his attendance on those so afflicted by the cholera was regarded as little short of sainthood; cholera was the disease most feared by the Victorians.

The dearth of safe drinking water was one of the principal reasons that the town had not grown as quickly as others.

So, when it was eventually decided by the Town Council to secure a supply of safe drinking for all of the town’s inhabitants – a decision which took twenty-odd years before it was agreed upon – and then put into effect, no wonder that the day on which the new water works were declared open was made a day off school, and that there was a procession of local dignitaries and the town’s trades and friendly societies from the town centre to the reservoir at Petershill at which Mrs. Peter Mclagan was given the first glass of water to be drawn from there.

So she committed herself to commemorate this occasion by commissioning the drinking fountain which we have today. The fountain has several representations of animals both real and imagined which add to its significance.

Thus we have griffins, salamanders and a crane which appears underneath the canopy of the dome. The crane in Classical times was taken as a symbol of vigilance since it was believed that one crane would keep watch over the flock as they slept. (It should be remembered that at the time of its installation the fountain also had a lamp on top before that was removed and the fountain itself from its original location at the junction of Hopetoun Street with George Street and Livery Street to its current position (almost!) in the Steelyard.) Salamanders were taken as symbols of bravery and courage that could never be extinguished by fire – in Classical times it was thought that salamanders were born from fire hence they could not be killed by it as water can not be 'killed' by fire.

Finally, we have griffins. Again, these mythical creatures were interpreted by the Victorians as guardians of priceless possessions – and what could be more priceless to a thirsty man, woman or town than water itself?

So, the next time you are in the Steelyard either on your way to or from Costa, Greggs or Dnisi’s, please take a look at the Mclagan Memorial Fountain and pause for a moment on what it symbolises. for without regular access to a secure supply of fresh drinking water Bathgate as we know it could not exist. So thank you Bathgate Town Council for making Bathgate what it is today.

Published in Konect April 2019

Author: David Main

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