Patrick Stirling Memorial Lamp and Drinking Fountain

Summary

Memorial lamp and drinking fountain, 1890, commissioned by the drivers and firemen of the Great Northern Railway (GNR).

Reasons for Designation

The Patrick Stirling Memorial Lamp and Drinking Fountain, 1890, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:
* as a well-designed, imposing structure combining a lamp and drinking fountain with four projecting basins and constructed in good-quality materials;
* commissioned by the drivers and firemen of the Great Northern Railway to celebrate Stirling’s 70th birthday, the inscribed panels clearly demonstrate the regard he was held in by the workforce.

Historic interest:
* Patrick Stirling was chief locomotive engineer for the Great Northern Railway at the nationally important Doncaster Plant Works from 1866, where he developed the much-admired Stirling Single locomotive, one of the fastest and most attractive engines of its time.

History

Patrick Stirling (1820-1895) was a mechanical engineer born in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland. From 1866 he was the chief locomotive engineer for the Great Northern Railway at the Plant Works, Doncaster. In 1870 he developed the Stirling Single, with a single pair of driving wheels. It was one of the fastest engines of its time with its attractive appearance contributing to its popularity. In 1895 it raced against LNWR trains in the 'Races to the North' in competition for the route.

Stirling was dedicated to his work and to his workforce, by whom he was much respected both for his engineering skill and his fairness, doing everything possible during times of recession to avoid making men redundant, preferring that all should work short time. The drinking fountain and memorial lamp was commissioned by subscription from the 'Drivers and Firemen of the Great Northern Railway' as a token of their esteem and to commemorate his 70th birthday. It was to be placed in Doncaster for the benefit of the public and originally stood at the junction of St Sepulchre Gate and Station Road.

In 1902 the memorial was moved to St James Bridge in Hexthorpe, where it remained until a further re-siting in 1993 in its present location in Patrick Stirling Court, built and owned by the Railway Housing Association. Residents include descendants of those who worked at the Plant Works and who may have contributed towards the original memorial. The housing association paid for the refurbishment and installation of the memorial. A new lamp was manufactured to replicate the original design at British Rail Maintenance Ltd.

Details

Memorial lamp and drinking fountain, 1890, commissioned by the drivers and firemen of the Great Northern Railway (GNR).

MATERIALS: polished pink and grey granite on sandstone ashlar base.

DESCRIPTION: not inspected, information from other sources.

The drinking fountain and memorial lamp is 4.5 metres high. It stands on a shallow, octagonal ashlar step and high, octagonal chamfered base. The drinking fountain is a circular granite column on a moulded plinth with four projecting semi-circular drinking basins. Above the bowls are four inscribed plaques of grey granite with pink granite colonettes between with moulded capitals supporting a moulded cap.

The first panel bears the inscription: THIS / FOUNTAIN / WAS / PRESENTED TO / THE TOWN OF / DONCASTER / BY / THE ENGINEMEN / AND FIREMEN / EMPLOYED ON; second panel: THE / GREAT NORTHERN / RAILWAY, / IN / COMMEMORATION / OF THE 70TH / BIRTHDAY OF P. STIRLING, ESQ. / C.E. / LOCOMOTIVE; third panel: ENGINEER / TO THE COMPANY / TO MARK THE / RESPECT / AND ESTEEM / IN WHICH HE IS / HELD BY THEM / JUNE 29TH / 1890; fourth panel: OPENED / BY / MRS STIRLING / AUGUST 11TH / J.F. CLARK, ESQ. / MAYOR. Set on the moulded cap is a pinnacle finial with a fluted stem and moulded plinth. The finial is surmounted by a replica lamp with Doncaster’s lion at its top.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

335097

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
White, D, Norman, E, Public Sculpture of Sheffield and South Yorkshire, Public Sculpture of Britain Volume Eighteen, PMSA National Recording Project, (2015), 49-50

Websites
Philip S Bagwell, Patrick Stirling, mechanical engineer (1820-1895), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, accessed 20 January 2021 from https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/38010

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