Talk:Clapham Common tube station

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The Fountain at Clapham Common Tube Station

It was very interesting to find an article on this station. I lived in Clapham Common as a child many years ago and well remember that there used to be a drinking fountain near to the station entrance. I used to regularly drink from the fountain when returning from play on the Common, the edge of which begins behind the station, a short distance beyond the trees. (In passing, there was -- and may still be -- a cattle trough belonging to the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association located in that area on the pavement at the rear of the station).

If you look at the photo accompanying the article (Clapham Common Tube Station Exterior – Oct 2007.jpg) you can see a rectangular black tile outline on the curved exterior wall, partially covered by a board with a map of the Tube system. There is a step on the pavement below it which, to the modern eye, does not appear to serve any function. This is where the fountain used to be. There was a bronze sculpture of a female figure offering water to another mounted above a stone bowl and plinth. As far as I remember, it was removed in the late 1970s. First, a steel plate was put over the bowl of the fountain, preventing anyone drinking from the tap and then, after several years, the stone bowl and sculpture were removed. I was pretty irritated at the time by what seemed to me to be petty bureaucratic vandalism and the erasure of a small part of my childhood. There are always those who want to rip out and destroy rather than finding a way to preserve...

I wonder why it is, that having so comprehensively wiped out nearly all trace of the fountain, the relevant authorities should have left a useless step in place for several decades. A great cult of ‘Health and Safety’ has grown in recent years in the UK, with many ridiculous instances being reported in the national press. I am amazed that some over-zealous official has not carried out a Risk Assessment and deemed the step to be a serious danger to passing pedestrians. Of course, it is nothing of the kind.

I don’t suppose that any description of this fountain can be placed in the article without cited sources. Perhaps someone may have an earlier photograph showing the fountain in situ. I am reporting the existence of the fountain here on the Talk page as I feel that some mention of it should be made while there are still people alive who remember it. Freeman501 (talk) 18:13, 14 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]