St Paul's Fountain

St Paul's Fountain was built in the late 19th century, and stood outside St. Paul's Cathedral in the City of London.

It was re-sited into Priory Park in 1909.

The Lord Mayor of London, Sir George Wyatt Truscott, accompanied by his Sheriffs, visited Hornsey to unveil the fountain.

The fountain was working until the mid to late 1960s and some of the older Hornsey residents may remember it as such. At some point it was turned off, filled in with rubble and soil and transformed into a giant planter.

In the 1970s the fountain was given Grade II listed status by English Heritage. In the autumn of 2014 the Friends of Priory Park decided to investigate the possiblity of getting it working again.

In 2017 FofPP signed a Partnership Agreement with Haringey Council, so that we can act on their behalf with regard to the Fountain.

We formed a steering committee, and members siting on it are: Councillors, Adam Jogee and Dennis Bradley, David Theakston Haringey Council, Lewis Taylor from the Parks Dept, Rob Merry stone consultant, Simon Carter Head of Collections at St. Paul's Cathedral, Grace Adam - artist, Chris Chadwick Chair of FofPP and Jennifer Mann, Angela Elliott FofPP committee.

Haringey Parks department have been fully supportive in all work. The soil has been removed from the basin and we are now in possession of a complete survey by stone consultant and engineers. We are in the process of applying for grants from Historic England.

EMBANKMENT STONES FIND RETIREMENT HOME IN PRIORY PARK AFTER 150 YEARS OF HOLDING BACK THE RIVER THAMES

It was a case of history repeating itself in May when a Cornish granite gift from the City of London arrived in Priory Park:

In 1909 the Penrose Fountain - made from 50 tons of Lamorna granite, was transported by horse and cart (financed by Hornsey Borough Council) from St Paul's Cathedral Churchyard to what was then the Middle Lane Pleasure Grounds.
In 2025 four granite blocks were transported to Priory Park from St Benet's Welsh Church (between Blackfriars Bridge & St Pauls Cathedral) on the back of a HIAB Lorry (financed by Friends of Priory Park). The stones had formerly resided in Joseph Bazalgette's 19th century Thames river wall at Victoria Embankment, but were removed as part of the Thames Tideway (Super Sewer) Project.

The 4 granite stones were left over from the City of London Project "From the Thames to Eternity".

https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/services/streets/from-the-thames-to-eternity-installation

This is a temporary stone re-use project repurposing 58 similar granite stones as seating around various City of London locations (including St Paul's Cathedral), in a bid to stimulate discussion about reuse, material lifespan and cultural heritage.

The Priory Park stones are currently stored safely in the park until we move them to their new permanent homes. One will be an Entrance stone and 3 will be located around the fountain in the trenches which have been dug out in preparation. Thanks to tremendous support from the City Gardens Team & Public Realm Team at the City of London and our long standing partnership agreement with Haringey Council we were able to organise the movement of the stones.

Providing this new seating around the "St Paul's Fountain" is the first step in our plans to celebrate the centenary of Priory Park in 2026.