Drinking Fountain

We have driven past this more times than I care to count but today was the first time I have been on foot, in daylight, and able to take a photo.

Situated at the northern edge of the village of Carlops, the drinking fountain is one of the country's oldest, a stone below the final and above the lantern is carved with the date 1860, with initials below of the donor, Hugh Horatio Brown, of Newhall. The water comes from a spring, emerges through an iron lion's head and though the flow is slow, is perfectly drinkable, just above neutral pH. A plaque above the lion's head reads 'God's Gift'.

We were in Carlops to attend a concert in the Community Hall, given by the Edinburgh Renaissance Band with the Linton Singers, the programme based on pieces from the Mass but of a variety of styles and periods from early C16 Susato to late C20 Bob Chilcott - whose 'A Little Jazz Mass' was great fun but, I imagine, very difficult to sing.