The Slindon Fountain

Image: © Richard Law Taken: 8 Oct 2008

This feature is a water trough and well head in the village of Slindon, Staffs. It is now dry. It originally stood on the corner of Aspley Lane and Newcastle Road where it provided a well head for this villagers who did not have access to water. It also provided a drinking trough for horses. The widening and realignment of the A519 through Slindon during the 1960s led the fountain to be moved to its current location. The barely-legible inscription above the archway reads that it was "Erected by John Charles Salt for the use of the inhabitants of Slindon, AD 1884". He was a member of a well established Staffordshire family, and had been a landowner of a large part of Slindon for most of his life, inheriting the land from his father, who died in 1865. The Salt family were part of a dynasty of bankers. By 1893, John Salt had become a director of Lloyds, while his cousin, Thomas Salt MP and owner of Sandon Hall, was the Chairman of the company. In addition to the fountain, John Salt gave the school and the church of St Chads to the village.

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