Atlas Fountain

The Atlas Fountain was the centerpiece to William Andrews Nesfield’s garden layout of 1850-1853. It was originally surrounded by an intricate parterre with a geometrical design made out of low box hedging, coloured gravels, and herbaceous plants. The parterre was removed in the 1890s but the fountain remained in place.

The huge figure of Atlas, the decorated basin, and the four tritons with their conch shells were carved out of Portland stone by the Victorian sculptor John Thomas. Weighing more than 20 tons, they were transported in sections by rail from London. The globe is made of copper with a gilded band showing the signs of the zodiac.

The jets and cascades are all fed from pipes in a chamber below the fountain devised by the engineer James Easton. The water comes directly from Ray Wood Reservoir, a quarter of a mile away to the north-east. The fall of water from the elevated reservoir (some 70 feet above the fountain) means that gravity produces enough pressure to power the jets; there is no mechanical assistance. The fountain was turned on for the first time in October 1853.