St John Maddermarket
St John Maddermarket At the foot of St John
Maddermarket’s churchyard still stands a relic of
former times - the parish pump. The inscription giving
the maker’s name is now badly corroded, but it
appears to have been a fountain pump patented by one
Shalders, whose business was situated in nearby Redwell
Street. Similar pumps once lined the roads between
Cringleford and Wymondham. These were placed there at the
beginning of the nineteenth century by the Turnpike
Trustees; their specific purpose was to provide water for
experiments in roadmaking as well as for laying the dust.
Although there is no evidence that they were provided
with troughs, it is possible that adjoining ditches were
flooded to enable drovers to water their cattle on the
long journey to the London market.The significance of the situation of this one at the Maddermarket, with the land sloping towards it from the adjoining burial ground, was not lost on a former city analyst; he described it as “pure essence of churchyard”. Text and photographs Copyright © G.A.F.Plunkett 2004 |