Back in place: Coombe Lane’s cattle trough has been found, six years after it was stolen
Beano’s and Turtle’s may be long gone, just like the Davis Theatre and Allders. Dabners is soon to close. But other pieces of once-thought-lost Croydon heritage are being restored, or recovered.
As well as the Surrey Street drinking fountain and the (as yet nebulous) plans for the Pumping Station, now Coombe Lane has its drinking trough back.
The 136-year-old granite trough somehow mysteriously vanished from its site at the corner of Coombe Lane and Oaks Road in the Addington Hills. It was one of a host of similar Victorian drinking troughs – at least eight, according to the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association to be half-inched in late 2019.
A man is currently helping the police with their enquiries, and Croydon’s trough, now a giant planter, is back where it belongs.
According to the MDFCTA (yep, such a gloriously-titled organisation really does exist), the troughs were stolen between September and December 2019. “All the troughs have a unique mineral composition (a sort of granite DNA), so can be identified if found.”
Croydon’s was found by Kent police. According to the MDFCTA’s list, other troughs to have gone missing include those in Penge, Chislehurst and Tunbridge Wells.
Worthy Victorians: the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association ‘supported entirely by voluntary contributions’
According to the MDFCTA, Croydon has at least eight cattle troughs – at Waddon (outside the Waddon Arms), in Purley, Thornton Heath, at St John’s Church, on Morland Road and at Woodside Green, with an unusual, round-shaped trough in Norbury Park.
The Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association was established in 1859 by Samuel Gurney MP and Edward Thomas Wakefield, a barrister.
Originally called the Metropolitan Free Drinking Fountain Association, and founded at a time when it was safer to drink London’s beer than its water, the association changed its name to include cattle troughs in 1867 in order to support animal welfare. Even until World War I, and in some places later, cattle were still driven to market, while horses were vital for transport.
So the cattle trough on the long drag up Coombe Lane will have been a very well-used piece of public infrastructure for coachmen and draymen to refresh their hard-working draught horses.
The Coombe Lane trough was a gift from James Spurrier Wright, a local benefactor, and while returned to its rightful place, it remains a piece of evidence in an on-going police investigation.
The trough follows the restoration to full working order of the Surrey Street fountain, as reported by Inside Croydon. There is to be a formal unveiling of the restored fountain this Friday, July 18, at 10am.
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Great news.
Why would someone steal a cattle trough? It can’t be easy.
As noted in the report, Adrian, this was one of at least eight troughs lifted in a three-month period at the end of 2019.
Perhaps the market for hush-hush stolen cattle drinking equipment hit a bit of a … trough after that?
A trough eh? Perhaps the sleuths who found it just traced the snouts?
It’s odd, that such a small piece of news should give one such joy! As someone who has driven past the trough millions of times over the years, or actually stopped at Coombe Gardens, the trough always made me a little happier, with its cheerful arrangements of bright flowers.
In these troubled times, this snippet has cheered me no end!
Sometimes, it’s just the littlest things. 🙂