Victoria Fountain

Victoria Fountain

The Victoria Fountain was erected in 1901 and commemorated Queen Victoria’s visit to Dun Laoghaire. Walter McFarland & Company built the monument to a standard design adopted for numerous fountains erected in honour of Queen Victoria at the time. The space around the fountain was dedicated to the workmen who built the harbour. The fountain depicts Queen Victoria and is ornamented with birds and other embellishments

Image from Ken Finlay's Collection

Victoria Fountain
Image from Ken Finlay's Collection

Victoria Fountain

The Victoria Fountain was erected in 1901 and commemorated Queen Victoria’s visit to Dun Laoghaire. Walter McFarland & Company built the monument to a standard design adopted for numerous fountains erected in honour of Queen Victoria at the time. The space around the fountain was dedicated to the workmen who built the harbour. The fountain depicts Queen Victoria and is ornamented with birds and other embellishments

Image from Ken Finlay's Collection

Enlarge image

Victoria Fountain

The Victoria Fountain was erected in 1901 and commemorated Queen Victoria’s visit to Dun Laoghaire in 1900. During 1981 the monument was completely destroyed by a bomb. It was put into storage and in 2003 it was repaired. The fountain was designed by Walter McFarland & Co.,and was a standard design adopted for numerous fountains erected in honour of Queen Victoria at the time. Interestingly that company no longer exists, but a Scottish firm called Industrial Heritage took over much of their business, and they were responsible for the repair of the monument. The space around the fountain was dedicated to the workmen who built the harbour

Copyright managed by the Library Council

Victoria Fountain
Copyright managed by the Library Council

Victoria Fountain

The Victoria Fountain was erected in 1901 and commemorated Queen Victoria’s visit to Dun Laoghaire in 1900. During 1981 the monument was completely destroyed by a bomb. It was put into storage and in 2003 it was repaired. The fountain was designed by Walter McFarland & Co.,and was a standard design adopted for numerous fountains erected in honour of Queen Victoria at the time. Interestingly that company no longer exists, but a Scottish firm called Industrial Heritage took over much of their business, and they were responsible for the repair of the monument. The space around the fountain was dedicated to the workmen who built the harbour

Copyright managed by the Library Council

Enlarge image

Another monument/memorial with a troubled history is the Victoria Fountain. It was erected in 1900 to commemorate the visit of Queen Victoria to Dún Laoghaire and illustrates the high quality decorative ironwork of the period. McFarland & Company (Scottish company) had responsibility for lot of the ironwork of the time.

The fountain itself is covered with a pierced dome supported by eight arches. Queen Victoria is detailed in profile on the monument, together with birds and other ornamentation.

In 1980 the monument was vandalised and in 1981 it was badly damaged. The group responsible claimed to be acting on behalf of the H-Block prisoners. It was not until 2001 that plans were made to restore and reinstate the fountain. The work of restoration was undertaken by Industrial Heritage, another Scottish firm who took over much of the work previously carried out by McFarland.

The fountain has now been restored to its former glory. Hopefully all people will realise the importance of this monument in commemorating an historical event in Dún Laoghaire many years ago.