91Èȱ¬

It has stood at the heart of Dumfries for about 140 years.

The town centre fountain - described as its "jewel in the crown" - had fallen on hard times and looked like its best days were behind it.

However, it has now been dismantled, temporarily removed, upgraded and put back in pride of place.

It has been something of a labour of love for the driving force behind it - local artist Kirsten Scott - and everyone else involved.

"As somebody that restores furniture - I do interior design - I felt that I could lend my skills to maybe 'tarting up' the fountain - that was my initial thought," she said.

"I quickly realised there is quite a lot more to historic cast iron restoration than meets the eye - it became really involved after that."

She approached The Stove artists' network in the town and then Dumfries and Galloway Council got behind the idea.

"It became a bit of an obsession," Kirsten admitted.

"It has taken almost seven years to get to this point, so it has been a lot of hard work but really worth it when you see it the way it is today."

Her research found the fountain was one of six similar ones made at the Sun Foundry in Glasgow.

They went around the world - including Australia, Ireland and the Channel Islands - but the most strikingly similar one to the Dumfries water feature is in Kandy in Sri Lanka.

Kirsten took on board the experience of similar projects to restore cast-iron fountains in Paisley, Stirling and Edinburgh's Princes Street Gardens.

That was where the work of repairs specialists Lost Art was vital to help reinstate all the detailed features on the structure.

"I am absolutely delighted with it," Kirsten said.

"We were able to build up a really clear picture of how it should be restored - seeing all of that process has been fascinating for me.

"As a decorative structure it is beautiful, and the detail - you can really see now that all the layers of old paint have been stripped off and we have taken it right the way back to the original cast iron and then recoated it."

A fountain was originally put up on the spot in 1851 to commemorate the piping of clean water from nearby Lochfoot into the town following cholera epidemics in the 1830s and 1840s.

It was replaced with the current structure in 1882.

Kirsten sees parallels in the restoration scheme which took place around the Covid pandemic.

"I think it is an important reminder that we should be grateful for what we have now," she said.

"I think it will certainly brighten up that bottom end of the High Street.

"It will be somewhere you will want to sit and have your photo taken and just to sit and chill out and listen to the sound of the water as well."

The project has not been without criticism, some questioning the decision to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on the fountain.

"You can't please everybody at the end of the day," said Kirsten.

"At times it has been really tough, because there has been a lot of really quite vicious comments made on social media and there have been a few times when I have wanted to walk away.

"I am so glad I didn't now."

She said she hoped it could be the source of civic pride and help to kick-start wider regeneration in the town - which was worth any criticism there might have been.

"I just saw a problem and wanted to fix it," she said.

"The fountain will outlive us all - so it doesn't really matter what they say now."

The newly restored fountain is already up and running again but it will be officially launched to the public at a ceremonial switch-on, on 23 June between 12:00 and 14:00.

All images are copyrighted.