The Story Behind London’s Old Cattle Troughs

When walking London’s streets we are nearly always surrounded by history. It is a part of everyday life and therefore sometimes easy to overlook. When looking for history it is worth looking, not just at the buildings, but also the pavements.

A good example are old surviving cattle troughs. Today they are generally used as flower beds or are simply stand as little remnants of a past age, but what is the story behind them?

I have started to put together a map of all, that I know of, in central London. Let me know if there are any I have missed.

The ‘pestilential stream’

In the 19th century, London’s population grew extremely rapidly. In 1800 it was around 1 million, by 1850 it was just under 2.5 million. Water provision for the city’s residents was supplied by a number of private companies and was generally inadequate and unsanitary.

Pipes ran close to overflowing graveyards and therefore bacteria and other ‘matter’ contaminated the water. There was no city wide sewage system and cholera outbreaks were common. John Snow famously worked out that cholera was being spread via the water in 1854, when he mapped out the cases in one area and they all converged around a particular pump in Soho, a replica of which stands on the site today. 

Raw sewage generally flowed straight into the Thames and this culminated in the ‘Great Stink’ of 1858, when a hot summer exacerbated the awful stench of the river. The river was described at the time as a ‘pestilential stream’. 

This led to Joseph Bazalgette being commissioned to put a brand new sewage system into London with a network of pipes that led the sewage away from central London to outflows further downstream.

As well as this, rules were also brought in saying that all water must be filtered and water intake from the river must be upstream of outflows. 

The Metropolitan Free Drinking Fountain Association

In 1859, as part of this movement to improve water supply, an MP called Samuel Gurney and a barrister called Edward Thomas Wakefield, set up the Metropolitan Free Drinking Fountain Association. Their aim: “That no fountain be erected or promoted by the Association which shall not be so constructed as to ensure by filters, or other suitable means, the perfect purity and coldness of the water.”.

It was largely, initially financed by Gurney himself but later, other prominent figures gave support, such as Prince Albert.

The first free drinking fountain was unveiled on the 21st April 1859 in the boundary wall of St Sepulchre-without-Newgate church.

It is, remarkably, still there, although without its decorative surround. I wrote about the church a little while ago on the blog here. 

It was not long before the fountain was being used by around 7000 people daily. Within 11 years, there were 140 fountains across London. 

A City Packed With Animals

In the 19th century, a movement started to grow around preventing animal cruelty. For example, in 1824 the RSPCA had been established by a group of MPs, activists and philanthropists including William Wilberforce and Thomas Buxton. 

London’s streets were packed with animals in the 19th and early 20th century, particularly horses for pulling Hansom cabs and omnibuses. In 1900 there was an estimated 300,000 horses in London. On top of this, cows and sheep were still often being driven into the city to be sold at market.

The Inclusion Of Cattle Troughs

In 1867 the RSPCA teamed up with the Metropolitan Free Drinking Fountain Association to form the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association to also provide troughs for horses, cattle and dogs.

They ended up establishing over a thousand cattle troughs over the decades, half of which were in London. 

Early designs were made of a zinc or tin-lined timber but it is the later, sturdier granite ones that survive. Many also have individual inscriptions on them dedicated to someone who helped fund it for example.

The troughs have been described as ‘Victorian filling stations’ because Hansom cab drivers would often carry a map with them showing all the free troughs, so that they could rest and water their horses. Previously, pubs or coaching inns would provide troughs for the horses of their customers, or at a charge. 

The Association stopped adding troughs in 1936 as cars and lorries took precedence over horses on London’s streets. 

The organisation is still going though as the Drinking Fountain Association and still does work installing new water fountains as well as helping with water projects in other countries such as Nepal and Zambia. You can see their website here.

Many of the cattle troughs today are listed and therefore protected. However, some in London have sadly been stolen in recent years, but generally replaced.

They are a great stubborn survivor to spot on London’s streets and long may they remain.

Thank you for reading, more of London’s street oddities below…