CORNER OF YORKSHIRE Barrans Fountain

ROUNDHAY Park is one of the biggest public spaces in Europe, covering more than 700 acres of lawns, woodland, lakes and gardens. According to the owners, Leeds City Council, almost one million people visit the park every year. One of its most photographed features is Barrans Fountain, an imposing classical rotunda with eight Corinthian columns on a pedestal supporting a stone dome. Alternating between the columns are pink marble fountain bowls on the outside and fluted bowls inside.

It is named after two-times Lord Mayor of Leeds Sir John Barran. A Londoner, Barran had set up a small clothing factory in Alfred Street, and developed a tool called a band knife to speed up the mass production of garments by cutting numerous layers of cloth at once. With a sewing machine newly invented in the USA by Isaac Singer, Barran created a revolution in off-the-peg clothing and made a huge fortune.

In 1871 the large country estate of Roundhay on the north side of Leeds was put up for sale. It had been a medieval hunting ground and was so-named because the landowners had established a round enclosure or “hay” to keep their deer in and poachers out. At that time the city council had a legal limit on the amount it could spend on land acquisitions, and Barran put together a group to buy it for £139,000. He then used creative accounting methods for the council to repay the purchase price. The park was opened to the public in 1872.

In 1882 Barran commissioned and paid for the drinking fountain that bears his name.