What may be a final note about Henry Pease's Pierremont.

Because I have nothing better to do with my time, I currently have on loan from the British Library a magnificent tome which lists every project ever undertaken by architect Alfred Waterhouse. He was, during the 1870s and 1880s, the leading architect in the Gothic country.

Contract No 380, says the book, is for Pierremont in 1873-74. "Gatehouse, clock tower, and conservatory, additional wing to existing mansion and other alterations including decoration of hall." The cost was £9,110.

It goes on to list the companies who did the work, many of whom Waterhouse used during his other south Durham contracts.

"Contractors: general JW Beauland; heating and ventilating, DO Boyd; stone carving, Farmer & Brindley; tiles W Godwin; Minton; stained glass, RB Edmundson; iron work, Hart Son Peard & Co; R Jones; clock J Moore; fountain Fenning."

Presumably, it is J Moore's clock in the tower over Tower Road.

But most intriguing is the reference to the fountain. As other pictures on this blog show, the fountain was the centrepiece of Henry's gardens, and is now in South Park. It is a truly splendid thing, 20ft high with 21 jets. It was restored recently, and the experts were not conclusively able to say who had made it. They expected it to be James Pulham, who invented the Pulhamite that such fountains were made out of, but his stamp was only found on a couple of stones in the basin, and the fantastic design does not feature in any of his catalogues.

So therefore, could the Pierremont Vase in South Park be the work of this chap Fenning, and could it possibly be to the design of the great Alfred Waterhouse. That would make it quite a big deal for South Park.

Of course, in an estate like Henry's, it is perfectly possible that there were two fountains.

I've done a quick google on fountainmaker Fenning and clockmaker Moore, and found neither. Does anyone anywhere have any information?