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Mr Speight (left) and Mr Stevenson supervise the assembling of the granite pieces.

Men of a Burnley firm of monumental masons have begun the task of piecing together a giant 20-ton jigsaw. The work, which will take them at least a week, involves rebuilding the huge fountain and trough which once stood at the junction of Burnley Road and Victoria Road, Padiham. The Fountain, as it was called, was once a well-known landmark, but in 1937 the granite monument was dismantled when Burnley Road became dual carriageway. Part of it was re-assembled at Whitegate, Padiham, but for 37 years the rest of the pieces lay in the council store yard.

Now, thanks to a decision made by Padiham Urban District Council's Health and Recreation Committee, this relic of Padiham's past is to be completely rebuilt on a landscaped site in front of Padiham Pool. Mason Mr Harold Stevenson admitted: "Rebuilding it is going to be quite a task. The only thing we have to go by is a photograph picture of the fountain as it was before 1937. As far as we know there was a horse trough attached to it, so it must have been a stopping-off place for horses. The whole thing is going to be put up just as it was originally." Padiham Parks Superintendent Mr Bill Speight said: "It should look very nice when it is finished. At the moment we are trying to find out just who donated the fountain to the town. It may have been Lord Shuttleworth, but we are still making inquiries about this." In the meantime Mr Stevenson and his men are getting to grips with the challenge of the giant jigsaw puzzle.

An image of the original structure in-situ can be found in the Roger Frost Collection on our website. Here is a link to the image: https://www.bcthic.org/View_Archive?ODc3fDk5N3wzMnxodHRwczovL3d3dy5iY3RoaWMub3JnL0FyY2hpdmUvT3RoZXJfQ29sbGVjdGlvbnMvVGhlX1JvZ2VyX0Zyb3N0X0NvbGxlY3Rpb24vfDI=