Fountain makeover

SEVENTY-FIVE per cent of the cost of restoring the Phillimore Fountain in Henley will be paid for by the family.

A total of £3,777 will be spent on refurbishing the Grade II listed monument next to St Mary’s Church in Hart Street.

The Phillimores were due to pay half the cost with the rest being split between the Henley Society and the town council’s Henley in Bloom committee. However, the family have agreed to contribute the committee’s share as well.

The work includes cleaning, re-pointing all the open joints, repairing the lime mortar and damaged sections of the limestone block cladding and reinstating missing stonework.

The work is due to be carried out in early March by Ipsden stonemasons A F Jones.

The fountain was unveiled in June 1885 by the friends and family of Greville Phillimore, who was rector of Henley for 16 years.

Some of the fountain finials are kept at the town hall.