Norwich (click on photograph to bring up bigger/better version).

A very rare wooden pump with a cast iron handle and spout tucked away in Websdale's Court, a tiny alleyway off Bedford St., Norwich. Markings: Indecipherable letters and numbers on the spout. Manufacturer: Unk.

In a quiet courtyard off Elm Hill, Norwich. Markings: What looks like "SLIM" on both sides of the handle, up by the fulcrom. Manufacturer: Unk.

	A hefty pump - about 7' high and with an 8" external diameter barrel - situated at the bottom of the graveyard at St. John Maddermarket, Norwich. (The point has been made by others that downstream of a graveyard might not have been the optimum location to pump untainted water, but let's hope that it had a very deep borehole.) Closer inspection of the spout shows a small hole just behind the bucket hook: it has been reported that in at least one case such a hole was provided to allow a stream of water to flow upwards to form a drinking fountain. Markings: "SHALDERS PATENT NORWICH", "POWERLINE" and "[?] INCH BARREL" Manufacturer: Shalders.

	(STOP PRESS - SEE BELOW...) This superb edifice, now sadly showing serious signs of neglect, is tucked away behind a wall and obscure alleyway backing onto Westwick St., Norwich. It's known variously either as Gibson's or Gybson's Conduit or Pump, and also as St. Lawrence's Well, and has an interesting history. It's not in its original position, and has lost all its mechanical components with the exception of an iron handle - and even this is not in its original position with respect to the rest of the structure. So was it a pump, a fountain, or simply a flamboyant tap? Maybe all three at different stages of its life. If it was indeed a pump, then it might just be the oldest dated pump in the UK, and for this reason alone it deserves better treatment than it has received over recent years. It's a great shame that Norwich, a city which in other respects seems to look after its history very well indeed, seems to have lost interest in preserving this unique monument. Three panels set in the stonework contain verses of dedication, as follows, although some letters are obscured and are difficult to decipher:
	THIS WATER HERE CAUGHT IN SORTE AS YOWE SEE FROM A SPRING IS BROUGHTE THRE-SKORE FOOT AND THRE GYBSON HATH IT SOWGHTE FROM SAINT LAWREN'S WEL, AND HIS CHARG THIS WROWGHTE WHO NOW HERE DOE DWEL THY EASE WAS HIS COSTE, NOT SMAL VOUCHSAFIED WEL OF THOSE, WHICH THANKFVL BE HIS WORK TO SE AND THERE TO BE NO FOES.
	A smaller panel to the left is now blank, but in an old photo it can be seen to have had the letters ROB ERT and a sun motif, whilst another on the right still shows the letters GYB SON and the same sun motif - possibly a rebus? A small carved shield contains the date 1578.
	Set above is a coat of arms, carved in stone and painted, which I think are those of Elizabeth I, flanked by two badges carved in stone - a rose and a crowned chained portcullis - both of which surely must represent the House of Tudor. The faint words "VIVAT REGINA" can still be made out, painted on the background.
	As of 2011, Gybson’s Conduit (owned by the Norwich Preservation Trust) has undergone a magnificent restoration by Universal Stone Ltd., (see left) and won a 2011 Norwich Society Design Award for the conservation work. Well done, Norwich.

At the front of a row of coach houses in Ferry Lane, within the Cathedral grounds in Norwich. The cap, handle and operating rod are all missing, and a hook has been fixed to the pump fulcrum to hold back the nearby coach house door. Markings: "J. TYLOR & SONS, 2 NEWGATE STREET, LONDON EC" Manufacturer: J. Tylor, London.

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