"Many a parched throat was relieved and many a thirst assuaged at the public drinking fountains in the town centre three-quarters of a century and more ago," said a report in the Evening News in May, 1954.

"Remember where they were? One was in the high stone wall of the Parish Church in Churchbank, another in the wall of the Knowsley Street bridge. This week, in the cause of public health, and following nuisance complaints, Bolton Corporation workmen have removed these drinking fountains. They had become a public nuisance rather than a public amenity, and an official of the Borough Engineer's department said today that they had lost their true use and had become receptacles for rubbish.

"The fountains, of course, were for use by people, and not animals. In the iron bowl, it may be remembered, was a heavy iron cup, chained to the wall. Bolton still has drinking fountains in some of its parks."

The picture shows the Knowsley Street fountain being dismantled.