Historic Whyte-Melville Fountain Restored

The historic Whyte-Melville Fountain is flowing once again. On 8 September, a ceremony was held on Market Street to commemorate the completion of this major restoration project. 

Funded by the St Andrews Pilgrim Foundation and overseen by Fife Council, the campaign to restore the fountain was, as described by the Foundation’s Chair Dita Stanis-Traken, “the greatest conservation project undertaken” by the organisation. 

Earlier this year, members of the North East Fife Area Committee approved funding of £7,250 from the St Andrews Common Good Fund to support the restoration process. The Foundation additionally invested approximately £130,000 in the project. 

The Fountain’s total restoration is the culmination of over a decade of work and cooperation; in 2015, former Fife Councillor Bill Sangster campaigned for the fountain’s complete repair. The fountain, erected in honor of Scottish novelist George Whyte-Melville in 1880, had originally fallen into disuse in the early twentieth century. For almost 90 years, the defunct fountain had served as a flowerbed. 

Sangster’s campaign ultimately restored the fountain to its former purpose; however, the repair effort  “lacked a methodology,” Stanis-Traken told The Saint. The same year, a vehicle struck the fountain and dislodged a basal coping stone, making further repair necessary. 

In response, Stanis-Traken founded the “Friends of the Whyte-Melville Memorial Foundation” in 2016. The following year, he brought a proposal for the fountain’s complete restoration to the St Andrews Pilgrim Foundation. 

Stanis-Traken recalled that obstacles such as the COVID-19 pandemic and planning around the town’s tourism scene delayed the work of the Foundation for many years; only this summer was the bulk of the work to restore the fountain completed.  

While the return of the fountain’s flow has been a welcome sight for town residents, some have expressed complaints that the fountain’s spray extends far beyond the structure’s perimeter. “Especially on windy days… it’s [the fountain] just soaking everybody,” town resident Jackie Broadford told The Saint.

First-year student Naomi Ingersoll shared a similar perspective: “You can see the extent of the fountain’s spray just by looking down at the cobblestone in the area it occupies — it’s all completely drenched.”

Photo by Thea Sprawson