Aldgate Pump

The Aldgate Pump - a historic water pump located in Aldgate where meets Fenchurch Street meets Leadenhall Street. The site was originally a well served by one of London's many underground streams. Aldgate well was first mentioned in the thirteenth century - in the reign of King John. A pump was first installed upon the well head in the sixteenth century, and replaced in the eighteenth century by the Portland stone obelisk that stands today. The most remarkable detail to survive today is the brass spout in the form of a wolf's head, to signify the last wolf shot in the City of London.

Many people pass the pump today unaware they are in the presence of the notorious "Pump of Death" - that switched to mains supply fifty years earlier in 1876, when the water began to taste strange. Upon investigation, this was found to be caused by the leaching of calcium from the bones of the dead in many new cemeteries in north London through which the stream ran.

Several hundred people died in the Aldgate Pump Epidemic by drinking the polluted water - however, this was forgotten about in the nineteen twenties when Whittard’s tea merchants used to "always get the kettles filled at the Aldgate Pump so that only the purest water was used for tea tasting".

Still on the pump is the brass button that controls the water outlet, although the water ceased flowing in the last century, it is irresistible to press it.