A trick of the light one Saturday evening revealed the date 1897 on the red stone fountain near the pier.
The Weekly News and Visitors’ Chronicles issue for April 23rd, 1897 includes a report on Colwyn Bay and Colwyn District Council matters, including a brief reference to the council Surveyor submitting sketches of fountains suitable for the Promenade which was being built at the time. It was resolved that the Surveyor obtain tenders from local masons for “the erection of a fountain made of red granite”.
The same newspaper records in the issue for May 14th, 1897 that the following tenders were received:
Fountain in Red Granite
Mr. E. Jones, Bangor £40 (lettering extra)
Messrs. Salisbury & Pritchard, Colwyn Bay £55 (lettering included)
Mr. David Williams, Denbigh £41 (lettering extra)
Mr. John Jones, Colwyn Bay £36 10s
Mr. R. H. Lloyd, Denbigh £55
Mr. Edward Williams, Abergele £44 10s (lettering included)
Mr David Jones, Rhyl £50
The tender by John Jones of Colwyn Bay was accepted.
In June 1897 Colwyn Bay celebrated Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee and as part of those celebrations the Diamond Jubilee Fountain was “dedicated for the public use, in commemoration of Her Majesty’s Record Reign, by the Rev. Thomas Parry, A.C.C.” (The Weekly News and Visitors Chronicle June 25th, 1897).
During the redevelopment of the Promenade in 2017 the fountain has been resited further towards Rhos-on-Sea.
