An iconic monument in the centre of a Dorset town could be given a new lease of life to celebrate a society’s fiftieth anniversary.

The Dorchester Civic Society wants to mark 50 years with several projects planned to benefit the town, including a way to make the Town Pump once again flow with water.

Based in Cornhill, at the top of South Street in Dorchester, the Town Pump has been the traditional gathering place for local residents to ring in the new year.

Now, the Civic Society are seeking backers to help with the renovation project which could see it used as a source of drinking water for the town.  

Ian Gosling, the chair of the Dorchester Civic Society, has been leading the campaign to see the pump reinstated.

He said: “I think it will make people realise why that column is there, as very few people know.

“When it’s restored, it will also serve itself as a source of drinking water during the summer which will benefit the whole town.

“We’d also like to see a bigger and more detailed notice by the pump to tell people why it is such an important thing,” he added.

Erected in 1784, the pump is situated on the site of the town’s former Market House and is a Grade II listed building.

When the pump was installed, there was no piped water supply in the town.

Some of the bigger houses on South Street or by Borough Gardens had their own wells, but most inhabitants would have made use of the pump. The water would also have been used to clean the streets on Saturdays - a requirement by law. 

Mr Gosling became connected to the history of the pump when he one day met a distant relative of the person who paid for its installation. 

He said: “I came up with the idea after meeting with a lady who belonged to the family of Bennett Harvey, the man who financed the site’s construction as payment for being allowed to extend his building.

“He owned Harvey’s Library in Melcombe Regis and went on to become a silversmith before moving to Dorchester in the 1780s."

A memorial is in place for Bennett Harvey in St George’s Church, Fordington.

Water supply to the Town Pump is said to have been cut-off some time between the 1930s to 1940s, but Mr Gosling is hoping that the society can work alongside Wessex Water in the near future to see how viable returning water would be.  

Mayor of Dorchester, Cllr Alistair Chisholm, is a keen local historian and tour guide. He has pledged his support of the 'excellent idea.'

He said: "A water feature at or around the pump would be a first class idea.

"The civic society have so many good ideas and this is one I definitely endorse."