Hurling Pump

A series of wells were installed in Cape Town where slaves would collect water for the household. The wells were part of an improved water scheme for the city designed by Sir John Cradock in 1812. Water was fed to these wells using wooden and iron pipes.

The pump was worked manually by the slaves. It was also known as a Hurling pump or swaai pump that was introduced by Jan Frederik Hurling, a Swedish Colonist who arrived at the Cape in 1743. Slaves would swing the weighted handle from side to side that produced water from a pipe, often from the mouth of a bronze lion.

Public fountains brought water off the Mountain into the city, The fountains were generally placed in central areas, like on Grand Parade or Greenmarket Square.

There is only one example remaining of the pumps. It is at the corner of Prince and Sir George Grey Streets and was declared a National Monument in 1937. The pumphouse was designed by Louis Michel Thibault, the French architect, who regularly worked together with the sculptor Anton Anreith who sculpted the lion’s head.