Bills Horse Trough at Englefield Green UK

This photo above shows the trough with Annis and George Bills Australia engraved into the side of it

I recently came across this old horse trough in a village called Englefield Green in Surrey, England near Runnymede.

The inscription on the granite trough is "George and Annis Bills - Australia". According to my research the trough in Englefield Green was set up in 1931. Being made of granite I guess they can survive most weather conditions although a few in South-East London were destroyed by the bombing in World War 2.

The granite troughs were made in 3 sizes: 6'6" as in the one from Surrey; 9'6" like the one in Mansfield, Victoria, Australia, and monsters at 18' - there's an example of one of these in the main meat market (Smithfield) in central London. {Photo below.}
The trough is on St. Jude's Road which is the main road going through the village.

As far as I can tell the main oblong part of the troughs was always a single section of granite. That even includes some 18 feet monsters such as the one attached near Smithfield Meat Market in the City of London (you can see the "Grand Hall" of the meat market in the background. Granite in these troughs in England is available in the "west country" (Cornwall)and in Scotland. The city of Aberdeen in Scotland is known as the "granite city".

This information has been sent to me from Alan Underwood who lives in London and is currently trying to track down all the remaining Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association troughs in London and the South-East of England. See http://www.londontroughs.co.uk. George recommends you take the time to view this web site.

Bills Horse Trough at Annandale School

This trough is located in the front of the Annandale North Public School In Johnson Street. It is only 2kms from the Centre of Sydney.

The children are a group known here as the "History Group". They wrote a small book about the area before the school was built.

An Early Bills Trough In Scone NSW

This is a special Bills Trough at the Scone Museum. It is a very old trough and think it would have been made in about 1920 by local Stonemasons. Scone is reputed to be the Horse capital of Australia.The plaque on the photo below reads Annis and George Bills Australia.

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A Bills Hitching Post

Written on a brass plate: In Appreciation, G & A Bills from the citizens of Melbourne 1909. Thanks Kathleen for allowing me to use this photo.Is there any one who can help with more information about these hitching posts?

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Tunbridge Wells

This trough photo was given to me by a great niece of George and Annis

Barbie Roche, a great niece of George and Annis, gave me this photo of the trough in Tunbridge Wells England. This trough was paid for by the Bills Trust.

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Murrurundi NSW

Thanks to Eric Clapton for giving me this photo

This plaque states the history of the trough

The plaque on this trough states that:

On this site was the town well and pump dating from Feb-16-1884.The exsisting horse and dog troughs were erected in the 1920'.From a bequest set up by Annis and George Bills.George Bills was a succesful wire mattress maker in both Sydney and Melbourne he was a driving force in the prevention of cruelty to animals.This town pump was still in use here in 1935.This plaque was erected by The Murrurundi District Historical Society 1995.

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