I've been told by local Cirencester historians Linda and David Viner that the pump was installed as a gift to the almshouses and the neighbourhood by Thomas Brewin, to ensure "pure and sweet water". Thomas, one of three brothers, was said to be an outspoken and uncompromising liberal, an ardent teetotaller, temperance reformer and Quaker. The almshouses opposite carry an inscription "Built MDCCCXXVI by Christopher Bowly and endowed by him MDCCCXXXVII". Christopher Bowly, another Quaker, philanthropist and temperance movement leader, died in 1851.
The pump house seen today was designed by Norman Jewson (1924-5) at the time of the construction of the adjacent almshouses, and these houses carry the inscription "These Almshouses were built in 1924 at the special desire of Mr Christopher Bowly of Cirencester. Born 1837. Died 1922." This must be the son of Christopher Bowley, Snr.