Hopesprings

Hopesprings begins at the open space (public square?) where Spa Lane, Pallant Street, and Water Street meet. It does not quite reach the hill of the Tump as Tump Lane, which connects Spa Lane to Pallant Street, causes it to intersect at a T-junction. As with its close neighbour Spa Lane, being called a "spring" is interesting in this context: the old aqueduct that at one time brought fresh water into the city and which directly follows the line of Hopesprings is discussed more fully elsewhere but there is circumstantial evidence to suggest that it was routed through, rather than around, the Tump. A spring is generally interpreted as a naturally occurring source of cold fresh water. Could a spring of this nature once have existed here? Indeed, might the spring still be there and, like the spa of Spa Lane, still be visited by those who have faith in the healing properties of naturally occurring water? (which is, of course, a sacred spot in the worship of river gods, naiads and other deities). Of course, if the aqueduct was left untended to fall into ruin after the fall of the first Empire, the subterranean section running through the Tump might well have sprung a leak, which was mis-interpreted by earlier inhabitants of the area...

It is interesting that in this context, The Streets of Ankh-Morpork specifically notes that a bath-house, of all the unlikely things to find in Ankh-Morpork, exists at approximately the point where Hopesprings meets Water Street...

Annotation

"Hope springs eternal in the human breast" - poet Alexander Pope, of course... who is also responsible for naming Mollymog Street after a character in one of his poems....