TWO city lecturers have travelled to the Caribbean to help recreate a Gorbals drinking fountain which disappeared more than 80 years ago.

It stood on the former Cross at Ballater Street and Main Street which was renamed Gorbals Street in 1922.

The fountain, which was built in 1873 by iron founders George Smith and Co, featured four clock faces and gas lamps, notice boards, barometers, thermometers and a weather vane.

It was dismantled in 1935 and disappeared but local people are hoping it can be recreated as part of the ongoing regeneration of the area.

Experts discovered an almost identical drinking fountain built from the cast of the original was still in operation in St Kitts almost 4000 miles away.

The Berkeley Memorial, which sits in the bustling heart of the island's capital, was built a decade after the Glasgow fountain in honour of Thomas Berkeley who was born on the island on 1824.

He was a planter, a legislator and president of the general Legislative Council of the Leeward Islands Federation.

Eddie Horn and Stevie Anderson, who are engineers in the digital technology division of Caledonian University, were recruited to help recreate the Gorbals fountain.

They travelled to the island where they spent a week laser scanning it from hundreds of different angles and building a 3D model, creating a blueprint for what will be a new Gorbals landmark.

Mr Horn said: "We plan to get a cost for building a replacement and are working with a foundry in Hamilton.

"The fountain in St Kitts is still used and while we were there people came up and filled water carriers and had a wash.

"The people there are similar to the people of Glasgow as they are hard working with a good sense of humour."

Mr Horn and Mr Anderson have been working on the project for a couple of years and raised funding for the trip from a number of sources including Scottish Natural Heritage.

Southside Central councillor Soryia Siddique said: "I support the local community's aspirations for the reinstatement of the water fountain at Gorbals Cross creating a public space celebrating the past and looking into the future."