Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

A small rectangular medieval building with a brick barrel vaulted roof. At the west end is a four-centred doorway. It was built originally in the 12th century as part of Prior Wilberts waterworks but most of the present building is probably 19th century. The east wall had been damaged by vandals and the building was in poor condition (2), but in 1981 Canterbury Archaeological Trust cleared the building of rubble and restored the water supply.

Monument Types

• CONDUIT HOUSE (Altered 1812, Medieval to Modern - 1133 AD to 2050 AD)

Full description

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TR 15955860, Conduit House, St Augustine's Abbey. (1)

TR 15955860 (3)

A small rectangular medieval building with a brick barrel vaulted roof. At the west end is a four-centred doorway. It was built originally in the 12th century as part of Prior Wilberts waterworks but most of the present building is probably 19th century. The east wall had been damaged by vandals and the building was in poor condition (2), but in 1981 Canterbury Archaeological Trust cleared the building of rubble and restored the water supply. The original building appears to have been circular. (2-3)

Under Guardianship. (4)

Conduit house, part of water supply system devised by Prior Wibert in the 1160's for the complex of buildings making up Christ Church monastery , including Wiberts Water Tower. Two 12th century drawings show the original layout fo the system, with the conduit hose and five settling tanks along the route, terminating in the monastrey precinct.

THe existing building, probably on the site of the original conduit house is a small rectangular structure of stone and flint with vaulted roof and small four-centred doorway. Portions of the building were rebuilt in brick in 1812. The brick vaulted roof is supported by two internal brick piers, the building has a brick and stone floor. Inside is a large brick tank, rendered, connected via a pipe with a smaller brick and lead lined sunken tank just outside the building, both believed to be settleing tanks. The building has a single irn tie bar and is n a generally poor condition partly overgrown with vegitation. THe conduit house is sited close to the spring line. Extensive disturbabnces to the landscape by the military in the 19th cenury and early 20th century and recent housing have removed much of the evidence for the system of supply. To the north east of the building are the partial remains of a large pond, possibly one of the medieval ponds thak fed the conduit. This has largely been filled in and levelled. Until recently the pond contained aa 19th century plank lined drain with brick settling tanks at either end. From the conduit house 3" lead pipes lead towards the cathedral precints, two manholes survive along the route.(5)

From the National Heritage List for England:

A small rectangular medieval building of stone and flint with a heavy vaulted roof, probably 19th century. At W end is a small four centred doorway. Much of the E wall has been damaged by vandals and the monument is in poor condition. Part of Prior "Wilberts" waterworks.


From the National Heritage List for England:

Summary of Monument

St Augustine’s Abbey Conduit House, 200m north-east of All Saints Church
Reasons for Designation

The provision of clean water has been seen as a public responsibility since early times. The earliest water-supply systems in Britain were built during the Roman period. Aqueducts supplied civil and military centres from wells, springs and impounded sources. Medieval water systems were constructed for monasteries as early as the twelfth century, and similar conduit systems were built for some medieval towns. Early supplies depended on gravitational flow from a spring to a conduit head. Conduits were pipes or channels used to convey and transport the water. Some conduits, such as that at Exeter in the 14th and 15th centuries, were laid underground, whilst others, such as Wells, ran in the street. Tamkin houses were buildings along the route of the conduit, which provided access points, where sections of the water supply could be plugged off and isolated, to carry out repairs.

Despite some later alterations and repair work, St Augustine’s Abbey Conduit House survives well. It is a well engineered and complex example of its type, which provides information about the medieval water supply to Canterbury. It will contain archaeological information relating to its construction and
History

See Details
Details

This record has been generated from an "old county number" (OCN) scheduling record. These are monuments that were not reviewed under the Monuments Protection Programme and are some of our oldest designation records.

The monument includes a medieval conduit house surviving as upstanding and below-ground remains. It is situated at the foot of a west-facing slope near Regency Place, north-east of Canterbury.

The conduit house is irregular in plan with a broadly octagonal central chamber. The roof has collapsed but the walls remain upstanding. It rests on chalk block foundations with four main tunnelled openings and three smaller ducts running off the central chamber. Surmounting the foundations are flint and chalk block walls, lined internally with coursed flint showing traces of render. The tunnelled openings are dressed with Lower Greensand quoins. The four tunnels have been blocked by later inserted brickwork but lead to circular domed-topped chambers. Several subsidiary ducts lead into the tunnels. These indicate that 24 separate springs fed into the central chamber. The central chamber is divided into two by the insertion of an 18th century chalk and brick wall, pierced by a brick arch. This wall was originally supported two 18th century barrel vaults, which may have been in-turn covered by a sprung floor indicated by surviving joist sockets in the walls. The conduit house was refurbished in the 19th century, the remains of which include a doorway in the west end, with external brick surround, and steps providing access to the central chamber.

A conduit house was first built on the site by Prior Wilbert in the mid-12th century. It is shown on a ‘waterworks’ plan dating to about 1160 as a circular structure marked ‘turris’. The plan indicates that water was piped from the conduit house down the present line of the Military Road to the Cathedral precincts of Canterbury. In the 17th century it may have supplied a new conduit built next to St Andrew’s Church which was paid for by Archbishop George Abbot in 1620. In 1733 the conduit house was owned by John Hales who provided water to the city. The roof of the conduit house collapsed in February 1988 following prolonged periods of rain.

An archaeological watching brief was carried out on the site in 1982-84 and the conduit house was partially excavated in 1988 to allow repairs to be carried out.(6-7)

Historic England archive material (8)

<1> DOE (IAM) AMs Eng 2 1978 111 (OS Card Reference). SKE40687.

<2> DOE (IAM) Record Form 14 2 72 (OS Card Reference). SKE40734.

<3> Tim Tatton-Brown, 1982, Interim Rport in Excavation in 1981 Conduit Hse, Canterbury, Arch Cant 97 1981 292-3 Illus (Article in serial). SKE8086.

<4> HBMC Guardianship List NS Feb 1984 2 (OS Card Reference). SKE43746.

<5> Trent and Peak Archaeological Unit, 2002, Water & Sewage Industries Step 3 Report, Kent 5B (Unpublished document). SKE8085.

<6> Historic England, National Heritage List for England (Index). SKE29372.

<7> English Heritage, Register of Scheduled Monuments (Scheduling record). SKE16191.

<8> Historic England, Archive material associated with St Augustine's Monastic conduit house, Scheduled monument (Archive). SKE54610.

Sources and further reading

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