Monument record 1160/0/518 - Conduit Head

The conduit head was located in a field to the east of the town (where St Andrew's Hospital now stands). It was constructed in the 15th century to supply water to the town centre.

{1} Taken from a document detailing the history of the water supply to the town in 1942 (NRO: ZB50/2). There was a stone built into the wall of the old engine house at Billing Road Works, Cliftonville, Northampton inscribed, “Conduit Head made 1478, repaired 1542, pipes laid open 1716, new pipes 1784, rebuilt 1811 by Corporation”. The conduit head was located in a field to the east of the town, where St Andrew's Hospital now stands. Water from the conduit head was conveyed to the Great Conduit in the Market Place.

{2} Although it was known that the Conduit Head was located in the grounds of St Andrew's, near the Billing Road, its exact location had not been found. The termination of the line of pipes from it was found at the Billing Road pumping station [extant in 1909] and the Borough Water Engineer, Frank Tomlinson, traced the line back by digging numerous trial holes. He succeeded in finding a cistern, c8 feet below the kitchen floor of the lodge at the entrance to St Andrew's Hospital grounds. The pipes were 3-inch iron ones ending in 2-inch pipes at the reservoir.
Mr Tomlinson considered that the conduit might originally have been an open ditch cut to follow the contour of the ground along Billing Road and thereafter in pipes to the Conduit houses. Item on a stone at the waterworks reads 'Repaired 1542' and may refer to the Conduit Head only, although pipes had been laid prior to 1716, probably wooden. Wooden pipes of 4-inch diameter have been dug up at various points. New pipes of 1784 were lead of 2 and a half-inch bore- such a pipe was found crossing the site of the new post office when digging the foundations. This pipe might have been earlier since a large leaden pipe was used to connect the Little and great Conduits in 1630.

<1> AM, 2023, A Water Supply for Northampton, https://www.northants-fhs.org/watersupply/ [Accessed 27/08/2024] (Article). SNN116575.

<2> Woodward, Horace B and Thompson, Beeby, 1909, The Water Supply of Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire, from underground sources: with records of sinkings and borings, p. 125-126 (Book). SNN116816.

Record last edited

May 7 2025 9:24AM