The Arundel conduit

 

 

The conduit system in Greenwich is relatively well known to those interested in the detail of the park history. Basically there are a number of quite grand structures in the Park which were connected to a system of underground pipe work.  A number of people have written descriptions of them –   many Southeast London bloggers have had a go at them in the last couple of years -band there is a whole back history of past researchers.

The above ground buildings we can see today in the Park seem to date from the late 17^th and early 18^th centuries. I thought however that before I get onto these I should look at what we know about one which may be older and outside of Greenwich Park itself.

The earliest proper map we have of Greenwich is that drawn up on behalf of Samuel Travers in 1695 as part of his survey of the Greenwich conduits. A scatter of features marked as conduits are shown in most of the uphill areas of Greenwich parish. Of course, these may not refer to actual structures but indicate some feature which relate to a relevant underground structure. In collecting up what notes I can about these I’m aware that for most of them there seems to be no information at all.

It appears that running east of the Park was the ‘Arundel’ conduit ran a number of features appear in descriptions of it – some, or all, might be genuine The origin of its name ’Arundel’ could refer to William Fitzalan,  11^th Earl of Arundel  who served as Lord Chamberlain under Henry VIII and thus had ultimate responsibility for infrastructure works on royal properties. However this conduit probably predates the Tudors, is not on Crown land, and can be linked to the Ghent administration of Greenwich which means it pre-dates 1414.

Samuel Travers 17^th century report says that the Arundel Conduit took water from the ‘Primrose Hill area’.  Primrose Hill itself is unidentified but the Travers map shows conduits on either side of the present Maze Hill, near today’s Ulundi Road and another  inside the Park. The report says that the investigating party left the Park, presumably by the ‘wicket gate’ which is now opposite the end of Westcombe Park Road. This is probably the area close to Vanbrugh Castle and the mini roundabout  on Maze Hill by the Park gate. In the 18th century this area was ‘Maze Hill Green and featured a well and a pub called the Duke of Ormond’s Head.

‘Duke of Ormond’s Head’. was a popular pub name in the 17^th century  but  some were changed in 1715 following the Duke’s impeachment for high treason.  A plan of 1735 which accompanies documentation for this Pub mentions the ‘common conduit’ in Maze Hill as being close by and also shows a nearby pond. This pub is not to be confused with the later hostelry on a nearby site in Maze Hill, The George, where a well was also to be found. In 1749 occupants of new cottages in Maze Hill were entitled to use the conduit, which indicates its use as a source of domestic water rather than moving water for use elsewhere.

We should also note that it is often said that some part of a conduit remains in a Maze Hill back garden. By some amazing coincidence when I was doing the final corrections on this article I was copied into an email about a current planning application for changes which could affect gardens in Maze Hill.  I have been told that ‘the conduit had an exit point which was used by schoolchildren in the early 19th century. In those days there was a marble basin, but sadly that has gone. However, you can still see where the water exited.’

There are also a number of reports of structures and various workings in land now covered by the gardens of the houses on the north side of Westcombe Park Road. These include a saga of burglars tunnelling down underground and lighting a fire to keep themselves warm and cook their supper without realising they are under the floor of one of the houses. Most recognisable features will have been cleared years ago.

Travers’ investigating team crossed Maze Hill, and proceeded to ‘Green Lane, commonly called Conduit Lane ‘.  This is probably today’s  Vanburgh Hill – and it is of considerable interest that  ‘Conduit Lane  or Conduit Hill was to persist as a name for Vanburgh Hill for many years, despite several  other names – ‘Love Lane’ is another name used. It must reflect the conduits as a visible and useful local feature much later than we might expect.

At Conduit Lane on the brow of the hill Travers’ team noted a spring in a field ‘apparently owned by Morden College – Sir John Morden had indeed bought Gravel Pit Field in the late 17^th century. They noted that this spring produced a considerable quantity of water, and appears to have been conducted in earthen pipes. Sir John is likely to have bought this property for its commercial potential as there was extensive removal of gravel from this area to be used as ballast in ships whose cargo had been discharged in London. In describing this field, Neil Rhind commented that there must be heaps of London gravel in many ports around the country.  I remember being at talk at Seaham in County Durham where the speaker described the approaches to the port as being contaminated with heaps of discharged ‘London rubbish’.

The area now covered by Ulundi Road was apparently owned by Lady Biddulph and described as a ‘ferdy field’. In the late 17^th century this was Lady Susann Biddulph, widow of Theobold Bidduph who had bought the Westcombe estate in the 1650. There was a drain from a ditch in the ’ low fields’ found in this estate.  There was also land in this area owned by Lady Boreman which was ‘three roods from the receiver in Merrick’s fields’.  Both of these emptied by distinct drains, and water from the conduits ran via a ‘master-pipe’, to a cistern at the upper end of East Lane.

However, we need to continue northwards down to Conduit Lane, now Vanbrugh Hill. Do the residents of 103- 127 Vanbrugh Hill have any record of their houses being called ‘Conduit Terrace’?   In 1851 they were advertised as having “two good bedrooms, two  parlours,  kitchen, small flower gardens in front, enclosed with ornamental iron palisading, and good garden in the rear”. How did these names come to be remembered in this area some hundreds of years after the structures they record are gone?

Travers report does, most importantly, show ‘Conduit 9’ - north of Woolwich Road and West of the future Vanbrugh Hill.  This marks an above ground structure of some sort, indicating the route of the conduit and also probably providing access to the water. The report explains that ‘Conduit 9’ was the remains of the Arundel Conduit which brought water down the hillside from Blackheath to Crown properties on Ballast Quay ‘in earthen pipes now destroyed’.

The conduit itself is now forgotten.  Was it a source of fresh water to be use by local people or was it just a derelict structure?. When was it removed and who by?  Did it remain as a heap of unidentified stones for many years?  Is it possible some of those stones remained in somebody’s back garden?

At the crossroads at the junction with Woolwich Road the conduit pipes passed on the south west corner.  Things here were changing and houses were built here in 1830 - Conduit House and Vale Cottage on the site which is now The Plaza.  The cottage was the home of local engineer Joshua Taylor Beale and later his son, John. Conduit House later became a clinic for the Metropolitan Borough of Greenwich and ended its days as Conduit House Club for the Rechabite Order.

From the ‘conduit’ marked on the Travers plan the line of the conduit continued to the river side and is known to have supplied water to the site which is now covered by Anchor Iron Wharf flats with water. It is shown on the Travers plan as the ‘hobby stables’ and was subject to an archaeological dig in 2001-3. These stables belonged to the Crown and had been in Royal use. Clearly by 1695 when Travers surveyed the site Royal ownership was changing and within two years the site was sold to Morden College, in whose ownership it apparently remains.

 

Travers’ survey of the site of the stables notes that the water supply ran from a spring known as ‘Arundel Conduit  ... towards the King’s House, by the Ballast quay, or Hobby Stables’. A further survey of 1780 for the Commissioners of Greenwich Hospital recorded that the “Hobby Stables belonging to the Crown’ was with water supplied by ‘earthen pipes’ from the same conduit, by then redundant

Finally the conduit had reached the riverside. The Hobby Stables were adjacent to ‘Old Court.’ In the riverside area now including Crawley Wharf and Ballast Quay stood Old Court House, described in the Ghent Archives of 1286 AD, as ‘The Old House’ and used by them as a guest house. It was an important building  which had a water supply from the Arundel Conduit.  In 1532 Henry VIII had it refurbished as a home for Anne Boleyn. It was demolished after 1695.