Conduit Head

Coordinates: 52°12′51″N 0°05′23″E / 52.2143°N 0.0897°E / 52.2143; 0.0897

Conduit Head is a property located off the Madingley Road (A1303) on the western outskirts of Cambridge in England.

Ownership[]

The house was built in 1910 as a wedding gift from Francis Darwin (third son of Charles Darwin and Emma) to his daughter, Frances Crofts Darwin, for her marriage to Francis Cornford.

It is now owned by Sir Peter Lachmann, Sheila Joan Smith Professor of Immunology in the University of Cambridge emeritus, a fellow of Christ's College, and his wife Sylvia.

Derivation[]

A stone-built conduit head stands in the woods behind the house. Trinity Head Conduit was constructed in 1327 and served as the main water supply for the Franciscan friary in the centre of Cambridge.^[1] Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge was founded on the site of the Greyfriars monastery.

The stone roof of the conduit head reveals the age of the structure. Its sloping roof is constructed with slabs that are fastened by iron pegs. Within the conduit head sits a 19th-century lead water tank.

The water from the conduit head used to flow into central Cambridge in wooden pipes that passed underneath the river Cam. Though the water was owned by the Franciscan friars, others would steal some of it along its route. Since the 16th century, the conduit head and the water has been owned by Trinity College, Cambridge. The supply was used to feed the fountain in the Great Court, built in 1601-2.

An archaeological dig several years back discovered a Roman settlement nearby with paths in the direction of the conduit head.^{[citation needed]} It is believed^[who?] that in Roman times and perhaps earlier this source of water was some sort of holy well that was used for ritual purposes

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