Open Water Conduits in Church Street and Penrose Road

MATERIALS: dressed and plain granite revetments and bridges set at pavement level. Cut granite, shale or cobbled channel base. Iron grates.

PLAN & FORM: the topography of the town is key to the arrangement of the extensive system, which is fed from the diverted River Cober approximately 2km to the north, and feeds back into it to the south of the town. The majority of the system is below ground; only on the main roads through the centre are the channels exposed.

The conduits on Church Street have water flowing downhill from the north and from the south, converging at the bottom by No. 13 Church Street, where the flow is diverted underground. To the north the channel follows the retaining wall of the churchyard of St Michael (Listed Grade II*) on the west, and is diverted to the east side of the road south of the church, where it flows down a conduit with several bridges giving access to adjacent buildings. At No. 35 Church Street (Listed Grade II) the conduit passes beneath a pavement stretching the length of the house before continuing downhill.

At the top of the hill to the south the water flows beneath the area of tooled paving and steps outside the Market Hall (Listed Grade II) and Guildhall (Listed Grade II*) and emerges at the junction with Penrose Road. It flows down a conduit on the east side of the road and is spanned by several pedestrian bridges and steps.

The Penrose Road section of the conduits follows the road downhill from the west, along the south side, passing briefly underground at the corner. On the main stretch the channel is bounded by garden walls on the south, and is spanned by several bridges and steps giving access to adjacent houses.