Conduit house and embanked, southern section of Well Path

Conduit House and Embanked, Southern Section of Well Path

This is a conduit house dating from the 16th century or earlier, extended in the mid-17th century and modified in the second half of the 19th century, together with the embanked southern section of Well Path which dates from the second half of the 19th century.

The building is constructed of ashlar and limestone rubble under a monopitch roof covered in corrugated iron sheeting. The embanked southern section of Well Path is built of limestone rubble with ashlar dressings.

The building has an evolved plan. It comprises the original narrow conduit house with, to the rear and on a different orientation, a rectangular addition from the mid-17th century which was substantially rebuilt in the 19th century. The front part of the building, being the earliest element of the conduit house, is incorporated into and partly overlain by the southern section of the mid- to late-19th century embankment of Well Path.

The south-eastern side of the conduit house is formed by the southern embanked section of Well Path, faced with limestone rubble brought to course. The south-east elevation has a stringcourse and below this are three round-headed, skewed openings with ashlar voussoirs which were repaired in the early 21st century. Set back within the left-hand arch is a narrow doorway to the original conduit house which stood above ground. This has an almost ogee-arched, peaked head and chamfered jambs and most probably dates from the 16th century. Iron pintles indicate that a door, now not extant, was subsequently added, probably in the 19th century. The central archway in the embankment has been blocked at the rear, although the upper part of the north-west face of the arch is visible within the conduit house. The right-hand archway leads to the rear of the conduit house and the garden of 27 Newtown which are now accessed by a flight of modern steps. The north-west elevation of the conduit house appears to abut the north-west side of the Well Path embankment and contains two openings at different heights. The lower opening has a large stone lintel, but its extent is masked externally by the steps and internally by one of the 19th century cisterns. The upper window has stone jambs, a chamfered cill and splayed reveals. The rear north-west elevation is built of random stone rubble with a doorway to the far right that has quoins to the left jamb and a timber lintel. Above the doorway is a further opening framed by stone jambs. The mid-19th century boundary wall to the adjacent former brewery site serves as the south-west side of the conduit house.

The 16th century conduit house forming the front part of the building contains two stone troughs set into the floor which are considered to be original to this structure. There is a triangular-shaped opening in the back wall of the rear trough, and a metal sluice and grilled drain cover have been added later, most likely in the 19th century. The current back wall of the 16th century conduit house is formed by the north-west side of the embankment of Well Path and this has been broken through to connect with the later structure to the rear. There is a stone-lined channel and a sluice at the base of this wall. The rear addition to the original conduit house was constructed in the mid-17th century, although much of the visible internal fabric dates probably from the second half of the 19th century when the building underwent substantial alteration. It houses two large water storage tanks or cisterns, faced in ashlar and with cement render in places. Three tanks are recorded in some sources, although the possible third tank aligns with the rear doorway and as such is unlikely to have held water. The southern tank cuts across the central archway of the Well Path embankment. A plinth visible in the lower section of the south-west wall is considered to represent the surviving remains of one of the walls of the mid-17th century addition built for Paul Metheun and it continues on a straight alignment where the mid-19th century boundary wall to the brewery turns westwards. The roof timbers comprise a single purlin, reinforced with two later horizontal timbers, and rafters, all machine sawn.