Hobson's Conduit

Hobson's Conduit as it runs alongside Cambridge University Botanic Garden on Trumpington Road.

Hobson's Conduit, also called Hobson's Brook, is a watercourse that was built from 1610 to 1614 by Thomas Hobson and others to bring fresh water into the city of Cambridge, England from springs at Nine Wells, a Local Nature Reserve[1][2] (52°09′58″N 0°08′06″E / 52.166°N 0.1349°E / 52.166; 0.1349 (Hobson Conduit (spring at Nine Wells))), near the village of Great Shelford.[3] It is now a Scheduled Ancient Monument[4] and historical relic. The watercourse currently runs overground until Cambridge University Botanic Garden and Brookside, where it is at its widest. At the corner of Lensfield Road stands a hexagonal monument to Hobson, which once formed part of the market square fountain, and was moved to this location in 1856, after a fire in the Market.[3] The flow of water runs under Lensfield Road, and subsequently runs along both sides of Trumpington Street in broad gutters towards Peterhouse and St Catharine's College, and also St Andrew's Street. The conduit currently ends at Silver Street.

The scheme was first devised in 1574 by Andrew Perne, Master of Peterhouse, who proposed that a stream be diverted from Nine Wells chalk springs through the town and the King's Ditch to improve sanitation. The design was revived by James Montagu, Master of Sidney Sussex College and built at the expense of the University and town.[5] Although Thomas Hobson was just one of those involved in the construction he endowed a Hobson's Conduit Trust to deal with maintenance of the waterway, which still exists today. The new river was dug from Vicar's Brook near Long Road to the conduit head at the end of Lensfield Road as a joint venture between the University and the city. Here the flow of water was divided into four separate branches for different uses.[6]

  1. ^ Nine Wells Local Nature Reserve Archived 27 March 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ Nine Wells LNR Management Plan
  3. ^ a b "Hobson's Conduit and the Botanical Gardens". Archived from the original on 11 July 2006.
  4. ^ Historic England. "Hobson's Conduit (1006912)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 1 July 2017.
  5. ^ Inscription on the monument at Nine Wells
  6. ^ Bushell, W. D; Jackson, Edward; Venn, J. A (19 January 2012). Hobson's Conduit. ISBN 9781108042444.