| New River Head | |
|---|---|
 Former Water Board offices and gardens | |
| Location | Clerkenwell, London Borough of Islington, London, United Kingdom |
| Coordinates | 51°31′42.298″N 0°6′27.572″W / 51.52841611°N 0.10765889°W |
  Location of New River Head in Greater London  New River Head (London Borough of Islington) | |
New River Head is a historic site located adjacent to Sadler's Wells Theatre on Rosebery Avenue and Amwell Street in the Clerkenwell area of London, England. Originally it was the London terminus of the New River, an artificial watercourse opened in 1613 to supply water to London. Subsequently the site also became the headquarters for the New River Company, the owners of the New River, and for its successors, the Metropolitan Water Board, the Thames Water Authority and Thames Water plc.
Following relocation of most of the operational and administrative functions of the site, it is now largely a residential estate, with apartments in a mixture of repurposed existing and new buildings surrounding a private garden area on the site of the old filter beds. An enclosed half-acre area of the site comprises the remains of an 18th-century windmill and a 19th-century engine house and coal stores: these buildings are being restored by arts charity Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration as part of a £12mn capital campaign to create a public arts centre that will open in 2024.[1]
There is public access to a view point over the gardens. At the rear of the building (not open to the public) there is the remains of the medieval conduit-head of the water supply of the London Greyfriars, discovered in Bloomsbury in 1911 and re-erected here in 1927.[2]
The former head office building is a grade II* listed building. The former laboratory building, remains of the Round Pond, Greyfriars conduit head, former engine house, former coal stores and former windmill are all grade II listed buildings.[3][4][5][6][7][8]
- ^ "About". Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration. Retrieved 2022-10-18.
- ^ Holder, Nick (2017). The Friaries of Medieval London: From Foundation to Dissolution. Woodbridge: Boydell. pp. 246–9. ISBN 9781783272242.
- ^ "New River Head (former Metropolitan Water Board offices)". britishlistedbuildings.co.uk. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
- ^ "New River Head Research Building (Thames Water)". britishlistedbuildings.co.uk. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
- ^ "New River Head Revetment of Old Inner or Round Reservoir Pound". britishlistedbuildings.co.uk. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
- ^ "New River Head Chimney Conduit (Devil's Conduit) in the Round Reservoir". britishlistedbuildings.co.uk. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
- ^ "Former Engine House and attached boiler houses and coal store, New River Head". britishlistedbuildings.co.uk. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
- ^ "Windmill base, New River Head". britishlistedbuildings.co.uk. Retrieved 29 April 2020.