Bolsover Cundy House

This charming white cottage like conduit house was built in the seventeenth century to supply water to Bolsolver Castle which was approximately three hundred metres away.

This small building is rectangular-shaped and has a vaulted stone-slab roof to make it secure and impervious to decay. It was also built to protect the water from pollution caused by animals. It was given the name ‘Cundy’ as this words loosely means ‘conduit’ or ‘waterpipe’ in French.

This house was built on a slope near a natural spring and housed a lead water tank. A water pipe lead to the castle and water was delivered to the castle’s cistern house. It was an amazing sophisticated bit of technology back then. The Bolsover Cundy House supplied water to the castle until the 1920s. This pretty and useful little building can be viewed as a piece of architecture and not just as a functional structure and is worth a visit.

Location Details: Off M1 at junction 29, follow signs for Bolsover Castle. At junction of Craggs Rd and Houghton Rd, Bolsover, 6 miles E of Chesterfield on A362

Opening Times: Any reasonable time

Photo Credits: © Copyright English Heritage Photo Library

For further information please visit: http://www.english-heritage.org.uk