In 1981, The Canterbury Archaeological Trust cleaned and surveyed the Conduit House located near to Military Road. The survey was carried out at a scale of 1:80. The building, which is about a half mile north-east of Canterbury probably had its origins in the conduit house built by Prior Wibert for Christ Church Priory in the middle of the 12th century. The original building appears to have been circular but it was not proven that any of the original structure originated in the Medieval period. Most of the present building, which has walls in a sort of chequer work, probably dates from the 17th century. There is also quite a lot of re-used stone apparent and this may come from an earlier conduit house.

An excavation was undertaken between December 1982 and February 1983 as part of a programme of renovation work commissioned by the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury Cathedral to restore the Dean and Chapter's water supply from the Cathedral Conduit House. The Conduit House and entire conduit were examined in this process. The Conduit House is located approximately 1 km NE of the Cathedral precincts and c. 35m SE of Canterbury Sports Centre at the north end of Military Road.

A survey prior to the excavation had identified the location of existing ducts and it was thought that excavation and repair could make the entire system, fed by springs, operable once more. During the excavation the old timber drain was thus replaced with a plastic pipe by the cathedral works department. Repairs to the eastern and southern conduits were also undertaken. Traces of the original 12th century system were not seen and the landscape has been considerably disturbed in modern times by military activity. The present Conduit House, however, probably occupies the site of, and incorporates, part of the original Conduit House shown on a plan of c. 1190.

The original water source may have been a spring located approximately 820 m due east of the present Conduit House in the 'Old Park'. This spring issuing form the 35m contour flowed north-westwards into a large pond, which still survives as the Reed Pond and may have been part of the medieval system. A second smaller pond which survives today as an overgrown waterlogged depression, is shown on the 1880 Ordnance Survey map as a much larger earthwork which may also be part of the medieval syastem

Tatton-Brown, T., 1982, Conduit House, Military Road (Serial). SKE30875.

Frere, S., Bennett, P., Rady, J., Stow, S., 1987, Excavations Intra- and Extra-mural Sites 1949-55 and 1980-84 (Monograph). SKE29800.