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Summary - not yet available

Monument Type(s):

• CONDUIT HOUSE (18th century - 1701 AD to 1800 AD)
• WALL (18th century - 1701 AD to 1800 AD)
• HA HA? (18th century - 1701 AD to 1800 AD)

Associated Events:

• Excavation at the Castello d'Acqua, Wimpole Hall, 2002 (Ref: CDA02)
• Excavation at the Castello d'Acqua, Wimpole Hall, 2003 (Ref: PA03 and PB03)
• RCHME survey, Wimpole Park, 1998

Full description

1. 'Castello d'Acqua' or 'Water House' on the site of the reservoir shown to the N of the church in Kip's engraving.
2. In 1792 Soane designed the Castello d'Acqua to replace a much earlier conduit head standing a short way to the NE of the house. In the accounts it is referred to as the reservoir or water house, and Soane obviously took a great deal of trouble over its design, which in the final version emerged as a circular chamber within basically triangular walls. Built of rendered brick by the London artisans, Thomas Poynder, bricklayer and John Bayley, plasterer, it was set among trees at the S end of Brown's eastern ride where it was seen by Miss Mary Berry on a visit to Wimpole in 1810, when she noted in her journal that work had begun on "cutting down the trees and clearing away about the reservoir, the only building in real good taste about this place. It is like a Roman sepulchre, and will look well when no longer choked up with trees - two beautiful yews behind and a fine cedar in front excepted". It was demolished later in that century.
3. The location of the Castello d'Acqua is marked on the 1887 Ordnance Survey map
4. Investigations by the Cambridge Archaeology Field Group in 2002 located the foundations, and discovered a close correlation with the architect's drawings held in the Soane Museum.
5. A description of the design and construction of the water supply feature at Wimpole Hall estate. The form of Castello d'Acqua originated from designs created for an architectural competition in Parma in 1780, which was commissioned for the Wimpole estate in 1793 by the 3rd Earl of Harwicke. The Castello was constructed of bricks, and externally rendered in plaster. It was connected to the house by means of an underground pipe, and may have fed a plunge bath that was situated to the N of James Gibb's chapel.
6. A linear trench was excavated on the site of the Castello d'Acqua, indicated by a depression on the ground, in advance of proposals to build a path across the site. The excavation identified substantial brick foundations of the Castello. Two earlier pits and a ditch were also identified, the latter containing a uniform dark grey clay. The pits and ditch were covered by a broken brick foundation and thick gravel layer, which was cut by the foundation trench for the Castello.
7. In an attempt to establish the validity of Soame's drawing of the Castello d'Acqua, two trenches were excavated on the site of two plinths depicted on the drawing. No evidence for these was found, although a N-S wall with a possible ha ha was identified, together with a ditch and pits of probable medieval date.

Wilson, S., 2010, Aerial photographs of Wimpole Hall (Aerial Photograph). SCB21840.

<1> RCHM, 1968, An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the County of Cambridgeshire. Volume I. West Cambridgeshire, p. 217 (Bibliographic reference). SCB18049.

<2> Stroud, D., 13/9/1979, The Park and Gardens at Wimpole, Country Life, p. 760 - 761 (ill) (Article in serial). SCB14267.

<3> 1887, Ordnance Survey 1:2500, Sheet LIII.1 (Map). SCB19688.

<4> Richard Cushing, 2006, Information provided by researcher (Verbal communication). SCB19686.

<5> Adshead, D., 2003, Like a Roman Sepulchre: John Soane's design for a Castello d'Aqua at Wimpole, Cambridgeshire, and its Italian Origins. Apollo: 15-21 (Article in serial). SCB19687.

<6> Cambridge Archaeology Field Group, 2003, Wimpole Hall. The Castello d'Acqua (Unpublished report). SCB20463.

<7> Cambridge Archaeology Field Group, 2003, Excavation Wimpole 2003 (Unpublished report). SCB20464.

Sources and further reading

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