Lamb’s Conduit Street was named in honour of William Lambe, who generously donated £1500 to rebuild the Holborn Conduit in 1564. The Conduit – a large cistern – was supplied with water from a dam across a tributary of the River Fleet.
Lambe – who hailed from Kent – noticed a spring in Holborn “where there was spring water as clear as crystal”.
The water was carried through a network of lead pipes from these northern fields for more than two thousand yards.
The water was distributed to the Snow Hill area. Lambe also provided 120 pails to help poor women earn a living by selling the water. The tributary flowed from west to east along the north side of Long Yard, followed the curved path of Roger Street, and joined the Fleet near Mount Pleasant. This made it the boundary between the Ancient Parishes of Holborn to the south and St Pancras to the north.
However, the New River, which opened in 1613, led to a decline in the Conduit’s importance, and it was ultimately demolished in 1746. The remains of the Conduit’s head can still be seen on the side of a building constructed in the 1950s at the corner of Lamb’s Conduit Street and Long Yard, with an inscription that reads “Lamb’s Conduit, the property of the City of London. This pump was erected for the benefit of the Publick.”
To commemorate the Conduit’s social benefit, a fountain was constructed at the north end of Lamb’s Conduit Street where it intersects with Guilford Street. This fountain stands as a testament to the historical significance of Lamb’s Conduit and its contributions to the community.
