Devonport Leat |
| Hob Uid: 1463454 | |
Location :
Devon
West Devon, South Hams
City of Plymouth
Buckland Monachorum, Meavy, Dartmoor Forest, Bickleigh, Walkhampton
Non Civil Parish
|
| Grid Ref : SX5548807014 |
| Summary : The Devonport Leat or Dock Leat was constructed for the Plymouth Dock Waterworks Company following Parilamentary approval in 1793. It is 28 miles long, although little survives within Plymouth. There are numerous surviving components, including weirs, aqueducts and tunnels. |
More information : Leat. (1)
The Devonport Leat commences at an elaborate weir (SX 6084 7798) on the West Dart River at 417m O.D. It traverses the side of a steep E slope as a slab-lined channel 1.5m to 2.0m wide and a maximum 1.0m deep. At SX 6034 7563 the water drains into an underground pipe which crosses the Cowsic River via an aqueduct dated 1888 (SX 6006 7539) and emerges as a fountain at 397m O.D (SX 6008 7532). Between the two points the leat channel crosses the Cowsic via a weir; the first section to the river is dry and abandoned, the section from the river to the fountain carries water collected at the weir. The leat follows a sinuous course to the Blockabrook aqueduct at 394m O.D
(SX 5875 7457) and thence to the Nun's Cross Tunnel at 392m O.D
(SX 6072 6972). The abandoned `trench' lies between SX 6088 7078 and SX 6076 7041; a second abandoned section was identified above the leat between SX 6089 6988 and SX 6069 6978.
The contract for the Devonport Leat was placed in 1793 to supply Plymouth Dock (Devonport) with water. It is 27 miles long and in places runs parallel with Plymouth (Drakes) Leat. It was completed in 1801.
Under powers obtained in 1793, the Plymouth Dock Waterworks Company erected weirs on the three main streams and diverted the water into leats, all three leats meeting at a point north of the Princetown Convict Prison. In 1794 J.Andrews wrote that water to Dock is taken from Blackabrook about a mile west of Two Bridges, some miles of it are completed. So when the leat was first opened its headweir was at the point where it is now aqueducted across the Blackabrook.
From here the leat contoured the hill via Tor Royal, Peat Cot and whiteworks, then passed into the Meavy watershead through a tunnel about 648 yards in length crossed the River Meavy in an iron shute or launder and then contoured the opposite hill via Dousland Yelverton Roborough and Crownhill to Devonport. At Sunny Corner, near Whiteworks a trench which extends for some distance is the original cutting for the leat abandoned because it was at a level too low for the tunnel.
The leat has not to exceed ten feet in breadth and is still in use as far as Dousland, a length of 17 miles; from here the water was conveyed in pipes. In 1898 the water from the upper section of the leat was diverted into Burrator Reservoir.
Between SX 6073 6973 and SX 6016 6988 it runs through a tunnel constructed as an afterthought. Earlier, abandoned water course at a higher level at SX 607 698. (2-5) |