More information : The remains of a water management system on the hillside south of Ellerton Priory. This system provided water to a variety of industrial and economic functions located on the hillside, and to the fishponds further north. It also supplied water to the priory for uses including the kitchen and the latrines. The system was created through the modification of natural watercourses and the construction of conduits and water channels known as leats. Juniper Gill was dammed just below Juniper Gill Plantation to create a reservoir to control water flow. A leat extended 80 metres west to a further natural watercourse from which additional water was fed into the reservoir. South-east of Juniper Gill Plantation is a second reservoir which fed 2 stone-lined conduits running north and downslope. The remains of the reservoir on Juniper Gill survives as prominent mounds either side of the gill, 20 metres below the plantation. The leat to the west survives as a prominent earth and stone bank, 2 metres wide on the north, with the 1.5 metre wide channel to the south. The second reservoir measures 30 metres by 17 metres and was formed from a natural hollow dammed at the western end. A 0.5 metre wide leat runs north from the west end of the, initially surviving as a shallow trench. Certain sections of its length run underground but it emerges further north as a stone-built conduit and, further north again, as embanked trenches up to 1.2 metres wide. The earthworks of a series of buildings survive along the east side of Juniper Gill, north of the dam. These represent the remains of buildings, such as mills and smithies, which needed a regulated water flow. One building, located around 150 metres north of the plantation, and measuring up to 6 metres by 3 metres, has been identified as a mill. The remains of 4 structures, interpreted as ancillary buildings such as workshops and stores, survive as low earthworks measuring up to 6 metres by 10 metres. Further structures requiring a water supply were located on the west of the leat lying to the east. These survive as 4 platforms cut into the slope and measure up to 6 metres by 4 metres.
It is thought that the exploitation of water at Juniper Gill pre-dates the priory and was associated with the medieval village. The mill building has been interpreted as possessing a horizontal water wheel, a form which had disappeared from England by the 12th century. Scheduled. (1) |