| More information : SX 6989 8050: Leat on the W slope of Hamel Down.
It is visible as a silted U-shaped channel averaging 1m wide and 0.4m deep with occasional traces of a low, vegetation-covered upcast bank on the downslope side, at best 1.5m wide and 0.4m high. This leat carried water N up the valley from a stream at SX 6994 8028, running a gentle curving course through unimproved moorland with light clitter to another stream, Grimslake, at SX 6993 8085 and 6990 8085 [close to the end it forks, the lower course being the latest]. The fall is only c.4m.
The function of this leat may have been to indirectly augment the water supply to tin working areas and machinery in the valley below by taking water up the valley to top up the Grimslake which in turn fed the West Webburn river off which further leats were taken. Alternatively, it is possible that it crossed the Grimslake and delivered water to tinworking areas on Headland Warren, beyond the current area of investigation. Its date is not known. Another similar leat lies 160m to the W [see SX 68 SE 157].
Visible on A.P's. (1)
See plan with SX 67 NE 111 for survey at 1:2500. (2)
The post-medieval leat is visible as an earthwork on visualisations on Environment Agency 1m Lidar data flown in 2021. The northern section closest to Grims Lake is forked. Approximately 315m of the leat, extending southwards from Grims Lake, was mapped from aerial sources in 2023 during the Historic England Dartmoor-Plym project. (3)
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