Plymouth or "Drake's" Leat

This leat, built to carry water from Dartmoor to Plymouth, passes directly beneath the garden. It is protected by a concrete arch and is now dry. Access was exposed during construction of a private garage in 1984 and the leat was explored underground for nearly 1000 metres.  The access has now been closed apart from a small manhole cover in the adjacent garden. Initially I had hoped  to open a section of the leat in order to restore it and perhaps fill a small section with water for use as a pond. Unfortunately the thickness of the concrete arch precluded this. Because of the proximity of the top of the arch to the surface I decided to lay the main path on top of the leat. It is believed that the stone cappings on the wall in Chester Place were from a clapper bridge that crossed the footpath that became Houndiscombe Road.

History

The leat was first mooted in 1560 but not surveyed until 1576 when the route to supply water from the River Meavy on Dartmoor to Plymouth was decided. Due to the necessity of following the contours the length of the leat was seventeen and a half miles.

In 1584 the Plymouth Water Bill was introduced to Parliament with the following clauses:

1. To provide a supply of water for naval and merchant shipping.

2. To provide water for fire fighting in Plymouth.

3. To scour Sutton Harbour of silt.

4. To improve the poor quality of land on Dartmoor adjacent to the proposed leat.

This bill was passed to a committee chaired by Sir Francis Drake who proposed an additional clause stating that mills could be erected and operated on the banks of the leat. Due to lack of funding caused by the war with Spain and the Armada construction was not commenced until 1590 and completed in 1591. Drake was paid £200 for the work plus another £100 for compensation to landowners. In the event he paid out only £100 for construction and £60 for compensation making a tidy £140 profit. The mill, into which the leat flowed, was leased by Drake as were all six of the new mills built in the same year.

On completion of the leat it was obvious that little heed had been paid to the original clauses as the leat didn't flow to the naval victualling yard at Lambhay until 1645, it was of no use for fire fighting as it avoided the built up areas of the city, it never went near Sutton Harbour and finally no arrangements for supplying irrigation were ever made with the taking of water from the lease being made illegal. It can therefore be seen that the primary purpose was to enable Drake to capitalise on his milling operations. Some of the excess water was made available to the public after it had driven the mill wheels but by 1600 only 30 homes had been connected.

The leat has long since been disused and has been broken in many places. There are a few sections still visible in the Northern suburbs of Plymouth as well as long sections on the moors.