1. Stonehouse Leat was augmented by Plymouth Leat, officially (1688-1713) and thereafter sometimes unofficially or even surreptitiously.
2. At the bottom of the Devonport Leat cascade down Raddick Hill, after the iron aqueduct, the River Meavy and Hart Tor Brook both contribute water to Devonport Leat. These sources originally fed Plymouth Leat and now feed Burrator Reservoir directly. The original Act of Parliament that enabled the Devonport Leat strictly forbade any interference with water supplies to Plymouth Leat but by the time this link was made, after the drought of 1976, Plymouth Leat had long been rendered unnecessary after the opening of Burrator Reservoir in 1898. Devonport Leat now feeds partially into the modern reservoir, via the cascading waterfall, and partially into Dousland water works, whose water goes back to Princetown.
3. Drainage from the WW2 aerodrome at Yelverton (RAF Harrowbeer) goes into Devonport Leat at a location a few yards on the Plymouth side of the turning into Yelverton Cricket Club. The water runs for approximately 200 metres, under a small road bridge (the road being more or less opposite the Crapstone turn-off), where immediately after the bridge, it is piped into the Plymouth Leat.
4. The Plymouth Leat flow, if considerable, reaches a dam in the leat where it runs downhill towards the River Meavy where is is again leated away by the recently maintained Clearbrook Leat (i.e. this probably being Crymes' Leat from 1599). The leat eventually peters out and the water runs down from two or three breaches to drain away to the River Meavy. This can all be seen on the Clearbrook Leat page.
Devonport Leat at the bottom of Raddick Hill, where it is passing over the aqueduct over the River Meavy (or Mewy) - the handrail of which is just visible in the mist in the background. The water from the pipe comes from the river a little further up the Meavy valley (see following photographs) .....
Structure over the pipe from the river. There are two inspection covers in the top and three steps inset into the side of the structure to enable access .....
The pipeline .....
The pipeline crosses the River Meavy .....
The grilled structure is the beginning of the pipeline to Devonport Leat ..... the "sluiced-away" Meavy is nearest the camera (see next photograph): the "taken" Meavy and Hart Tor Brook come in via the walled structure from the upper left .....
Slightly upstream ..... this is the River Meavy (with a sluice to the right). Hart Tor Brook comes in from the left at this point .....
Looking at the take-off point for the pipe down to Devonpport Leat.
The photographs above were taken 8th September 2011.
Devonport Leat emerging from under the main road (A386 Plymouth-Yelverton) road a few yards on the Plymouth side of the Yelverton Cricket Club turn-off .....
The channel emerging from under the main road a few yards downstream of where the leat itself emerges from under the road: Devonport Leat is seen on the right of the photograph (this area awaits scrub clearance).
Location where Devonport Leat drains into a pipe (towards top-centre of photo) that runs to the nearby Plymouth Leat. The structure to the left of the photograph is the small road bridge down the road that turns off the main road almost opposite the Crapstone turn-off. Click the image to see a movie.
Tip: To see the movies at Full Screen mode, press F11 on your keyboard. Remember to press it again afterwards to return to Normal View.
Plymouth Leat, showing the inflow from Devonport Leat. Click the image to see a movie.
The photographs above were taken 21st December 2012.
Plymouth Leat flowing after heavy rains in December 2012, feeding into the Clearbrook Leat which is downhill to the right. The movie starts with the view above, then it pans left to show the dam in the leat, then a little further left to show the clapper bridge and the dry leat beyond, it then pans back right again and around to show the beginning of the cascade down the hill towards the Clearbrook Leat that leads to the River Meavy. Click the image to see a movie.
|
|
All photographs on this web site are copyright © 2007-2016 Keith Ryan.
All rights reserved - please email for permissions