The Devonport Leat is a leat in

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

constructed in the 1790s to carry fresh drinking water from the high ground of

Dartmoor Dartmoor is an upland area in southern Devon, South West England. The moorland and surrounding land has been protected by National Park status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers . The granite that forms the uplands dates from the Carb ...

to the expanding dockyards at Plymouth Dock (which was renamed as

Devonport, Devon Devonport ( ), formerly named Plymouth Dock or just Dock, is a district of Plymouth in the English county of Devon, although it was, at one time, the more important settlement. It became a county borough in 1889. Devonport was originally one o ...

on 1 January 1824).

Feedwaters

It is fed by five Dartmoor rivers: the West Dart, the Cowsic, the Hart Tor Brook, the River Meavy and the Blackabrook (this last apparently was the first portion to supply Plymouth Dock). Aqueduct 2

Construction

Dartmoor

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

was used to construct the water channel, as well as a small aqueduct and a tunnel.

Historic changes

It was originally designed to carry water all the way to Plymouth Dock, a total distance of , but has since been shortened and the operational part of the leat now stops near the Burrator Reservoir dam. Some of the water goes through underground pipes to the water treatment works at Dousland; the rest goes into the Burrator Reservoir which provides most of the water supply of Plymouth. For part of the route to Dousland the pipes follow the route of the disused Yelverton to

Princetown Princetown is a villageDespite its name, Princetown is not classed as a town today – it is not included in the County Council's list of the 29 towns in Devon: located within Dartmoor national park in the English county of Devon. It is the ...

Railway. Before the piped supply to Dousland was installed, the water was used for a

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

turbine near Yelverton Reservoir and fed by a pipe.

Route

The Devonport Leat begins a short distance to the north of Wistman's Wood at an altitude of over and twice passes close to Two Bridges (following the contours up the Cowsic valley in between) before heading towards

. Its water supply now ends up in Burrator Reservoir. It follows a meandering path across the moor, carefully selected by engineers to follow the natural contours of the land.

References

External links