Duck's Pool is a small depression set in a remote location in the southern half 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 ...

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 ...

, England at . It lies between the sources of the

River Plym The River Plym is a river in Devon, England. It runs from Dartmoor in the centre of the county southwest to meet the River Meavy, then south towards Plymouth Sound. The river is popular with canoeists, and the Plym Valley Railway runs alongside ...

and the

River Erme The Erme is a river in south Devon, England. From its source on Dartmoor it flows in a generally southerly direction past some of the best-preserved archaeological remains on the moor. It leaves the moor at the town of Ivybridge and continues so ...

. No record exists of it having been a water-filled pool although there is a suggestion that it was drained by tin miners. However, in all but the driest periods, the area is usually boggy, and may have a small amount of standing water. The name may be derived from the use of "duck" as a generic term for

waterfowl Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae (three species of screamers), Anseranatidae (the magpie goose), and Anatidae, the largest family, which i ...

. At the end of the Pool there is the remains of a tinners' hut. Approximately downstream to the east are the remains of an old

blowing house A blowing house or blowing mill was a building used for smelting tin in Cornwall and on Dartmoor in Devon, in South West England. Blowing houses contained a furnace and a pair of bellows that were powered by an adjacent water wheel, and they w ...

roughly by . A number of Dartmoor authors suggest that it may be the one recorded as being in use in the Forester's Accounts of 1532. This working may have been responsible for the draining referred to above. The area from the Pool to the

has been extensively worked by tinners. In memory of Dartmoor author

William Crossing William Crossing (1847–1928) was a writer and chronicler of Dartmoor and the lives of its inhabitants. He lived successively in South Brent, Brentor and Mary Tavy but died in Plymouth, Devon. Early life Crossing was born in Plymouth on 14 No ...

a plaque and letterbox were placed at Duck's Pool by some members of a walking club known as Dobson's Moormen and other people in 1938.

References

{{Coord, 50.49380, N, 3.94130, W, region:GB_source:enwiki-osgb36(SX624678), display=title Dartmoor