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Summary

Old Bottle Hill Leat, running south from the Tory Brook on Ridding Down to Bottle Hill Mine and into the Smallhanger Brook. The leat is depicted on the Ordnance Survey 1880s First Edition 25inch map and is identifiable, as lengths of earthwork embankment and ditch, on aerial photographs of 1946 onwards and visualisations derived from lidar data captured between 1998 and 2017. The north and south ends of the leat have been damaged or destroyed by mining and the diversion of the Tory Brook resulting from mining.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1004572: Crownhill Down, barrow cemetery
• SHINE: Prehistoric barrows and hut platforms, remains of parallel reave system dating to the Bronze Age and enclosure of unknown date on Ridding Down

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: 1343800
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX55NE/12/1

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• LEAT (XV to XVI - 1500 AD to 1600 AD)

Full description

Ordnance Survey, 1880-1899, First Edition Ordnance 25 inch map (Cartographic). SDV336179.

'Old Bottle Hill Leat' shown on 19th century map running south from the Tory Brook on Ridding Down at SX57856170 to Smallhanger Brook at SX56585868 via Bottle Hill Mine.

Ordnance Survey, 1904 - 1906, Second Edition Ordnance Survey 25 inch Map (Cartographic). SDV325644.

Leat shown on early 20th century map.

Royal Air Force, 1946, 106G/UK/1190, 4251-2 (Aerial Photograph). SDV170515.

'Old Bottle Hill Leat' serving Bottle Hill Mine can still be traced from the Tory Brook at SX578613.

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/106G/UK/1190, RAF/106G/UK/1190 RS 4253-4254 27-FEB-1946 (Aerial Photograph). SDV363067.

The leat is visible as an earthwork ditch or embankment., although obscured on parts by vegetation.

Ordnance Survey, 1969, OS/69296, OS/69296 V 018-019 29-JUN-1969 (Aerial Photograph). SDV361475.

The leat is visible as an earthwork ditch.

National Monuments Record, 1978, SX5759, 4/183-190 (Aerial Photograph). SDV343683.

Old Bottle Hill Leat visible from SX57136000 to SX5696592.

Gilbertson, D. + Collis, J., 1982, Mapping Three Millennia of Settlement and Land Use on Crownhill Down, South West Dartmoor (Article in Serial). SDV362901.

Old Bottle Hill Leat probably constructed in the 16th century or earlier. Originally intended to feed tinworkings on Crownhill Down, but later diverted to feed Bottle Hill Mine.

Gilbertson, D. + Collis, J., 1985, Linear Banks on Crownhill Down, Dartmoor (Article in Serial). SDV337244.

Old Bottle Hill Leat probably constructed in the 16th century or earlier. Originally intended to feed tinworkings on Crownhill Down, but later diverted to feed Bottle Hill Mine.

Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, 1985, SX55NE (Cartographic). SDV337243.

Leat shown on 1985 interpretation.

Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, 1985, SX56SE (Cartographic). SDV336987.

Leat shown on 1985 interpretation.

Greeves, T. A. P., 1990, An Assessment of Dartmoor Tinworking, 33 (Report - Assessment). SDV343684.

Environment Agency, 1998-2017, LiDAR DTM data (1m resolution) EA: South Devon Coast to Dartmoor, LIDAR SX5660 Environment Agency DTM 01-JAN-1998 to 31-MAY-2017 (Cartographic). SDV361470.

The leat is visible as an earthwork ditch or embankment.

Bluesky International Ltd/Getmapping PLC, 1999-2017, Pan Government Agreement Aerial Photographs, Next Perspectives APGB Imagery SX5759 03-MAY-2007 (Aerial Photograph). SDV363087.

The southernmost end of the leat has been destroyed by modern mining.

National Monuments Record, 2002, 1343800 (National Monuments Record Database). SDV343685.

Old Bottle Hill Leat is a well defined dry leat which conveyed water from the Tory Brook to Bottle Hill Tin Mines at SX56555872. It may at one time have provided water for the extensive openwork on Crownhill Down. This substantial leat, now silted, with an earthen bank on the downhill side, follows a sinuous course across moorland hillslopes. It drops in height from about 220 metres to 140 metres over a distance of some 3 kilometres. It probably originated in the 16th century.

Fletcher, M., 2002, The Archaeological Landscape of Crownhill Down and Ridding Down: Survey Report, 5 (Report - Survey). SDV343412.

The Old Bottle Leat was originally one of several leats suppling the large tin streamworking across the southern end of Crownhill Down which ended at earthwork reservoirs where water was stored for the streaming process. The leats were adapted for later mining and the Bottle Hill Leat supplied the Bottle Hill Mine first recorded in 1715. Other details: Figure 3 and Crownhill Down Survey.

Dyer, M. J., 2003, Archaeological Survey, Evaluation and Recording of a Trial Extraction Site at Hemerdon Pit, Crownhill Down, 2 (Report - Evaluation). SDV159627.

Ordnance Survey, 2009, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV341569.

Part of 'Old Bottle Leat' shown on modern mapping.

NERC, 2013, LiDAR DTM data (1m resolution) Tellus: South Devon to Dartmoor, LIDAR SX5759-SX5760 Tellus DTM 01-JUL-2013 to 31-AUG-2013 (Cartographic). SDV361514.

The leat is visible as an earthwork ditch or embankment.

Hegarty, C., Knight, S. and Sims, R., 2019-2021, The South Devon Coast to Dartmoor Aerial Investigation and Mapping Survey. Area 2, Avon Valley to Plymouth (AI&M, formerly NMP) (Interpretation). SDV362982.

A continuous length curvilinear bank and ditch is identifiable on aerial photographs of 1946 onwards and visualisations derived from lidar data captured between 1998 and 2017, extending for over 2.6km from the Tory Brook on Ridding Down to the north to the southern slopes of Crownhill Down to the south.
The visible earthworks correspond closely for much their length with the Old Bottle Hill Leat as depicted on the Ordnance Survey 1880s First Edition 25inch map although it is obscured from view by dense scrub vegetation and visible on lidar derived images only as an embankment for significant lengths.
It is not possible to accurately transcribe the northernmost circa 400m of the Old Bottle Hill Leat from the sources available to the survey, as between circa 1880 and 1904 the encroaching clay works to the west caused the course of the Tory Brook to be diverted into the Old Bottle Hill Leat channel, significantly altering the character of the leat.
The southernmost circa 660m of the leat is obscured from view on the available sources by hedgerow planting, and the adjacent circa 560m, extending northwards onto Crownhill Down, was destroyed by the expansion of minerals extraction between 2007 and 2016.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV4559 - Archaeological Landscape of Crownhill Down and Riddding Down
• EDV8098 - The South Devon Coast to Dartmoor Aerial Investigation and Mapping (formerly NMP) Survey, Area 2, Avon Valley to Plymouth (Ref: ACD2040)

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