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Summary

The Phillips Leat was constructed by William Phillips in approximately 1835 to carry water to his newly leased clay works on Lee Moor. The leat took water from the River Plym, above Langcombe Brook, under Little Gnats Head, and during its working life was known as the Little Gnats Head Leat. Shortly after its construction an agreement was made that after use in China Clay Works, the water was utilised in Hemerdon Tin Mine. The Phillips Leat was abandoned sometime around 1877.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1019083: Medieval farmstead and field system, length of Willings Walls Reave, four round cairns, a ring cairn and pillow mounds at Willings Walls Warren
• Scheduled Monument 1019082: Multi-period remains at Hentor Warren
• SHINE: Earthwork remains of possible extension to Medieval or later field system as well as area of tinworking at Mill Corner
• SHINE: Earthwork remains of Medieval or later line of tin streamworking running north-west by south-east along Shavercombe Brook

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX56SE216
• National Monuments Record: SX56SE240
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 1356075
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 1360628
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX56NE/386
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX66NW/118
• Old SAM Ref Revised: 24231
• Old SAM Ref: 24230(PART)(P)

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• LEAT (XIX - 1825 AD (Between) to 1877 AD (Between))

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1890, 4284, 4286 (Aerial Photograph). SDV169268.

Hemery, E., 1983, High Dartmoor, 197-199 (Monograph). SDV249702.

The Phillips Leat was constructed by William Phillips in approximately 1835 to carry water to his newly leased clay works on Lee Moor. The leat took water from the River Plym, above Langcombe Brook, under Little Gnats Head, and during its working life was known as the Little Gnats Head Leat.
Shortly after its construction an agreement was made that after use in China Clay Works, the water was utilised in Hemerdon Tin Mine.

National Monuments Record, 1983, SF2134, 47-54, 067 (Aerial Photograph). SDV231262.

Visible on the aerial photograph.

Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, 1985, Aerial Photograph Project (Dartmoor) - Dartmoor Pre-NMP (Cartographic). SDV319854.

Leat on north slope of Hentor Warren, running between the 355 and 360 metre contours. Cuts across field system MDV24936. Eastern termination SX59046578, western termination at junction with Shavercombe Brook SX59496610.
Leat on Willing Walls Warren running between the 1100 and 1125ft contour. SX58296500. Termination? after crossing Hentor Brook at boundary of Hentor Warren small field system at SX58826532.
SX 6023 6707 Leat extends off map at SX 6000 6717, having cut through an enclosure (SX66NW/35) and hut circles.
(Three separate records for this leat have been combined).

Gerrard, S., 1990-2002, Monument Protection Programme. Archaeological Item Dataset., MPP 140761, 7/11/1995 (Report - Survey). SDV277946.

The Phillips Leat cuts through Hentor Warren from SX59496608 to SX59796529, and was constructed by William Phillips in approximately 1835 to carry water to his newly leased clay works on Lee Moor. The leat took water from the River Plym, above Langcombe Brook, under Little Gnats Head, and during its working life was known as the Little Gnats Head Leat. Shortly after its construction an agreement was made that after use in the china clay works, the water was carried to serve Hemerdon Tin Mine. In 1877 the Bottle Hill Mine closed and the Lee Moor China Clay Works were able to use the former mine leat, which to this day remains operational and is known as the Lee Moor China Clay Leat (MDV24933). The Phillips Leat was therefore abandoned sometime around 1877.
Within the scheduled area the leat survives as a 1525 metres long, 1 metre wide and 0.5 metres deep channel flanked on the downslope side by a 2 metre wide and 0.4 metre high bank which was thrown up during its construction. At SX59056568 a bridge has been built over the leat and this survives as an arrangement of long flat stones. On its route through Hentor Warren the leat cuts through a number of earlier archaeological features, including an enclosure, a field system and animal runs. It is considered very likely that the route taken between Shavercombe Brook and Hentor Farm followed the course of an earlier leat which carried water to the farm.
Section between SX58316474 to SX58406427: The leat survives as a 430 metre long, 1 metre wide and 0.5 metre deep channel flanked on the downslope side by 2 metre wide and 0.4 metre high bank which was thrown up during its construction. The leat cuts through the field system associated with the medieval farmstead.

Gerrard, S., 1993-2010, Monument Protection Programme Alternative Action Report (Report - non-specific). SDV145710.

Visited in 2002. Considered under the Monument Protection Programme but not recommended for scheduling.

Butler, J., 1994, Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities: Volume Three - The South-West, Map 49 (Monograph). SDV137656.

Robertson, J. G., 1994, The Archaeology of the Upper Plym Valley (Post-Graduate Thesis). SDV139549.

Phillips Leat - 19th century clayworks leat supplying the China clay works on Lee Moor.

National Trust and English Heritage, 1994, The Upper Plym Valley: The Management of an Historic Landscape, 151-2, 102 520 (Report - non-specific). SDV166309.

The leat conveyed water across Langcombe Brook, across Shavercombe Brook just below the waterfall and across Shavercombe Down. The leat cuts through the field system here and skirts past the eastern side of Hentor House. The leat continued across Hentor Brook, round Willings Walls to the head of Spanish Lake where it then coursed down a steep slope to the south-west along a watercourse, known as Spring Tide. This eventually issued into Big Pond, after crossing the Bottle Hill Mine Leat (now the China Clay Leat, Monument 47) by aqueduct.
In 1877 the Bottle Hill Mine closed and the Lee Moor China Clay works were able to use the former mine leat. Subsequently, in around 1879 the Phillips Leat was abandoned. In August 1972 the China Clay company constructed an earthwork dam (Monument X3) at the top of Spring Tide to divert the water from the leat and Cotor Brook into Spanish Lake. A deep gully (Monument X5) now by-passes the dam.
The leat is mostly well-preserved. It seems to have been interrupted by a tinner’s gully, east of Shavercombe Brook; though this may be natural erosion. There are also a few breaks in the bank, north of Hentor Farm. The leat consists of a 1 metre wide ditch, flanked on west downhill side by a 2 metre wide bank, though these proportions vary slightly. Stones are occasionally visible in the bank.
Dimensions: River Plym to Langcombe Brook: 360 metres
Langcombe Brook to Shavercombe Brook: 1720 metres
Shavercombe Brook to Hentor Brook: 1525 metres
Hentor Brook to southern surveyed limit: 1130 metres
Total length: 4735 metres, Total length of River Plym to Big Pond: 6335 metres

Probert, S. A. J. + Fletcher, M. J., 2002, Plym Valley survey (Report - Survey). SDV350782.

(20/05/2002) SX 60476738 to SX 58236446. The Phillips Leat is visible as a dry channel rising on the left bank of the River Plym slightly above Plym Ford and running for approximately 7km before it ends at a former reservoir at the head of Spring Tide. The Channel measures up to 2.0m wide and 1.2m deep and is fronted by an often massive bank for much of its length.

GeoInformation Group Ltd, 2010, 1:625 2010 Colour aerial photography for Dartmoor (12.5cm resolution) (Aerial Photograph). SDV346026.

Leat is visible on the aerial photograph although the section east of Shavercombe Tor is unclear. Map object based on this source.

Ordnance Survey, 2015, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV357601.

Parts of the course of the leat still depicted on the modern mapping. Map object based on this source.

Historic England, 2021-2022, NRHE to HER website, Accessed 17/09/2021 (Website). SDV364039.

[1356075] SX58106460 A length of Phillips Leat, constructed in around 1835 by William Phillips to carry water to the clay works on Lee Moor, and abandoned in about 1877. It cuts through both Willings Walls Warren and the remains of a medieval field system. The scheduled length is 430 metres long, 1 metre wide and 0.5 metres deep. It is flanked on one side by a 2 metre wide and 0.4 metre high bank. Scheduled (EH Scheduling amendment, 09-MAY-2001).

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8148 - The Upper Plym Valley: The Management of an Historic Landscape
• EDV8155 - Plym Valley Survey: EH Project (Feb 2001 - Dec 2002)

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