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Summary

Leat runs from its take off from the River Tavy at Hill Bridge to the Wheal Friendship Mine, where it powered a water wheel that drove the flat rods to Bennett's Shaft. Partly runs through a tunnel from a point south of Midlands northwards to Axna, where it emerges again and runs across the fields to the mine.

Location

Protected Status

• SHINE: Structural remains of buildings and machinery, as well as earthwork and buried remains of features relating to the Wheal Friendship Mine, Mary Tavy, worked between 1700-1925
• SHINE: Earthwork remains of a section of the Hill Bridge Leat, Mary Tavy, which has at least 19th century origins

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX57NW/158
• SHINE Candidate (Yes)

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• LEAT (XVIII to XXI - 1751 AD to 2009 AD (Between))

Full description

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

‘Mine Leat’ depicted on the First Edition Ordnance Survey map and location of the tunnel section indicated by row of 'mine shafts' from Midlands northwards to Axna, where the course of the leat is again plotted. Map object based on this source.

Royal Air Force, 1949, RAF 540/226, 5161-2 (Aerial Photograph). SDV271060.

Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, 1985, Aerial Photograph Project (Interpretation). SDV319854.

Mine leat on south-facing bank of the River Meavy. Largely following the 725 foot contour. Enters map at SX52848000. Visible until approximately SX51587966. Possibly turns south at this point and enters a reservoir which also lies on the 725 foot contour. Also mine leat flows into disused workings of the Devon Friendship Mine at SX50917939. Largely follows 725 foot contour.

Richardson, P. H. G., 1992, The Mines of Dartmoor and the Tamar Valley after 1913, 36-45, Figure 5 (Article in Serial). SDV323598.

The two leats the Royal Commission (1985) refer to are one and the same and were linked by an underground stretch. The leat, supplying Wheal Friendship, flowed from Hill Bridge. Now also flows into a reservoir.
This leat had its take-off at Hill Bridge and older maps show it running to a point 3/8 mile south-west of Horndon, where it apparently ended abruptly, but in fact it entered a runnel through which it flowed north-westwards for a 1/4 mile, emerging near Axna. The course of the tunnel is marked on older maps by nearly a dozen 'old shafts', suggesting that to expedite completion there may have been simultaneous drives in both directions from each shaft linking up with the drives from adjacent shafts. From Axna it went across the fields to the large wheel pit just south-west of Brenton's Shaft, afterwards joining the leat from Tavy Cleave (MDV56150) at the angle of the main arsenic flue, the combined flow if the two probably going down beside the flue to the lower parts of the mine, but this is conjecture.
Route of the leat depicted on plan, it powered the water wheel that drove the flat rods to Bennett's Shaft.

Dartmoor Trust and Dartmoor National Park Authority, 2010, Dartmoor Trust Leats Project 2009-2010 (Report - Survey). SDV347530.

Hill Bridge Leat, Mary Tavy surveyed and recorded flowing between SX531804 - SX512791. (Tavy) Attractive leat, public footpath access along some of its length. Serves Mary Tavy Power Station. Owned and maintained by South West Water. Hill Bridge weir being reconstructed by the Environment Agency to provide better intake and improved fish pass. Enters private land at Horndon Bridge. Other details: T:\Dartmoor Leats Survey / Q:\MAPDATA\HISTORIC\LeatsProject.

Ordnance Survey, 2011, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV346129.

Leat is partly depicted on the modern mapping; at least as far as SX5151 7964. Map object based on this Source.

Waterhouse, R., 2017, The Tavistock Canal. Its History and Archaeology, 242-3, fig 6.74 (Monograph). SDV361789.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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