See important guidance on the use of this record.

If you have any comments or new information about this record, please email us.

Summary

Leat to the former Town Mill, taken off the River Yeo at a weir at Raleigh. The mill race or leat is first referred to in a document of 1248. It is likely, therefore, that it was also in existence in 1107 when 'the mill of Barnstaple' is recorded in the foundation charter for the Priory.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• North Devon District Council Rescue Archaeology Unit Site Code: ND111
• North Devon District Council Rescue Archaeology Unit Site Code: ND135
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SS53SE/168

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• LEAT (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD (Between))

Full description

Devon County Council Conservation Section, 13/04/1984, Barnstaple Town Mill Leat, 602/25 (Photograph). SDV91836.

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

Mill Leat marked. Map object based on this source.

Devon County Council Conservation Section, 1983, Barnstaple Town Mill Leat, Film 575/26 (Photograph). SDV91835.

Griffiths, D. M., 1984, An Archaeological Assessment of the Proposed Route of the Barnstaple Urban Relief Road Stages II and III, 8, 13 (Report - Assessment). SDV74017.

The mill race or leat is referred to in a document of 1248. It is likely, therefore, that it was also in existence in 1107 when 'the mill of Barnstaple' is recorded in the foundation charter for the Priory. Part of the leat is along the proposed route of the relief road.

North Devon Archaeological Society, 1989, North Devon Watermills, 50-51 (Monograph). SDV337776.

A greater length of the leat is now culverted. There was a Domesday mill at Barnstaple which probably worked off the same leat; it may have been sited near the River Yeo.

North Devon District Council Rescue Archaeology Unit, 1991, North Devon Archaeological Site Code Index, Site Code ND111, 135 (Report - non-specific). SDV63429.

At Rackfield the leat was surveyed and monitored during construction work on the line of the relief road in 1987 and 1988. Stream deposits were observed and a worked stone fragment recovered and recorded in 1988.

Southwest Archaeology, 2013, Greater Barnstaple Area Project Database, Mapping Area 101, 125 (Un-published). SDV351581.

Ordnance Survey, 2013, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV350786.

Map object based on this source.

Timms, S., 27/06/1983, Barnstaple Town Mill Leat (Personal Comment). SDV91834.

Leat to Barnstaple Town Mill. Medieval in origin. Runs off the River Yeo at SS56593396. Its course is still open as far as Pilton causeway (A39) but has now been culverted from there to the mill site. It is affected by urban relief road proposals.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8187 - Archaeological assessment of proposed route of the Barnstaple Relief Road, Stages II and III

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.