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Summary

The Fairwater leat supplied water to Kingsteington village and power to three mills. Fed from a spring at Rydon which was dammed to form a pond. A series of ditches dug along side Berry Lane in the later medieval period, the fill of which contained pottery dating from the late 13th to 15th centuries suggest that the leat and Berry Lane are likely to have been first created in the 13th century.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX87SE/47

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• LEAT (XIII - 1201 AD to 1300 AD (Between))

Full description

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

Mill Leat marked on 1880s-1890s 25 inch Ordnance Survey map.

Ordnance Survey, 1906, 109SE* (Cartographic). SDV336786.

Harris, R., 1977, King's Teignton, 11-12 (Monograph). SDV284175.

Mill leat, formerly Fairwater. Supplied Kingsteignton village and three mills from a spring at Rydon, dammed to form a pond. Constructed by monks from Salisbury in the 13th century. The Kingsteignton Ram Roast originated in a ceremony involved in the annual cleaning of the leat.

Weddell, P. J. + Henderson, C. G., 1985, Excavations at Berry Meadow, Kingsteignton, 1985, 72, 74 (Article in Serial). SDV354914.

The leat served three mills: Higher Mill and Town Mill on the north side of the village and Lower Mill immediately south of the churchyard. Berry Lane probbly originated as a field path next to the leat. The absence of a mill in the Domesday Book entry for Kingsteignton suggests a post-conquest date for the leat's construction. Excavation at Berry Meadow in 1985 revealed evidence for the digging of successive ditches along the edge of Berry Lane in the later medieval period which were on a different alignment to the earlier ditches encountered. These later ditches contained pottery spanning the period between the late 13th and 15th centuries suggesing that the leat and path now called Berry Lane are likely to have been created in the 13th century.

Weddell, P. J., 1987, Excavations within the Anglo Saxon Enclosure at Berry Meadow, Kingsteignton, in 1985 (Article in Serial). SDV298084.

The mill leat bisects boundary alignments of the Saxon and earlier medieval period. A 13th century date for the leat was confirmed by excavations in 1985. Evidence was revealed of gullies defining tracks or paths adjacent to the leat which contained pottery dated AD1250-1400.

Weddell, P. J., 1993, Archaeological Assessment of SWW Teigngrace to Kingsteignton Water Main, 3 (Report - Assessment). SDV284172.

The leat is cut by a water pipe at SX87167265.

Exeter Archaeology, 2006, Archaeological Assessment of Land Adjacent to Church Street, Kingsteignton, 1 (Report - Assessment). SDV351199.

Ordnance Survey, 2012, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV348725.

Nowell, J., 2012, Penns Mount, Kingsteignton, Devon: Archaeological Desk Based Assessment, 11 (Report - Assessment). SDV351968.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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