Drake's Leat, also known as Plymouth Leat, was a watercourse constructed in the late 16th century to tap the River Meavy

River Meavy

The river Meavy is a river in Dartmoor in Devon in south-west England. It forms the outlet from Burrator Reservoir, and flows generally south-west past the village of Meavy and then south before it joins the River Plym at the upper end of Bickleigh Vale....

 on Dartmoor

Dartmoor

Dartmoor is an area of moorland in south Devon, England. Protected by National Park status, it covers .The granite upland dates from the Carboniferous period of geological history. The moorland is capped with many exposed granite hilltops known as tors, providing habitats for Dartmoor wildlife. The...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 in order to supply Plymouth

Plymouth

Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...

 with water. It was one of the first municipal water supplies in the country.

Plans

The leat

Leat

A leat is the name, common in the south and west of England and in Wales, for an artificial watercourse or aqueduct dug into the ground, especially one supplying water to a watermill or its mill pond...

 was first mooted in 1560 but not surveyed until 1576 when the route was decided. Due to the necessity of following the contours the length of the leat was seventeen and a half miles.

In 1581, Sir Francis Drake became Mayor of Plymouth and it was at this time that the idea for the leat was considered by the Corporation of Plymouth.

When Elizabeth I called a parliament in 1584, the Water Bill for Plymouth was already prepared for presentation. The bill had the following clauses:

1. To provide a supply of water for naval and merchant shipping.
2. To provide water for fire fighting in Plymouth.
3. To scour Sutton Harbour of silt.
4. To improve the poor quality of land on Dartmoor adjacent to the proposed leat.

The bill was passed to a Select Committee chaired by Sir Francis Drake for consideration. Drake proposed an additional clause stating that mills

Watermill

A watermill is a structure that uses a water wheel or turbine to drive a mechanical process such as flour, lumber or textile production, or metal shaping .- History :...

 could be erected and operated on the banks of the leat. It gained royal assent and was passed as an Act in 1585 "For the Preservation of the Haven of Plymouth".

The town was authorized:

"... to digge and myne a Diche or Trenche conteynenge in Bredthe betwene sixe or seaven ffoote over in all Places throughe and over all the Lands and Grounds lyeing betweene the saide Towne of Plymmowth and anye parte of the saide Ryver Mewe als Mevye, and to digge, myne, breake, bancke and caste vpp, all and all maner of Rockes Stones Gravell Sande and all other Letts in anye places or Groundes for the conveyant or necessarie Conveyange of the same River to the saide Towne ..."

Construction

Due to lack of funding caused by the war with Spain and the Armada

Spanish Armada

This article refers to the Battle of Gravelines, for the modern navy of Spain, see Spanish NavyThe Spanish Armada was the Spanish fleet that sailed against England under the command of the Duke of Medina Sidonia in 1588, with the intention of overthrowing Elizabeth I of England to stop English...

, construction was not started until 1590 and completed in 1591. The construction of the leat was by means of a simple ditch and bank which measured approximately six feet at its widest and was approximately two feet deep. Its course was deliberately meandering and gently sloping so that the water would not flow too fast and erode the banks. It was estimated that it took some thirty five men just over four months to complete the construction. Drake took part in the ceremonial turning of the first sod in December 1590. On the 24 April 1591, the supply of water first flowed to Plymouth and the leat was blessed by the rector of Meavy. A legend records that at its opening Drake rode a white horse ahead of the water all the way to Plymouth.

Drake was paid £200 for the work plus another £100 for compensation to landowners. In the event he paid out only £100 for construction and £60 for compensation making a tidy £140 profit. The mill, into which the leat flowed, was leased by Drake as were all six of the new mills built in the same year.

On completion of the leat it was obvious that little heed had been paid to the original clauses as the leat did not flow to the naval victualling yard at Lambhay until 1645; it was of no use for fire fighting as it avoided the built up areas of the city; it never went near Sutton Harbour, entering the sea at Millbay

Millbay

Millbay, also known as Millbay Docks, is an area of dockland in Plymouth, Devon, England. It lies south of Union Street, between West Hoe in the east and Stonehouse in the west.-Early history:Mill Bay was a natural inlet to the west of the Hoe...

 instead; and finally no arrangements for supplying irrigation were ever made with the taking of water from the lease being made illegal. It can therefore be seen that the primary purpose was to enable Drake to capitalise on his milling operations. Some of the excess water was made available to the public after it had driven the mill wheels but by 1600 only 30 homes had been connected.

Conflict with the tinners

Around 1600 an acrimonious dispute arose over the diversion of water from the leat for use in tin mills on Roborough Down. On one side was Thomas Drake, brother of the deceased Francis, who now owned the corn mills lower down the leat; on the other was Sir Walter Raleigh

Walter Raleigh

Sir Walter Raleigh was an English aristocrat, writer, poet, soldier, courtier, spy, and explorer. He is also well known for popularising tobacco in England....

 as Lord Warden of the Stannaries

Lord Warden of the Stannaries

The Lord Warden of the Stannaries used to exercise judicial and military functions in Cornwall, United Kingdom, and is still the official who, upon the commission of the monarch or Duke of Cornwall for the time being, has the function of calling a Stannary Parliament of tinners...

, who supported the tinners claim under stannary law

Stannary Courts and Parliaments

The Stannary Parliaments and Stannary Courts were legislative and legal institutions in Cornwall and in Devon , England. The Stannary Courts administered equity for the region's tin-miners and tin mining interests, and they were also courts of record for the towns dependent on the mines...

. The dispute went to the Star Chamber

Star Chamber

The Star Chamber was an English court of law that sat at the royal Palace of Westminster until 1641. It was made up of Privy Counsellors, as well as common-law judges and supplemented the activities of the common-law and equity courts in both civil and criminal matters...

, and the outcome of the proceedings was that in 1603 the tinners were permitted to abstract water for their "two tynne milles knocking mills or classe milles".

Preservation

Harsh winters and a general decline in the condition of the leat brought the feasibility of its continued existence into question. The ever-growing population, and the increasing demand on the water supply in Plymouth, meant that a more reliable source and supply of fresh water had to be found, and this led to the creation of Burrator Reservoir

Burrator Reservoir

Burrator Reservoir is a reservoir on the south side of Dartmoor in the English county of Devon. It is one of a number of reservoirs and dams that were built over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries in the area now covered by Dartmoor National Park to supply drinking water to the rapidly...

 in 1891. So, three hundred years after its construction, the upper part of Drake's Leat was lost as the valley was flooded, although lower sections remained for some years.

Despite many considerations and plans to put the leat to good use, little has been preserved. The leat was briefly restored during the Second World War, should it have been needed if the city's new supply was damaged. Parts of the leat are still visible on the moor at Roborough Down (just off the A386) and near Clearbrook.