Devonport Leat

Keith Ryan provides occasional updates on our progress with the Devonport Leat project.

Actually, for reasons obscurely connected with cake, he more often comments on our blog site which you can find here. (Opens in new window)

Devonport Leat - before and after conservation work

This article illustrates the "before" and "after" of scrub clearance on Devonport Leat. The work done by the DPA volunteers can have dramatic results .....

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Looking over the parapet of the bridge that carries the road to Chubb Tor across the golf course and over the leat - but where is the leat?

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The same view, after the volunteers of the Conservation Team spent a day clearing scrub: the leat is clear and has walk ways on each bank.

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Devonport Leat - Conservation Project Begins

Written by Keith Ryan

The first work day on this new conservation project.

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Twenty-three volunteers turned out on Fri 2nd September for the first work day on the old Devonport leat where it crosses Roborough Common. We congregated at Clearbrook car park beside Drake's Leat, which supplied old Plymouth. The team walked to the site along the cycle track towards Yelverton, while the tools were driven around by road.

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Devonport Leat Project - June update

Devonport Leat running alongside the N27 cycle track just short of Yelverton roundabout

Keith Ryan tells us the latest news about the project on the Devonport Leat

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Conservation work on Devonport Leat

Conservation Volunteers

Volunteers from the DPA and Tavistock Taskforce have joined forces to work together on a project to help improve public access and carry out conservation work to the Devonport Leat on Dartmoor.

The project has been enabled by Dartmoor National Park Authority and Roborough Commoners are providing funding to both charities to carry out valuable scrub clearance to a section of the Devonport Leat, extending from near the Yelverton roundabout towards Clearbrook. The section is largely wooded, and scrub and self-seeded trees are invading the leat. The scrub is also making grazing difficult.

Devonport Leat was built to carry water to the expanding naval town of Devonport. It originally covered a distance of 27 miles and was completed in 1802. Today the leat ends its journey close to Burrator Reservoir and still provides Plymouth with up to three million gallons of water a day.

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