A Walk in Yarner Woods
An exploration of less well-known paths and exhibits with Phil Page, Dartmoor Nature Tours
Yarner Wood was one of the first six designated National Nature Reserves in the UK. As well as being a monument to the history of nature conservation, the site also has a rich industrial legacy. So with a group keen to explore some of the less well-known paths and exhibits of the past and more recent industries and public utilities, we set off.
Water was a big theme of the day and we began by trying, unsuccessfully, to enter the Trendlebere Down reservoirs but then followed the edge of Yarner Wood to the point where the Bovey Tracey Pottery Leat ,constructed pre-1850, enters Yarner Wood
Bovey Tracey Pottery Leat
The 25 inch to the mile 1885 Ordnance Survey (OS) Map shows the Pottery Leat in considerable detail. The vegetation at that time, however, was different from today. Indeed this was the case with most of the Dartmoor woodland as grazing animals reduced the understorey to a minimum. For better or worse, the exclusion of domestic grazing in the 1950s necessitated some nifty ducking and weaving by the group and resulted in one or two dead-ends on our off-piste route.
A few hundred yards below the point where the Pottery Leat joins the un-named watercourse, known locally as ‘The Woodcock Stream, there is an extensive retaining wall that forces the stream to make a right angled diversion southwards. The OS map shows mounds on each side of the stream which after the diversion continues to flow in an easterly direction. The mounds are labelled as Old Quarries on the OS map but seem to resemble the remains of a dam which was either incomplete or breached and abandoned. A few yards downstream of the structure there is a line leaving the stream in an
east/north /east direction which would appear to be a leat. This follows a contour along the edge of Yarner Wood before crossing the Manaton Road and descending towards Rachel Cottages and Pullabrook Farm before flowing into the River Bovey or one of its tributaries.
Trendlebere Down Reservoirs
There are two reservoirs on Trendlebere Down located behind the metal railings. One which dates from c1895 is uncovered and disused. The other dates from 1965 is covered and operational. Neither existed in 1885 when the OS map was produced. In 1895 an agreement was made between the owner of Yarner Wood, Mr Harry Chadwick, and the Bovey Pottery Co. Ltd., to take water ‘from and through the wood’. However, if the Pottery Leat was already in existence what was the purpose of this arrangement? The most likely explanation is that it involved taking water from the Woodcock Stream into the new reservoir on Trendlebere Down. It would have been logical to drop a pipeline to the reservoir into the existing leat.
In 1958 Newton Abbot Rural District Council wrote to The Nature Conservancy, owners of Yarner Wood since the last days of 1950, requesting to purchase land adjacent to the existing reservoir for the construction of a new reservoir. The Nature Conservancy’s land agent reported in 1964 that the work had still not been carried out. However, on 13 April 1964 the agent reported, ‘the South Devon Water Board wished to construct a 500, 000 gallon reservoir and lay two pipelines across the Nature Conservancy’s land. The Nature Conservancy agreed to this in return for a payment of £10.00 and the receipt of an area of land which comprised the old reservoir and 12 acres of land that included the former leat and pipeline adjacent to the Manaton Road.
The Bovey Tracey Pottery Company
The Bovey Tracey Pottery Company was established in 1843 on the site of a previous failed enterprise known as The Folley Pottery. It was this new Company that instigated the digging of a leat from Becky Falls to Bovey Tracey. The Company went into liquidation in 1957. The Company had been responsible for maintaining the leat and with no one else willing to maintain it, the section from Becky Falls to the Yarner Copper Mine was finally drained in 1964. For more information on Bovey Tracey potteries please see overleaf.
The Copper Mine
Further downstream and immediately below the Field Museum, the Pottery Leat left the Woodcock Stream and followed the contour in a roughly southerly direction towards the Yarner Copper Mine which was also known as the Yarrow or the Devon Wheal Francis. The Copper Mine operated from around 1856 to 1866. At its peak it employed about 50 men. There were two waterwheels to provide power for hauling, crushing and draining, plus a steam-powered Cornish beam pumping engine. The remains of the engine house can still be seen, as can the first 60 feet or so of the shaft, the cap of which collapsed in February 1978. As well as using water borrowed from the Bovey Tracey Pottery Leat there are also indistinct remains of other leats upstream of the Copper Mine in the Yarner Valley which also may have made a contribution.
After joining the Yarner Stream via a waterfall just above the Copper Mine, the Pottery Leat continued its way along the contour towards Bovey Tracey. From here water is fed into the leat by the Yarner stream and the flow is controlled via a sluice or penstock. The difficulties of maintaining a perennial flow were highlighted by the minimal amount of water in the feeder streams. Further water came from tributary streams of the Bovey and lateral seepage of ground water but one is left with the impression that the incomplete dam was at some stage seen as a viable solution to this problem.
In conclusion, we were left with memories of an industrial past that never waivered in its desire to tame and exploit natural resources which has been superceded by a new era based on the desire to conserve and protect nature coupled with the altruistic desire to provide recreational opportunities for all.{jcomments off}
