MDE21147 - Post-medieval leat serving Martinhoe Mill (Monument)

The mill leat is shown on the 1st and 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey maps. [1,2] The leat is also shown on the 1963 Ordnance Survey map. [3] SS 6569 4698Martinhoe Mill. A corn mill is shown on the 1842 Tithe Map [4] but is no longer in use. The buildings are now incorporated in the present Mill Farm [5] and it is difficul to ascertain their original form. Water was taken off the River Heddon from a weir at 6573 4683. The weir is no longer visible (it was probably washed away in the 1952 floods) but the remains of stone facing on each bank of the river probably marks its site. The first part of the leat can be seen as stone-lined channel, 0.5 metres wide and 0.4 metres deep, infilled with debris, between the river and the west side of road near the site of the weir. The leat continues as dry un-lined channel along the wooded slopes on the east side of the road. Within the enclosed field the leat is well preserved as an embanked terrace cutting along the base of the steep slopes of Mill Wood. The mill wheel appears to have been situated on the south side of the present farmhouse as the leat is depicted cutting across this face on the Tithe map [4]. The leat is shown as ending here on the 1889 Ordnance Survey map [1] and the mill is clearly disused by then. The tail leat was culverted under the road but has now been filled in except for the last 60 metre where it rejoins the Heddon. [6] The leat is clearly shown on the 1842 Tithe Map. [4] Mill Farm. Nothing to see apart from the course of the leat along the top of the fields to the right of the farmhouse. Previous owner had no knowledge of its use as a mill over the last sixty years. [7] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [8]