MDE11497 - 18th or 19th Century leat through Mines Wood (Monument)

A leat forming part of the Bampfylde copper mining complex (MDE1219) runs from SS 7345 3309 to SS 7378 3281 along the western side of the Mole valley. It conveyed water to the two western wheels of the mining complex. The leat is marked by a hedgeline at its northern end, and further south is by a track in Mines Wood. Here it is up to 1.8 metres in width. At SS 7370 3292 the leat runs into a header pond or reservoir which is some 170 metres in length and 4.5 metres in width (see 1:1250 survey, MDE1219). The pond has been created by cutting into the west facing valley side to create a scarp 1.8 metres in height. The material from this operation has been used to dam the pond on its lower (eastern) side. A stone lined sluice arrangement carried water away from the northern end of the pond in order to bypass it when necessary. At its southern end the pond supplies a wheel pit at SS 7379 3281, and its continuation southwards has been blocked off by a stone revetted dam across the leat. This clearly shows that the pond is a later alteration of the leat. It continues southwards, becoming much narrower, being only 1.6 metres wide. It is tracable for a further 25 metres before being lost in an area of spoil dumping. South again it is visible for a further 30 metres before it ends at a second wheel pit, which it obviously supplied. [1] The mapping for this monument has been estimated using aerial photographs taken in 1946-8 and 2013. This requires confirmation. The pond earthworks, however, are visible on the 25 inch 1st and 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey maps. [2-6] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [7]