China Clay & Rabbits
A circular walk on open moorland and quiet roads
By local historian Paul Rendell START: Cadover Bridge, at big car park below the bridge, map ref: SX 555 647 DISTANCE: Approximately 4 miles TIME: Approximately 2 hours From the car park head towards the bridge - do not cross it, but follow the river bank until you come to another small bridge and car parking nearby. The small stream coming to the main River Plym is the Blackabrook - cross over this small stream by the bridge. You are heading towards Trowlesworthy Farm and as the sign says, you are on National Trust land. Then follow the wide track as far the farm buildings. The farmer here used to breed rabbits and nearby are some pillow mounds where the farmer, also known as a warrener, used to breed them. Go to the left of the farmhouse and keeping the walls of fields to your right, follow a path which soon starts to go away from the wall and climb up the hillside to Trowlesworthy Tors. When you reach a water course going across the hillside, using the bridge, cross over the Lee Moor Leat. This leat was built in the early 1800s to supply Bottle Hill copper mine near Hemerdon, on the edge of Plympton, with water for a water wheel. The leat today is used to supply water to the Big Pond, which in turn is used to wash the china clay out of the 50
Big Pond
ground by high pressure hoses. Turn right and follow the leat. You will soon notice a number of small clapper stones going across the leat. Construction of the leat was permitted on condition that a number of stone bridges were built to allow the rabbits to get from one side to the other, as the leat passed across the rabbit warren. As you walk along, you may notice a number of ancient Bronze Age settlements above the leat and after about a mile, you should see a line of standing stones coming from your left and crossing the leat, going down the hillside. These stone rows were constructed by the inhabitants of these settlements some 3,000 years ago. The leat soon joins a wide track - follow this track with a big deep china clay pit to your left. You soon cross over the leat and carry on the track, passing the reservoir known as the Big Pond on your left. Follow the edge of clay pits until you reach a granite cross beside a dead-end road. This road used to go from Cadover Bridge to Cornwood, but in the 1970s, a new road was built via Wotter and this road is now within the clay pits. Blackaton Cross marked an ancient route from Buckland Abbey to Plympton Priory, used by monks. Turn right onto the road and follow it downhill. You will pass a granite stone with letters on, this marks the boundary between of Lee Moor and Shaugh Moor. Now you just need to follow this road all the way back to Cadover Bridge. n
