A mysterious aquaduct... Ron Smith investigates some historic remains
The leat leaving the railway cycle path
H
ow often have you cycled or walked between Plymbridge and Clearbrook up the old railway track? How often have you wondered at the old aqueduct bridging the trail by the downhill end of the old railway tunnel? I had always assumed that it was an old mine leat, and moreover that it connected with the obvious signs of a leat, level with the cycle track a short way along from the uphill end of the tunnel. See the two main pictures illustrating this article. I finally got around to scratching my itch for knowledge at the back end of 2020. It involved lots of rough walking through brambles along the actual line of the leat - it was fun! Also research with old large scale maps; and research to date the old railway and the actual mine. Yes, it had been a mine leat, to power a water wheel for Wheal Lopes. I will start at the beginning. A leat draws water from a river. As 44
I finally got around to “scratching my itch for
knowledge at the back end of 2020. It involved lots of rough walking through brambles along the actual line of the leat - it was fun!
”
the river tumbles downhill, the leat flows sedately along, almost contouring, with just a slight incline to keep the water flowing. So where was the ‘head weir’? It turned out to be on the River Meavy, 50 metres downstream from Hoo Meavy Bridge, down the hill below the famous Skylark Inn in Clearbrook. I leant on the parapet as a man with a dog came by, and asked him if he knew anything about it. Of course he did! He owned the field with the lovely horses in it, with a very slight depression across the field indicating the line of the filled-in leat. He pointed out the remains of the weir in the river, largely washed away by many years of storms. I was then able to find the leat itself, here in good condition still, at the foot of the steep wooded bank the other side of the fields by the river. I was able to follow this leat nearly all the way to the railway
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