Drake's Leat (Plymouth Leat), Meavy, Dartmoor National Park

Drake's Leat (Plymouth Leat), Meavy, Dartmoor National Park

Spend time exploring Plymouth, South Devon and the south western section of Dartmoor National Park and you'll become familiar with Sir Francis Drake. From the statues at Plymouth and Tavistock to his home at Buckland Abbey, the modern multi-use activity trail Drake's Trail to his birthplace on the Tavistock Canal Walk, Drake is a dominant figure. Less well known is the leat, or waterway, named after him that ran from what is now Burrator Reservoir down to Plymouth. Completed in 1591, the leat took its water from the River Meavy that rises by Princetown on the high moor.

With the construction of Burrator Reservoir and its dams at the very end of the nineteenth century, the leat was superseded by piped water flowing to reservoirs in Plymouth.

Within Dartmoor National Park, you can walk along sections of Drake's Leat (Plymouth Leat) below Burrator Dam and on Roborough Down. The section below Burrator Dam is in a particularly impressive setting. To visit, head for Burrator Dam at Burrator Reservoir. There's parking along the road here or in an old quarry as marked on the Ordnance Survey Explorer OL28 'Dartmoor' map. South of the dam, a path drops down to Drake's Leat (Plymouth Leat). You can follow the dry leat through woods. Whilst you're there, we'd also suggest you wander to the foot of Burrator Dam. Impressive sight.

If Drake's Leat is of interest then we'd recommend buying a copy of Eric Hemery's 'Walking the Dartmoor Waterways: A Guide to retracing the leats and canals of the Dartmoor country'. Chapter 9 covers 'Plymouth, or Drake's, Leat'.