MDE21438 - Post-medieval leat at Britannia Mine (Monument)

There were several leats at The Brittania Mine site. There is reference to repair of the leats constructed by the previous company in 1852. In 1853 a further leat was cut for a new water wheel. Two parallel channels run along the hillside in the northern section of Mines Wood. They end abruptly above the mine. Their northern course under the road is obstructed by construction of a quarry. Beyond the lane to the north their course is also obscured, but presumably ran across fields to join the stream above Tinker's Ford. They were both about four feet wide and considerably infilled. The back of a wall that appears to have lined the final stages of the course of this lower leat is perched upon the top of the cutting for the forestry road. N.B. This record is for the eastern of the two northern leats mentioned and mapped by Dixon; the other is recorded as MDE21464. The HER Monument record mapping is very approximately based on Dixon's site plan, which plots the feature running southeast from c.SS 7448 3366 to c.SS 7452 3358, sketched onto (but not itself depicted on) the 25 inch 1889 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map. [1-3]