The Devonport Leat is a leat in Devon constructed in the 1790s to carry fresh drinking water from the high ground of Dartmoor to the expanding dockyards at Plymouth Dock (which was renamed as Devonport, Devon on 1 January 1824).
[1] It is fed by five Dartmoor rivers: the West Dart, the Cowsic, the Hart Tor Brook, the River Meavy and the Blackabrook (this last apparently was the first portion to supply Plymouth Dock).
Dartmoor granite was used to construct the water channel, as well as a small aqueduct and a tunnel.
It was originally designed to carry water all the way to Plymouth Dock, a total distance of 27 miles (43 km), but has since been shortened[2] and the operational part of the leat now stops near the Burrator Reservoir dam.
The Devonport Leat begins a short distance to the north of Wistman's Wood[3] at an altitude of over 410 metres (1,350 ft) and twice passes close to Two Bridges[4] (following the contours up the Cowsic valley in between) before heading towards Princetown.