| The Drake connection Drake’s Leat was built in 1591 after first being proposed some 31 years before. In 1584 the Water Bill for Plymouth was presented to parliament by Sir Francis Drake, by then a member of parliament and also Mayor of Plymouth. The decision to grant permission to construct the leat was put before a select committee, itself chaired by Sir Francis Drake. Drake proposed that the leat not only be given the go ahead, but also that permission be given to construct mills along the route of the leat. The bill was passed in 1585 ‘For the preservation of the haven of Plymouth’. Drake was paid £200 for the work plus another £100 for compensation to landowners. In the event he paid out only £100 for construction and £60 for compensation making a tidy £140 profit. Drake leased all six of the new mills built in the same year that were served by the water supply from the leat, securing himself a regular source of income and helping to bring jobs and inductry to the Dartmoor hinterland, one of the original aims of the leat. Other original aims of the leat were not met as satisfactorily however, as the water supply arrived at Plymouth too far away from the settled area to provide either drinking water or assistance in putting out fires. |
