Roundwood bridge

In this secluded valley in Dartmoor, an old leat that used to provide water to a large water wheel required repairs to allow the water to flow again along its full length. The leat walls had long been breached, the water washing back into the brook from where it came. Along side the multiple patch repairs to the leat, we reinstated a twin sluice gate and a silt pond overflow in local sawn oak, restored the winding sluice gate by the brook, repaired and repointed the stonework around this gate with lime mortar, rediscovered the old path beside the leat along most of its length and created natural erosion control by the brook and silt pond using split sweet chestnut stakes driven into the ground in rows. To provide access to a small triangle of land, we were asked to build a bridge over the weir. To meet the budget, we opted to use local oak and chestnut in the round for the bridge, and stone filled gabion baskets to provide a concrete free foundation, away from the dilapidated weir.