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The Mill. The water wheel ran parallel to the LH outer wall and turned clockwise, water cascading over the top of the wheel having been pooled behind the mill in what is now the back garden. Known as an Overshot Mill. The point where Alphin Brook goes under the old Teign Valley rail bridge and the new A30 link road which itself bridges both the brook and the rail bridge. The current outfall of the leat into the canalised section of Alphin Brook. Map copyright of the Ordnance Survey. Leat drawn on in black. The site of the weir. The brook level is held artificially high in order to supply the leat and give a head of water at the mill.

The image to the left has been mapped, move your cursor over the image and text boxes will define what you are pointing at.

Get-a-map service. Image reproduced with kind permission of Ordnance Survey and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland

If you want to trace the course of the old leat you need to start at the Weir shown on the map. It is easily found by walking along Balls Farm Lane and picking up the Brook. The leat hived off at the top of the weir and ran across the fields and under the country lane which has a SW / NE orientation. The path of the leat can still be picked out in the lane as there is a small hump in the lane. From here the leat turned towards Alphington effectively in a direct line with the church tower until it reached the back of the Old Mill. It is estimated that its route probably lies under the back garden of No.43 Cornmill Crescent (before it's path was obscured by the building of the A30 link and the Sobeys Farm housing estate).

At the back of the mill (roughly where the back garden now lies) there was a pool which held the water prior to it cascading over the top of the water wheel (an overshot mill). The wheel itself turned to the north with the spent water then being carried north back into Alphin Brook.

From Mill Lane bridge you can see where engineers have allowed the leat to carry on draining despite it having been back filled and disused for years. Had they not done this when they canalised the village section of Alphin Brook, then problems may well have developed on the Sobey's Farm housing estate.

Also on the other side of the A30, the old Teign Valley railway bridge can still be seen crossing Alphin Brook. This has now been overlain by a road bridge carrying the A30 link road. The bank on which the railway lay was intended to act as a dam should the water levels in Alphin Brook rise too high. Thus protecting the village from flooding.

The map below is a pre 1930 O.S map, the railway and the leat are shown.

Get-a-map service. Image reproduced with kind permission of Ordnance Survey and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland

Harold Seward supplied his valuable time and memory and was the source of all information on this page.

Stuart Callon Copyright ©2004

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