THE January meeting of Thorverton and District History Society began with the Annual General Meeting. Richard Pocock was re elected as chairman and Graeme Culshaw continues as treasurer. The committee remains the same although Ian Stoyle has stepped down after many years of service to the society.

Mike Baldwin then gave us a talk on the leats of Thorverton. Mike’s interest in the leats came from a time when he did a course in Plymouth on the reporting of historic buildings and he looked at Court Barton in Silver Street.

A document from 1483 shows references to Ayshyll (now Ashley), Overford (now Ford Meadow), Nytherford (possibly Dinneford) and Swinesford (now Dinneford Meadow). Rights were given to divert the streams for fulling mills

From the 1814 Coleridge map the stream in Ford Meadow joined the stream from Dinneford Meadow below the sheep dip. Now the streams join at the bridge just above the winding gear that was used to build a head of water to flush the stream.

The course of the stream was straighter than it is now and the base was stone lined to speed the flow of water to power a mill. This mill may have been attached to the old vicarage that was situated in the land just behind the old Bell Inn.

Read more on this in this week’s paper

Robert TurnerORDER YOUR DIGITAL EDITION HERE