A Dartmoor leat carrying essential water for livestock, wildlife and farmers is undergoing urgent repairs after running dry last summer.

The repairs are critical to the rural farming community who have built their way of life on the water the historic Sortridge and Grimstone Leat provides to western Dartmoor above Tavistock.

The work is a project to ensure the eight-mile long leat, which is hundreds of years old, does not dry out, having done so for five and a half months last summer.

An initial £47,000 grant has been obtained via the Dartmoor National Park Authority via the Farming in Protected Landscapes project. The Duchy of Cornwall has made a substantial donation and the DNPA donated time and materials.

This being used to repair the leat around the little bridges crossing the leat at intervals and to stop up leakages in the ox-eye stones, the historic inch-wide holes letting out a carefully measured amount of water to each farmstead along the leat. Some still use this supply for their drinking water.

The Sortridge and Grimstone Community Interest Company, running the protect, has also set up a £120,000 crowdfunder to carry out further repairs to the leat in four places where it loses a large amount of water.

“As too much water was lost from the leat, it dried out going past Pew Tor this summer, which meant no water for homes, farms, ponies or wildlife,” said project secretary Anne-Marie Bailey.

“Importantly, the loss of water on Pew Tor and Plasterdown last summer had a devastating impact on wildlife. This region of the moor fell silent and the lack of birdsong and insects was disturbing.

“Sadly, the buzzard population, which would congregate on Plasterdown to eat worms, now only has the occasional bird.”

The leat was built to supply the medieval Sortridge and Grimstone manors more than 600 years ago.

Today, the leat on the route of many popular Dartmoor walks, with the granite cross at Windy Post Cross being one of the most iconic on the moor. An offshoot of the leat takes water from here down to Sampford Spiney.

This manmade waterway, the only one on Dartmoor continually in use for its history, is also very popular with walkers following the water and using the bridges and crossing points to see the beauty of Dartmoor.

The bridges and granite ‘ox-eye’ stones siphoning water into spurs supplying water tot he farmers have created a network of walking paths across the moor. These would not be the same for visitors and farmers without water flowing in the leat.

Peter Hearn and Andy Crabb, archaeologist with Dartmoor National Park Authority, are involved in the project while Lindsay Rogers is the chair of the Sortridge and Grimstone Leat Community Interest Company, set up to manage the project.

Andy said: “It’s impressive to think the leat still serves as a vital source of water for the community. The repairs will secure the water supply for the farmers and locals who still depend upon it and help preserve the leat.”

Donations to the project are welcomed at this link: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/anne-marie-bailey