MEM24926 - Shetter's Pool and post-medieval weir north of Bridgetown (Monument)

The Tithe Map for both Winsford and Exton Parishes depicts a mill leat leaving the River Exe at SS 9232 3377. The river forms the boundary between the two Parishes. [1,2] The 25 inch 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map depicts a weir in this location, with the downstream side labelled "Shetter's Pool". A leat (MEM24927) leaves the river on the upstream side of the weir, which may have been constructed to facilitate this. [3] The weir is shown and labelled on 2021 MasterMap data, as is the pool. The leat also appears to be in situ at this time. A salmon leap is also labelled on the northwestern end of the weir, at SS 9231 3378. [4] A programme of archaeological monitoring and recording was undertaken during the permitted works to Bridgetown Weir, situated on the River Exe. An assessment was undertaken in 2021, the results of which were combined with further recording during works in August 2022. The structure is built as a long cranked diagonal weir, with a sluice and leat to the southsoutheast and a fish passage inserted to the northwest. It is mainly built of local sandstone, shale and slate, with later additions of concrete and cement braced with iron pins and wires. All of the weir(s)' elements would be described as low guage weirs; the northern element is in the form of an earlier crump weir and the lower element to the southern end is classed as a narrow crested drop weir, associated with the leat and sluice gate to the mill and possibly a later reconstruction. The overflow gate, flank wall and sluice gate are of a neat, functional character and are of the same build. A section of shuttered concrete associated with blocks and cement filled sandbags infills the former overflow gate. There are two phases of mixed stone builders at the southern end, pinned in front and possibly intended to alter the water flow here and strengthen the structure. The weir is associated with a mill leat (MEM24927) that leads to Bridgetown Mill (MEM15204). The regularity of the banks above the rear, which feature underbuilding and revetment banking to sections of the western riverbank, were stated to suggest the course of the river has been considerably engineered at this location to serve the mill. A draft conveyance of a water mill in Exton dating from 1827 and held in the Somerset Heritage Centre may refer to the water mill at Bridgetown. The surveyors draft maps show no clear evidence for the weir weir and pool, although they may have been in existance by this date. A further document dated 1954 relates to the installation of the fish pass. This is possibly associated with the establishment of the National Park, with the pool in front formed in 2012 by the Westcountry Rivers Trust. It has thick cinder wall blocks rendered in cement and runs straight through the weir, widening into a square bowl at the end, emptying into a pool. It was designed to allow the structure to be closed off, but any sluice gate that was extant has been removed or rotted away. [5]