River Tamar
River Tamar | |
---|---|
Native name | Dowr Tamar (Cornish) |
Location | |
Country | England |
Region | Cornwall, Devon |
Physical characteristics | |
Source | Woolley Moor, Morwenstow parish |
• location | 50°55′25″N 4°27′44″W / 50.9235°N 4.4622°W, Cornwall[1][2] |
• elevation | 206 m (676 ft) |
Mouth | Hamoaze |
• location | Plymouth Sound, English Channel |
• coordinates | 50°21′30″N 4°10′0″W / 50.35833°N 4.16667°W |
Length | 98 km (61 mi) |
Discharge | |
• location | Gunnislake |
• average | 22.55 m3/s (796 cu ft/s) |
• minimum | 0.58 m3/s (20 cu ft/s)23 August 1976 |
• maximum | 714.6 m3/s (25,240 cu ft/s)28 December 1979 |
Discharge | |
• location | Crowford Bridge |
• average | 2.34 m3/s (83 cu ft/s) |
Basin features | |
Tributaries | |
• left | Deer and Tavy |
• right | Inny, Ottery, Kensey and Lynher |
The Tamar (
The Tamar's source is less than 6 km (3.7 mi) from the north Cornish coast, but it flows southward across the peninsula to the south coast. The total length of the river is 61 miles (98 km).[4] At its mouth, the Tamar flows into the Hamoaze before entering Plymouth Sound, a bay in the English Channel. Tributaries of the river include the rivers Inny, Ottery, Kensey and Lynher (or St Germans River) on the Cornish side and the Deer and Tavy on the Devon side.
The name Tamar (or Tamare) was mentioned by Ptolemy in the 2nd century AD in his Geography. The name is said to mean "great water".[5][6][7] The Tamar is one of several British rivers whose ancient name is assumed by some to be derived from a prehistoric river word apparently meaning "dark flowing" and which it shares with the River Thames.[8]
The seventh-century Ravenna Cosmography mentions a Roman settlement named Tamaris, but it is unclear to which of those towns along the Tamar this refers. Plymouth, Launceston and the Roman fort at Calstock have been variously suggested.
Environment
The river (and/or land on its banks) is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), a European Special Area of Conservation, and an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.[9][10] A part of it is also designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape.[11][12]
In November 2013, South West Water was fined £50,000 after it admitted permitting the discharge of sewage from its Camels Head treatment plant into a tributary of the River Tamar for eight years.[13]
Tamar Valley AONB
Together, the Tamar, Tavy and Lynher form the Tamar Valley, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The Tamar Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty covers around 195 km2 (75 sq mi) around the lower Tamar (below Launceston) and its tributaries the Tavy and the Lynher. It was first proposed in 1963, but was not designated until 1995.[14] The highest point in the AONB is Kit Hill, 334 metres above sea level. The Tamar Discovery Trail is a 35-mile hiking route following the course of the Tamar through the valley.[15]
Special Area of Conservation
The Plymouth Sound and Estuaries are a Special Area of Conservation. Rocky reefs in low salinity estuarine conditions far inland on the Tamar are very unusual and support species such as the hydroid Cordylophora caspia. The Tamar is one of a few estuaries where zonation of rocky habitats (intertidal and subtidal) can be observed along an estuarine gradient.[16]
Site of Special Scientific Interest
The
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Throughout human history the valley has been almost continuously exploited for its rich mineral and metal deposits including silver, tin, lead and arsenic leaving a unique archaeological landscape which forms a significant part of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape. Remains include wheal or engine houses, deep and open cast mines dating from the Bronze Age through to the medieval and modern era, the export docks at
Water quality
The Environment Agency measures the water quality of the river systems in England. Each is given an overall ecological status, which may be one of five levels: high, good, moderate, poor and bad. There are several components that are used to determine this, including biological status, which looks at the quantity and varieties of
Section | Ecological Status |
Chemical Status |
Overall Status |
Length | Catchment Area | Channel |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Upper River Tamar[20] | Moderate | Fail | Moderate | 13.417 km (8.337 mi) | 23.901 km2 (9.228 sq mi) | |
Tamar (Small Brook to Lamberal Water)[21] | Poor | Fail | Poor | 7.458 km (4.634 mi) | 14.966 km2 (5.778 sq mi) | |
Tamar (River Ottery to River Deer)[22] | Moderate | Fail | Moderate | 20.879 km (12.974 mi) | 48.056 km2 (18.555 sq mi) | |
Tamar (River Ottery to River Lyd)[23] | Moderate | Fail | Moderate | 5.318 km (3.304 mi) | 7.768 km2 (2.999 sq mi) | |
Tamar (River Lyd to River Inny)[24] | Moderate | Fail | Moderate | 8.829 km (5.486 mi) | 13.417 km2 (5.180 sq mi) | |
Lower River Tamar[25] | Moderate | Fail | Moderate | 38.087 km (23.666 mi) | 65.516 km2 (25.296 sq mi) | |
Plymouth Tamar[26] | Moderate | Fail | Moderate | Heavily modified |
Geography
River Tamar | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Tamarside settlements |
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Towns and villages
by parish , beside the river |
Sources
According to Ordnance Survey mapping, the source of the Tamar is at Woolley Moor, approximately 3.5 mi (5.6 km) from the north Cornish coast, at 50°55′06″N 4°27′48″W / 50.9184°N 4.4633°W.[27] The location of the spring is a "high windswept plateau largely devoid of farmland, and inhabited by stunted trees and wiry undergrowth."[5] The exact source of the river is difficult to pinpoint, because it arises "from a boggy morass . . . behind a hedge near some willow trees at Woolley Barrows . . . A small square stone culvert drains the first tentative trickle of water away from the bog, through a hedge and into a ditch. From here a pipe carries the water under the highway and the infant river Tamar is on its way to the sea at Plymouth."[7]
Reservoirs
The Upper Tamar Lake and Lower Tamar Lake are two small reservoirs on the Tamar's upper course. The Lower Lake was constructed in the 1820s to feed the Bude Canal; it is now a nature reserve. The Upper Lake was constructed in the 1970s and supplies fresh water to the Bude area, as well as having some recreational use.
Border
The east bank of the Tamar was fixed as the border of Cornwall by King Athelstan in the year 936.[28] Several villages north of Launceston, to the west of the Tamar, were transferred to Devon at some point in the eleventh century when the border was changed to follow the River Ottery westward, rather than the Tamar. The county boundary was restored to the Tamar in 1966, when the civil parishes of North Petherwin and Werrington were transferred from Devon to Cornwall.[29] The Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844 ensured parishes were entirely within one county. It transferred a part of the Rame Peninsula (on the west side of the Hamoaze) from Devon to Cornwall (namely, parts of the parishes of Maker[30] and St John). The Act also transferred part of the parish of Bridgerule to Devon and part of the parish of North Tamerton to Cornwall — these latter transfers created two of the present-day 'exceptions' to the river boundary.
The modern
Crossings
List of crossings of the River Tamar
The river has 22 road crossings, including some medieval stone bridges. The oldest bridge still extant is at Horsebridge (1437), and the next oldest is Greystone Bridge near Lawhitton — this arched stone bridge was built in 1439. Gunnislake New Bridge was built in 1520 by Sir Piers Edgcumbe, the owner of Cotehele and Mount Edgcumbe. The Gunnislake bridge was a main route into south east Cornwall and the lowest bridge over the Tamar until the Tamar Bridge at Saltash was opened in 1962.
The lower Tamar is spanned also by the
The
The total length of the
A typical Tamar vessel was a sailing barge, built on the open river bank, of up to 60 tons, with a peaked, gaff-rigged mainsail and a fore staysail.[38] The Tamar was navigable by seagoing ships of up to 400 register tons as far inland as Weir Quay,[39][40] near Bere Alston, where the estuary narrows into the tidal river, some 8.4 miles (13.5 km) upstream from Plymouth Sound. Vessels of 300 tons sailed as far inland as Morwellham,[41][42] 17.2 miles (27.7 km) along the river from the sea. A further stretch of 1.8 miles (2.9 km) upstream to Weir Head, near Gunnislake, is accessible to smaller boats. Weir Head is just downstream of the weir at Gunnislake (the tidal limit) and is the final place to turn boats;[33][43] it was from here that smaller craft could begin their journey on the Tamar Manure Canal.
In 1794 the Tamar Manure Navigation Company was formed to extend
The navigable route along the Tamar and the Manure Canal that was managed by the company (from Morwellham Quay upstream to Blanchdown) was known as the Tamar Manure Navigation and was 3.0 miles (4.8 km) in length.[33] The import of fertilizer (at the time of the construction of the canal all types of which were typically referred to as "manure") and coal and the export of bricks and granite along this short navigation proved profitable for many years.[46] The navigation from Launceston to Tamerton was completed in 1826 as part of a separate project, the Bude Canal.[49] The Tamar Manure Navigation ceased functioning in 1929 and the company was wound up in 1942.[47]
History
In 997 according to the
During the English Civil War, Cornwall was entirely loyal to King Charles I and the Royalist cause. However, Devon was primarily Parliamentarian; thus the River Tamar became the site of many battles, such as the Battle of Gunnislake New Bridge on 20 July 1664. Each side of the Tamar understood that if they were either to invade or to defend themselves, they had to have control of the Tamar crossings.[50]
In medieval times the transport of goods to supply the Benedictine abbey at
In the 13th century lead and silver output from the royal mines on the
The old ferry crossings developed into the busy river quays of the 18th and 19th centuries.
The development of the "Three Towns" (Plymouth, Devonport and Stonehouse) at the mouth of the river offered an important market for the valley's agricultural produce, needed in particular to serve the victualling requirements of the royal dockyard, and this was always carried by boat. In 1820 or 1821 the first paddle steamer on the Tamar inaugurated a service between Calstock and Devonport to deliver foodstuffs.[57] In 1859 a rail connection from Plymouth to London was opened, and fresh produce could be landed at the Devonport steamer quays in the evening and be on sale in London by the next morning.[58] The growing city population created a large demand for sightseeing cruises on the river; this was a significant source of traffic from 1823, with the launch of the Cornish steam packet Sir Francis Drake, until the outbreak of World War II.[57][59]
Mineral traffic on the river diminished towards the end of the 19th century, after the Plymouth, Devonport and South Western Junction Railway reached Tavistock in 1859 (so making the Tavistock Canal to Morwellham redundant for transport, although it remains in use as a source of hydropower) and as the copper and tin mines became exhausted.[60] The decline accelerated from 1894, when the East Cornwall Mineral Railway, until then linked to the outside world only through the port of Calstock, was extended to the Plymouth, Devonport and South Western Junction Railway at Bere Alston. Tourist and market traffic on the river, using purpose-built or converted steamers, remained substantial until the Devonport piers were closed and the ships requisitioned on the outbreak of war in 1939.[59]
Economy
Rocks around the edge of Dartmoor were mineralised by fluids driven by the heat of the Earth's core, which gave rise to ores containing tin, copper, tungsten, lead and other minerals in the Valley.[61] The medieval estate of Cotehele, owned by the Edgcumbe family, was a significant producer of silver for the Royal Mint.[62] During the industrial revolution, there was significant mining activity near the river, between Gunnislake and Weir Quay. During this period, the Tamar was an important river for shipping copper from ports such as Morwellham Quay, Calstock and New Quay (Devon) to south Wales where it would be smelted. The valley forms district A10i of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape. The river has long been famous for the quality of its salmon[63] whilst the valley was known nationally for the high quality, and early, soft fruit and market gardens sheltered by its steeply winding slopes.
Folklore
There was the speedy Tamar, which divides
The Cornish and the Devonish confines;
Through both whose borders swiftly downe it glides.
And, meeting Plim, to Plimmouth thence declines:
And Dart, nigh chockt with sands of tinny mines;
From "Rivers of England" by Edmund Spenser
The Alliterative Morte Arthure states that the mortal combat of King Arthur and Mordred took place close to the banks of the river.[64]
A traditional Cornish tale claims that the devil would never dare to cross the River Tamar into Cornwall for fear of ending up as a pasty filling.[65] Though unusual landscape features are often named after the devil (e.g. devil's frying pan) it used to be said that the devil never came to Cornwall: he once reached Torpoint and immediately noticed that various kinds of pie were customary; he feared that devilly pie might be the next kind so returned to Devon.[66][67] This legend is set to music in the traditional Cornish folk song Fish and Tin and Copper.
Legend of Tamara
The legend behind the name involves a nymph by the name of Tamara, who lived in the underworld. Tamara wanted to wander freely in the mortal world, against the advice of her parents. One day, wandering in
See also
- List of rivers of England
- HMS Tamar, 6 RN vessels and a shore base have been named after the river
- Tamar Site, an area in Hong Kong named after the fourth HMS Tamar
- RM Tamar, a Royal Marines shore base.
References
- ^ 126 Clovelly and Hartland (Map). 1:25,000. Explorer. Ordnance Survey. § SS 260 157.
- Harding, William(16 December 1863). "Morwenstow Church". Transactions. Exeter, England: Exeter Diocesan Architectural and Archaeological Society: 218.
- ^ Place-names in the Standard Written Form (SWF) Archived 15 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine : List of place-names agreed by the MAGA Signage Panel Archived 15 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Cornish Language Partnership.
- ^ Britannica River Tamar, United Kingdom
- ^ a b c Furneaux, Robert. The Tamar: A Great Little River. Ex Libris Press. 1992.
- ^ a b Foot, Sarah. The River Tamar. Bossiney Books. 1989.
- ^ a b c Neale, John. Discovering the River Tamar. Amberley. 2010.
- ^ "Conflicting Origins of the Name of the River Thames". Wesley Johnson. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
- ^ http://www.tamarproject.org.uk/about-the-river-tamar-project/ [dead link]
- ^ "BBC – Devon – Discover Devon – Devon's rivers: The Tamar". bbc.co.uk.
- ^ "Tamar Valley & Tavistock". cornish-mining.org.uk. Archived from the original on 20 February 2019. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
- ^ "Tamar Valley – Mining Heritage Project". tamarvalley.org.uk.
- ^ "Water firm fined £50,000 after admitting sewage was discharged into Plymouth's River Tamar for eight years – Plymouth Herald". Plymouth Herald.
- ^ "Tamar Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty". Archived from the original on 15 May 2009.
- ^ "The UK's forgotten 'fifth nation'". BBC News. 7 June 2021. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
- ^ "Plymouth Sound and Estuaries". defra.gov.uk.
- ^ "- PLYMOUTH.GOV.UK". www.plymouth.gov.uk.
- ^ UNESCO World Heritage Centre. "UNESCO World Heritage Centre – Document – Tamar Valley Mining District (A10i) with Tavistock (A10ii)". unesco.org.
- ^ "Glossary (see Biological quality element; Chemical status; and Ecological status)". Catchment Data Explorer. Environment Agency. 17 February 2016.
- ^ "Upper River Tamar". Catchment Data Explorer. Environment Agency.
- ^ "Tamar (Small Brook to Lamberal Water)". Catchment Data Explorer. Environment Agency.
- ^ "Tamar (River Ottery to River Deer)". Catchment Data Explorer. Environment Agency.
- ^ "Tamar (River Ottery to River Lyd)". Catchment Data Explorer. Environment Agency.
- ^ "Tamar (River Lyd to River Inny)". Catchment Data Explorer. Environment Agency.
- ^ "Lower River Tamar". Catchment Data Explorer. Environment Agency.
- ^ "Plymouth Tamar". Catchment Data Explorer. Environment Agency.
- ^ marked "Spring" on Ordnance Survey 25-inch "Devon XXXVIII.3", published 1905
- ^ Stenton, F. M. (1947) Anglo-Saxon England. Oxford: Clarendon Press; p. 337
- ^ 174 Bude (Map). 1:63,360. Seventh. Ordnance Survey. 1961.
- ISBN 0-7134-0588-0.
- ^ The three present-day 'exceptions' can be clearly seen on the Tamar catchment map (on WikiCommons).
- ^ Ordnance Survey mapping
- ^ a b c Inland Waterways Association Waterways: T (note: the tidal river is generally regarded as navigable from Plymouth Sound to Weir Head, a length of 19.0 miles.)
- ^ "QHM Plymouth". www.gov.uk.
- ^ "The Dockyard Port of Plymouth Order 1999". legislation.gov.uk.
- ^ "Sound and Tamar Cruising – Day Cruising". tamarcruising.com.
- ^ "Calstock Ferry Timetable".
- ^ Booker (1971: 259)
- ^ a b Booker (1971: 62)
- OCLC 12216380.
- ISBN 0-7277-1971-8.
- ^ Barton (1964: 75–6)
- ^ Stickland, Caty (9 April 2020). "Tricky rivers: Tactics to get upstream and back again". Yachting Monthly. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
- ISBN 0-906294-10-X.
- ^ Tamar Valley Industrial Archaeology Tamar Manure Canal
- ^ a b Booker (1971: 126–128)
- ^ a b Canal Routes – Tamar Manure Navigation
- ^ Cornwall 25-inch (Map). Ordnance Survey. 1906. § XXX.5.
- ^ Otter (1994: 29)
- ^ Discovering the River Tamar, Chapter 7
- ^ a b Booker (1971: 28–29)
- ^ Barton (1964: 65; 76)
- ^ Booker (1971: 178)
- ^ Booker (1971: 162)
- ISBN 978-0-19-955129-3.
- ^ Barton (1964: 100)
- ^ a b Booker (1971: 83–84)
- ^ Booker (1971: 233)
- ^ a b Kitteridge (1984: 13; 75)
- ^ Booker (1971: 30–31)
- ^ "Characteristics of the City of Plymouth (The geology)". Plymouth City Council. Archived from the original on 9 June 2008. Retrieved 26 July 2008.
- ^ Peter Claughton: The medieval silver mines at Bere Ferrers, Devon, Dept. of History, Exeter University
- Daniel Defoe and Sir Richard Carew
- ^ The Death of King Arthur translated by Simon Armitage
- ^ Martin, Edith. Cornish Recipes: Ancient and Modern. A. W. Jordan.
- ^ Croxford, Bob (1993) From Cornwall with Love. Mullion: Atmosphere; p. 8 (text quoted from Robert Hunt's Popular Romances of the West of England, 1865)
- ^ Canner, A. C. (1982) The Parish of Tintagel. Camelford; p. 54
Further reading
- Booker, Frank (1971). Industrial Archaeology of The Tamar Valley (2 ed.). Newton Abbot, England: David and Charles. ISBN 0-7153-5172-9.
- Carrington, N. T. (1820) The Banks of Tamar, a poem, with other pieces. Plymouth Dock: Printed for the Author (another ed.: London: John Murray, 1828)
External links
- Royal Albert Bridge at Saltash
- Tamar Crossings – Tamar Bridge & Torpoint Ferry
- RYA Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine (tidal) Tamar navigation guide
- Tamar Valley AONB
- Tamar Valley Tourism Association