| River Tamar | |
| River | |
 The Calstock Viaduct crossing the River Tamar
|
|
| Country | England |
|---|---|
| Regions | Cornwall, Devon |
| Source | |
| - location | East Youlstone |
| - coordinates | 50°54′50″N 4°27′10″W / 50.91389°N 4.45278°W |
| Mouth | Hamoaze |
| - location | Plymouth Sound, English Channel |
| - coordinates | 50°21′30″N 4°10′0″W / 50.35833°N 4.166667°W |
| Discharge | for Gunnislake |
| - average | 22.55 m3/s (796 cu ft/s) |
| - max | 714.6 m3/s (25,236 cu ft/s) 28 December 1979 |
| - min | 0.58 m3/s (20 cu ft/s) 23 August 1976 |
| Discharge elsewhere (average) | |
| - Crowford Bridge | 2.34 m3/s (83 cu ft/s) |
The Tamar (pronounced /ˈteɪmɑr/) is a river in South West England, that forms most of the border between Devon (to the east) and Cornwall (to the west). At its mouth, the Tamar flows into the Hamoaze where it joins with the River Lynher before entering Plymouth Sound. The river has some 20 road crossings, including some medieval stone bridges, and the Tamar Bridge, a toll bridge on the A38 trunk road and the Royal Albert Bridge (1859), the first crossing of the lower Tamar, both are between Saltash (known as the Gateway to Cornwall) and Plymouth. One of the important road crossings of the Tamar is near Lawhitton at Greystone Bridge: the arched stone bridge was built in 1439.
The Tamar's source is less than 6 km (4 miles) from the north Cornish coast, but it flows southward. North of the source the Cornish border heads to the sea along Marsland Water, making Cornwall nearly an island. The east bank of the Tamar was fixed as the border of Cornwall by King Athelstan in the year 936.
In a few places the border deviates from the river, leaving, for instance, the Devon village of Bridgerule on the 'Cornish' side. The modern administrative border between Devon and Cornwall more closely follows the Tamar than the historic county border. Several villages north of Launceston which are west of the Tamar were actually in Devon until the 1960s.
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Tamar Valley AONB
The Tamar Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty covers around 195 km² (75 square miles) 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.[1] Rocks around the edge of Dartmoor were mineralised by fluids driven by the heat, which gave rise to ores containing tin, copper, tungsten, lead and other minerals in the Valley.[2] During the industrial revolution the Tamar was an important river for shipping copper from ports such as Morwellham Quay and New Quay (Devon) to south Wales where it would be smelted.
Tributaries
Tributaries of the river include the rivers Inny, Ottery, Kensey and St Germans or Lynher on the Cornish side, and the Deer and Tavy on the Devon side.
Folklore
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. [3]
See also
- The Tamar River in Tasmania was named after this Tamar.
- Rivers of the United Kingdom
- Tamar Valley Line
- Saltash
- Royal Albert Bridge
- Weir Quay Boatyard
- Drawn to the Valley [1] is an art collective of professional artists whose work is inspired by living in the Tamar Valley.
External links
- Royal Albert Bridge at Saltash
- Tamar Valley AONB
- Tamar Valley Line
- Morwellham Quay
- Art from the Tamar Valley
References
- ^ "Tamar Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty: About the Tamar Valley AONB". http://www.tamarvalley.org.uk/aboutaonb.asp.
- ^ "Characteristics of the City of Plymouth (The geology)". Plymouth City Council. http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/characteristicsplymouth. Retrieved 2008-07-26.
- ^ Edith Martin. Cornish Recipes: Ancient and Modern. A. W. Jordan.
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