River Tavy
River Tavy | |
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![]() The Tavy above Tavistock, on the moor | |
Location | |
Country | England |
County | Devon |
Physical characteristics | |
Mouth | River Tamar |
• location | Bickleigh |
• coordinates | 50°28′N 4°09′W / 50.467°N 4.150°W |
Basin features | |
Tributaries | |
• left | |
• right |
The Tavy (/ˈteɪvi/) is a river on Dartmoor, Devon, England. The name derives from the Brythonic root "Tam", once thought to mean 'dark' but now generally understood to mean 'to flow'.[1] It has given its name to the town of Tavistock and the villages of Mary Tavy and Peter Tavy.
It is a tributary of the River Tamar and has as its own tributaries: Collybrooke, River Burn, River Wallabrooke, River Lumburn, and River Walkham. At Tavistock it feeds a canal running to Morwellham Quay.
Its mouth is crossed by the Tavy Bridge which carries the Tamar Valley railway line.
Navigation
[edit]![](http://178.128.105.246/cars-http-upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/73/Lopwell_Dam_on_the_River_Tavy_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1533352.jpg/220px-Lopwell_Dam_on_the_River_Tavy_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1533352.jpg)
![](http://178.128.105.246/cars-http-upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9d/River_Tavy_-_geograph.org.uk_-_698852.jpg/220px-River_Tavy_-_geograph.org.uk_-_698852.jpg)
River Tavy routemap | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The river is navigable inland as far as Lopwell, where a weir marks the normal tidal limit, about a 9-mile (14 km) journey from North Corner Quay at Devonport.[2] River transport was an important feature of the local farming, mining, tourism and forestry economies.[3][4]
The Queen's Harbour Master for Plymouth[5] is responsible for managing navigation on the River Tavy up to the normal tidal limit.[6]
See also
[edit]- Tamar–Tavy Estuary SSSI
References
[edit]- Armstrong, Robin (1985) The Painted Stream, London: Dent ISBN 0-460-04702-7
- ^ Owen, Hywel Wyn (1998). University of Wales Press. Cardiff, United Kingdom: University of Wales Press. p. 103. ISBN 0708314589.
- ^ Ordnance Survey mapping
- ^ SC871 Rivers Tamar, Lynher and Tavy (Map). Admiralty. 2000. D inset.
- ^ "Welcome to Lopwell" (PDF). Plymouth City Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 June 2011. Retrieved 5 July 2011.
- ^ Queen's Harbour Master Plymouth
- ^ The Dockyard Port of Plymouth Order 1999