The Tavy () is a
river
A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...
on
Dartmoor,
Devon
Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...
,
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. The name derives from the
Brythonic root , once thought to mean 'dark' but now generally understood to mean 'to flow'. It has given its name to the town of Tavistock and the villages of
Mary Tavy and
Peter Tavy.
It is a
tributary
A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they ...
of the
River Tamar
The Tamar (; ) is a river in south west England that forms most of the border between Devon (to the east) and Cornwall (to the west). A large part of the valley of the Tamar is protected as the Tamar Valley National Landscape (an Area of Outsta ...
and has as its own tributaries:
Collybrooke
The Collybrooke or Colly Brook is a brook on Dartmoor in Devon, England. It is a tributary of the River Tavy.
Bibliography
''The Painted Stream'', Robin Armstrong, Dent, 1985,
See also
*Rivers of the United Kingdom
Rivers of Devon
Ta ...
,
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
The river is navigable inland as far as
Lopwell, where a
weir
A weir or low-head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the water level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...
marks the
normal tidal limit, about a journey from North Corner Quay at
Devonport. River transport was an important feature of the local farming, mining, tourism and forestry economies.
The
Queen's Harbour Master for Plymouth is responsible for managing navigation on the River Tavy up to the normal tidal limit.
The Dockyard Port of Plymouth Order 1999
/ref>
File:Lopwell Dam on the River Tavy - geograph.org.uk - 1533352.jpg, Lopwell weir, highest point of navigation
File:River Tavy - geograph.org.uk - 698852.jpg,
See also
* Tamar–Tavy Estuary SSSI
References
* Armstrong, Robin (1985). ''The Painted Stream''. London: Dent. .
Tavy, River
River navigations in the United Kingdom
1Tavy
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