The River Wolf is a minor river in the west of the county of

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Its name may come from a Celtic or earlier name recorded by the Roman map-maker

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importance ...

(Ptolemy II 3 13) as Ουολιβα (Voliba) as a town of the

Dumnonii The Dumnonii or Dumnones were a British tribe who inhabited Dumnonia, the area now known as Devon and Cornwall (and some areas of present-day Dorset and Somerset) in the further parts of the South West peninsula of Britain, from at least the Ir ...

(it may be Broadbury Castle); rather than referring to the

wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

animal. The river runs from Broadbury through the valley below Germansweek and empties into

Roadford Lake Roadford Lake, also known as Roadford Reservoir is a man-made reservoir fed by the River Wolf. It is located to the north-east of Broadwoodwidger in West Devon, eight miles (13 km) east of Launceston and is the largest area of fresh water ...

, a man-made reservoir built in 1989. In July 2006 some 100 million litres of water were released from the lake to help the survival of salmon in the river during a prolonged period of drought. After Roadford Lake the river continues through Slew Woods below the village of Broadwoodwidger. It then continues in a southerly direction eventually merging with the

River Thrushel The River Thrushel is a river in Devon, England. The Thrushel runs westerly from its source near Meldon to Tinhay, where it joins the River Wolf The River Wolf is a minor river in the west of the county of Devon in England. Its name may ...

just north of Tinhay and then joins the River Lyd at Lifton. The River Lyd eventually joins the

River Tamar The Tamar (; kw, Dowr 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 part of the Tamar Valley is a World Heritage Site due to its historic mining activities. T ...

at the Devon/Cornwall border just east of Launceston. The United Kingdom's environmental organisation

Natural England Natural England is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It is responsible for ensuring that England's natural environment, including its land, flora and fauna, ...

currently runs a grant scheme called Catchment-sensitive farming. The River Wolf is included within one of the priority catchments targeted in this scheme

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolf Rivers of Devon 2Wolf