| River Tamar | |
|---|---|
 The Tamar near Bohetherick | |
 Map of the Tamar catchment | |
| 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 (/ˈteɪmɑːr/; Cornish: Dowr Tamar)[3] 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 Outstanding Natural Beauty), and some is included in the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape (a World Heritage Site) due to its historic mining activities.
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.
- ^ 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
- ^ Furneaux, Robert. The Tamar: A Great Little River. Ex Libris Press. 1992.
- ^ Foot, Sarah. The River Tamar. Bossiney Books. 1989.
- ^ Neale, John. Discovering the River Tamar. Amberley. 2010.
- ^ "Conflicting Origins of the Name of the River Thames". Wesley Johnson. Retrieved 15 July 2016.