Tresillian River

The Tresillian River at Malpas

The Tresillian River is a tributary of the River Fal in Cornwall. It rises in the Clay Country and is fed by springs between Summercourt and Mitchell.[1] It runs south-west, alongside the B3275, through Ladock[2] to Tresillian, where it passes under the A390 road bridge,[3] then immediately opens into a tidal estuary, and passes the village of St Clement, before joining the Truro River at Malpas. Tresillian was a seaport until the head of the creek silted up.

Tresillian Bridge was the site of the surrender of the Hopton forces (Royalist troops of King Charles) to Parliamentarians on 10th March 1646.[4]

The western bank of the river has a public footpath from Tresillian to Malpas.[5] The eastern bank is part of the privately owned Tregothnan estate.[6]

At St Clement, the river is flanked by Tresemple Pool, a shallow saline lake. The lake and the river together are popular sites for viewing kingfisher, redshank, avocet, greenshank, red-breasted merganser, curlew, little egret, and grey heron[7][8]

Early records give the river the name "Seugar" (1297) or "Sowgar" (1530); the meaning of this name is unknown.[9] Others consider Tresillian to be an anglicisation of Cornish "Sulyen's farm/settlement".[10]

  1. ^ "Tresillian to Malpas Walk". www.visitcornwall.com. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  2. ^ "Tresillian River at Ladock: River level and flood alerts". riverlevels.uk. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  3. ^ "Tresillian Village | Official Tresillian Village Website". Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  4. ^ "Print of Tresillian Bridge, Tresillian, Cornwall. Around 1925". Media Storehouse Photo Prints. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  5. ^ "St Clement and Malpas". www.iwalkcornwall.co.uk. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  6. ^ "Tresillian Village | Official Tresillian Village Website". Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  7. ^ "Cornwall Local Group - The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds". ww2.rspb.org.uk. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  8. ^ Chaney, Dan. "Tresillian River Walk from St Clement 28th March 2018 | Cornwall Bird Watching & Preservation Society". Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  9. ^ Craig Weatherhill (2009) A Concise Dictionary of Cornish Place-Names. Westport, Co. Mayo: Evertype ISBN 978-1-904808-22-0; p. 3
  10. ^ "Tresillian Village | Official Tresillian Village Website". Retrieved 21 March 2022.