TOPOGRAPHY. XV 



The Tavy rises at Okement Hill, in the northern part of Dartmoor, -and 

 after a course of twenty-three miles falls into the Tamar, a little above 

 Tamerton Foliot, about five miles from Plymouth. Only rather more 

 than a half of its course — that from a point a little below the town of 

 Tavistock — comes within our boundary line. Above Tavistock it traverses 

 for the most part a moorland tract, runnmg in a south-westerly direction. 

 A mile below it takes a serpentine course southwards, and a little further 

 on receives a considerable stream on its right ; and about five miles from 

 Tavistock meets an affluent of nearly equal size, now known as the 

 Walkhcan, but anciently called the Stot^e, which brings, round the 

 northern edge of Roborough Down, the drainage of a moorland tract 

 lying east of tlie two Mistors and Hessary Tor, together with that of the 

 country around the villages of Walkhampton, Sampford Spiney, and 

 Horrabridge. The united waters then take a course southerly in the 

 main. They are crossed at Denham Bridge by the road from Horrabridge 

 to the old mining town of Beer Alston, and a httle below pass Buckland 

 Abbey and Maristow, both on the left. The river becomes tidal a little 

 above the last-named place, and receives a stream running down from the 

 hamlet of Milton. Thence it flows in a south-westerly du-ection, and 

 just opposite Beer Ferrers receives a stream into Blaxton Creek, on its 

 right. Between one and two miles below, after passing Warleigh Point, 

 it is lost in the Tamar. 



The Plym rises on the west of Caters Beam, Dartmoor, and flows thence 

 in a south-west direction. Between its source and Cadover or Cadworthy 

 Bridge, a distance of about five miles, it is augmented by several moor- 

 land streams ; a little below it passes east of the fine granitic cliff of 

 Dewerstone, and is met at Shaugh Bridge by a stream from the north- 

 west, fully as large as itself, bringing the drainage of the tract lying 

 between Eylesbarrow, Ringmoor, and Wigford Downs on the one side, 

 and the road from Roborough Down to Prince Town on the other. This 

 latter river is generally known as th.e 3Iew or Meavy. From Shaugh 

 Bridge the Plym flows in a southerly direction for six or seven miles, 

 through a finely wooded and very beautiful valley, and receives a few 

 small streams on each side. At Longbridge, about three miles from 

 Plymouth, it expands into a lake-like estuary known as the Laira, and, 

 through CatteAvater, passes into Plymouth Sound. It is tidal to just 

 above Longbridge, and here receives a large tributary called Torey Brook, 

 which rises a little to the west of Pen Beacon, Dartmoor, and drains 

 most of the country lying between Crownhill Dot\ii, Hemerdon Ball, and 

 Plympton town on the east, and the road from Colebrook to Shaugh 

 Prior on the west. Lower down, at Crabtree, another stream, draining 

 the greater part of the parish of Egg Buckland, flows into the estuary ; 

 and, near Plymouth, a smaller one comes down by Lipson from the 

 eastern side of Mutley Plain, immediately on the north of the town. The 



