The Rivers of Devon from source to sea, with some account of the towns and villages on their banks

Front matter

THE RIVERS OF DEVON Of this edition on large paper 250 copies only are printed. This copy is No. -fri* THE RIVERS OF DEVON FROM SOURCE TO SEA WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF THE TOWNS AND VILLAGES ON THEIR BANKS P.Y JOHN LLOYD WARDEN PAGE AUTHOR OF * AN EXPLORATION OF DARTMOOR AND ITS ANTIQUITIES,' ' AN EXPLORATION OF EXMOOR AND THE HILL COUNTRY OF WEST SOMERSET,' 'okehampton: its castle,' etc. ' Thy rivers to their mountain source explore ' Cottle LONDON SEELEY AND CO., LIMITED ESSEX STREET, STRAND PAGE Xlll CONTENTS.

Chapter I. Introductory

Characteristics of the Rivers — Exmoor Rivers — Dartmoor — Its Rivers — Bogs — Antiquities — The Blackdown Rivers— The Axe — The Tamar and Torridge — Summary — Commercial Importance - - - - I

Chapter II. The Exe

— TO TIVERTON. Source of the Exe — Exmoor — Exford— The Devon and Somerset Staghounds — Arthur Heal — Road Castle — Winsford Hill — An Inscribed Stone— Winsford— The Quarme— Exton— The 'Wild West' Coach — Barlynch Abbey — Baronsdown — Pixton — Oakford Bridge — The Exe Valley Railway — Bampton Fair — Tiverton — The Castle — The Story of the Mistletoe Bough — St. Peter's Church — John Greenway and the Treasure — His Almshouses — Peter Blundell - - - - n

Chapter III. The Exe

— FROM TIVERTON TO THE SEA. Bickleigh — The King of the Beggars — Re we — The Culm — Cullompton — Exeter — The Cathedral — The Guildhall — Some Ancient Churches — Drew's Weir — Salmon Pool Weir — Countess Weir and Isabella de Fortibus — Topsham — A Ghost Story — Estuary of the Exe — Exmouth — Littleham — A Nineteenth-Century Excommunication — The Mouth of the River Contents. VI PAGE.

Chapter IV. The Otter And The Axe

Budleigh Salterton — The River Otter — Otterton — Bicton — Woodbury Castle — Newton Poppleford — Ottery St. Mary — Cadhay — Hembury — Honiton — First View of the Axe — Seaton — Mouth of the Axe — Axmouth Village — Bindon — The Rustic and his Physic — Hocksdown — Musbury — Ashe and the Duke of Marlborough — Lord North and the Harvesters — Colyton Church — Shute — Lobelia urens — The Battle of Brunanberg — Axminster — Newenham Abbey — Bow Bridge and its Story — Coaxden and Charles II. — Forde Abbey — Winsham — Axknoller 42

Chapter V. The Teign

The Country about Teign Head — Teign Head Bridge — Antiquities — The Tolmen — The Rock Basin — View from Kestor — Gidleigh Park — Legend of Fernworthy — Gidleigh — Chagford Bridge — Chagford — James Perrot, ' the Dartmoor Guide ' — The ' Spinsters' Rock ' — The Logan Stone — Fingle Bridge and its Hill Forts — Clifford Bridge and Steps Bridge — Dunsford — Sir Francis Fulford and Fairfax — Christow — Decadence of the 'Revel' — Ashton — Cannonteign — Chudleigh Rock — Chudleigh — Ugbrooke Park, Neighbourhood of Chudleigh — Kingsteignton — Newton — Ford House — Bradley — Wolborough Church — Combe Teignhead — The Teign Estuary — Teignmouth — The Parson and Clerk — Embarking under Difficulties - - - - 65

Chapter VI. The Dart

— TO TOTNES. Dartmouth Castle — Gallants' Bower — Dartmouth — A Meeting of the Crusaders — Historical Associations — Davis and Raleigh — Newcomen — St. Saviour's Church and John Hawley — Kingswear — The Voyage to Totnes — Greenway — The Anchor Stone and Sir Walter Raleigh— Dittisham — Sandridge and John Davis — Galmpton — A 'Female Waterwoman ' — Sharpham — Totnes — Berry Pomeroy and John Prince— Berry Pomeroy Castle— Sir Edward Seymour— The Pomeroys — The Workman and the Apothecary- - - - - - QI

Chapter VII. From Totnes To Dart Head

Dartington Hall— Staverton Bridge— Staverton— Buckfastleigh Church— Buckfast Abbey— A Ghost Story— Henbury— Holne— Holne Bridge Contents. VII PAGE and Chase — Buckland Drives — Buckland in the Moor — The Webburn — The Gorge beneath Bench Tor — The 'Cry' of the Dart— Corndon and Yar Tors — Dartmeet — The Story of Snails' House — Bellaford ' Clapper ' Bridge — Bellaford Farm — Postbridge — An Amusing Visitors' Book— Broad Down — Sandy Hole — Dart Head — Cranmere Pool— West Dart — Wistman's Wood — Crockern Tor — Two Bridges — Glen of the Cowsic — Dunnabridge — Hexworthy - - - - 112

Chapter VIII. Through The South Hams

: THE AVON AND SALCOMBE ' RIVER. Aune Head — Huntingdon Cross — The Abbot's Way — Zeal Cascades — Brent— Brent Hill— Diptford— The Avon Valley— Loddiswell Bridge and Village — Aveton Giffard — Bantham — Borough Island — The Wreck of the Chanteloupe — Salcombe ' River ' — Kingsbridge and its Legend — Peter Pindar — John Hicks — The Estuary — A Spiteful Epitaph — A Fateful Coin — A Tragedy — Widegates — Salcombe — North Sands — South Sands — Luminous Moss — Bolt Head 139

Chapter IX. The Erme And The Yealm

Erme Mouth — Mothecombe — Flete — Holbeton — Oldaport — Sequers Bridge — Ermington — White Ale — Keaton Bridge — Ivybridge — Harford — John Prideaux and Speaker Williams — Piles Wood — An Ancient Hut — Erme Head — Yealm Head — Awns and Dendles — Cornwood — Lotherton Bridge — The Bone Caverns — Yealmpton — Toreus — Puslinch — The Estuary — Coffleet — Newton Ferrers — Noss — The Voyage to Plymouth 159

Chapter X. The Plym And The Meavy

The Hoe— Plymouth— The Citadel— The Barbican— St. Andrew's Church and the Guildhall — The Plym — Laira Bridge and Saltram — Long Bridge — Plympton and Sir Joshua Reynolds — Bickleigh Vale — Shaugh Bridge — Shaugh — An Old Cross — Shaugh Hill — The Dewerstone and its Poet — Cadaford Bridge and the China Clay Works — Trowlsworthy Tors — Shell Top — Grimsgrove — Dilsworthy Warren — A Large Pound — Dean Combe — Lether Tor — The Meavy Valley — Antiquities near Harter Tor — Crazywell Pool — A Legend of Piers Gaveston — The Plymouth Leat and Sir Francis Drake — Ye Fyshinge Feaste — Sheepstor — Merchant's Cross — Meavy and its Oak Contents. VIII PAGE 231

Chapter XI. The Walkham And Tavy

Roborough Down — The Princetown Railway — The Walkham — Horrabridge — Huckworthy — Walkhampton — A Cautious Innkeeper — Ward Bridge — Vixen Tor — Merivale and its Avenues — Walkham Head — Tavy Head — Tavy Cleave— Peter Tavy and Mary Tavy — Tavistock — The Great Flood— Crowndale and Drake — The Meeting with the Walkham — Grenofen — Walreddon — The South-Western Railway — Denham Bridge — Buckland Monachorum and its Church — Lord Heathfield and the Soldier — Buckland Abbey — Drake and the Devils — Monks Militant — Lophill — Cheap Refreshments — Maristowe — Beer Ferrers — The Tamar 206

Chapter XII. The Tamar To Weir Head

The Voyage up the Tamar — Mount Edgcumbe — Maker — Devonport — The Hamoaze and the Navy — H. M. S. Foudroyant and the Fight off Carthagena — Tor Point — The Lynher — Beggars' Island — Saltash — The Royal Albert Bridge — Landulph — St. Budeaux — The Fosseway — Hole's Hole — Pentillie Castle and the Story of John Tillie's Burial — Cothele — Buried alive — A Narrow Escape — Danescombe — Calstock — A Fruitful Land — Mines versus Vegetation — Harewood and the Legend of Ethelwold and Elfrida — Morwell Rocks — Weir Head

Chapter XIII. From Weir Head To Woolley Moor

New Bridge — The Devon Great Consols — The Leat — Hingston Down — Horse Bridge — Endsleigh — Dunterton — Cartha Martha — Ancient Earthworks — Graystone Bridge — The Lid — Sydenham — Lidford Cascade — Lidford Castle — Judge Jeffreys and the Mayor of Arundel — Lidford Gorge — Poulston Bridge — Launceston — The Church and Castle — The Bude Canal — Boyton — Tamerton — Bridgerule — The Reservoir — The Source of Tamar and Torridge - 250

Chapter XIV. Down The Torridge To Dolton

A Winding River — East and West Putford — Bulkworthy — Woodford Bridge — Scarcity of Cider — Newton St. Petrock — Shebbeare — Bradford — Black Torrington — Sheepwash — Hatherleigh — Jasper Mayne — Contents. IX PAGE The Ockment — Monkokehampton — The Farmer and the Draught — Brightley Priory— Okehampton— The Castle— The Meldon Viaduct — A Sad Memorial — Meeth Church — Yew Bridge — Dolton — A Vigorous Old Man 274

Chapter XV. The Torridge

: FROM DOLTON TO APPLEDORE. Beaford — The Approach to Torrington— Castle Hill — Torrington — A Terrible Explosion — John Howe — Frithelstock Priory — Monkleigh — Wear Giffard — Annery and Bishop Stapledon — Landcross and General Monk — Bideford — Bideford Bridge — Sir Richard Grenville — Chudleigh's Fort — Some Curious Epitaphs — Down the Estuary — Appledore — Northam — Westward Ho ! 287

Chapter XVI. The Taw

Instow — The Taw Estuary — Fremington — Coddon Hill — Barnstaple Bridge — Tom Faggus- -Barnstaple — Pilton Priory — Sir Bouchier Wrey and the Embankment — Tawstock — Bishops Tawton — Atherington Church — The Mole — Chulmleigh — Rashleigh Barton — Eggesford — A Gorgeous Monument — North Tawton — Cottle's Barton — The Pool on Bath Barton — North Week — South Tawton Church — Sticklepath — Belstone — Taw Marsh — Taw Head 306

Chapter XVII. The Lyn

Lynmouth — Lynton — The road between — Glen Lyn — Lyn Cleave — Chiselton Combe — The Foreland — Glenthorne — Watersmeet — Long Pool — Millslade — Malmsmead Bridge and the Badgworthy Water — Lorna's Bower— The ' Waterslide '— ' Doone Valley '—Oare— Oareford— The Chalk Water— Robbers' Bridge— Lyn Head - - - LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Dartmouth - Etching - Frontispiece The Exe at Bickleigh Bridge - - - Tofacep. 28 Countess Weir - - - - - - - ,, 36 The Axe near Axmouth - - - - - ,, 50 Chudleigh Glen - - - - - ,, 82 The Mouth of the Teign - - - - - ,, 88 The Dart at Sharpham .....__ I04 The Dart near Buckfastleigh - Etching - „ 116 Loddiswell Bridge - - - - - ,, 146 Beehive Hut near Erme Head - - - „ 170 Yealm Pool -------,, 178 Plymouth Sound from Dartmoor - - - - „ 194 Lether Tor and the Meavy - - - - ,, 200 The Tavy at Lophill- --...„ 228 The Royal Albert Bridge at Saltash - - - „ 240 Lake on the Tamar ------„ 270 On the Ockment ...... n 282 Bideford and the Torridge - - Etching - „ 298 The Taw on Dartmoor -----„ 324 On the East Lyn - - - Etching - „ 330 Map of the Rivers of Devon - - - - ,,

PREFACE.

. A writer in the Magazine of Art for 1885, after remarking that the rivers of England have long been celebrated by the Muses — by Spenser, by Drayton, and others — says that ' the Devonian sisterhood of streams has been to a certain extent neglected.' They have not, he says, shared ' the good fortune of Wordsworth's Duddon and Wye, of Severn and Avon, of Trent and Ouse, or of Thames and Isis, with their long and illustrious roll of singers from Spenser to Peacock.' He is in the main right. Not that the rivers of Devon have no poets to sing their praises. Are there not Browne, Carrington. Capern, Bradford, Collins, and a dozen more, each of whom has felt inspired to pour forth his lay ? But our Devon poets wear not the laurel ; out of the Western counties they are, comparatively, unknown. Nor can I find that writers in more humble prose have much concerned themselves with these Devonshire rivers.

I have searched the finest library in the county for some book on these beautiful streams, and searched in vain. I do not mean to say that there are not certain works treating of a part, even of the whole, of some more noted river — witness Pulman's great ' Book of the Axe ' — but I Preface. can discover no writer that has yet thought it worth his while to tell what may be seen and heard in a pilgrimage of all these rivers from source to sea, or vice-versa. Therefore have I, in all humility, undertaken the task. It has been a pleasant task. My wanderings have led me through scenery of every description ; through scenery of moorland, of woodland, of pasture, of wave-washed rock ; through scenery that only Devon can show. Some of the districts penetrated are— and more is the pity — almost ' unknown, untrod.' Others are better known ; but even the surroundings of places so accessible as Bideford, Torrington, Axmouth, and Ottery are not explored as they ought to be ; while the pleasant country between Salcombe and the Yealm is — I presume because there is no railway — to the average tourist terra incognita.

To these spots, ' remote, unfriended,' I would introduce my readers. So many of the Devonshire rivers rise upon Dartmoor that it has been impossible to avoid going over some of the ground traversed in my ' Exploration ' of that wild and interesting region. There has been, too, some reference — but not, I think, much — to places already described in my ' Exmoor.' To those who have read these works I offer my apologies — if what is inevitable needs an apology ; to those who have not I have done no wrong. I should like to have said more about the fishing. But the book had already outswelled the dimensions originally intended, and I had to abstain. Besides, every angler knows how famous the Devon — especially the South Devon — streams are for trout and salmon peel ; and if Preface. XV he wants details, he can get them in much fuller measure than I could impart from the local guide-books, among which the ' Guide to Sea-fishing and the Rivers of South Devon,' and the ' Fisherman's Map,' published by Messrs. Hearder and Sons, Union Street, Plymouth, are pre eminent.

As to the North Devon streams, the angler will find every information about the Taw at Barnstaple — and, indeed, at most of the inns along its banks — about the Torridge at Bideford and Torrington, while the fisheries of the Lyn and neighbouring waters are clearly set forth in Mr. C. S. Ward's ' Guide to North Devon and North Cornwall.' It may be well to mention at once that there is no free-fishing, except on Dartmoor. In conclusion, let me offer one caution : trust not the Devonshire mile. Multiply every distance given (especially in out-of-the-way districts) by two, occasionally by three. ' As long as a Devonshire mile ' is a common saying in the West Country, and the rustic would make it longer still. Sometimes, however, he will double the distance. Here is an illustration of both methods.

On one occasion, when about five miles from Torquay, I was told that the distance was three, although a minute before it had been given at ten. In short, the country people have no idea of distance, and almost always under-estimate it. JOHN LL. WARDEN PAGE. Ilfracombe, May, 1893. I THE RIVERS OF DEVON

Chapter I Introductory

Characteristics ofthe Rivers — Exmoor Rivers — Dartmoor— Its Rivers — Bogs — Antiquities —The Blackdown Rivers— The Axe — The Tamar and Torridgt- — Summary — Commercial Importance. ' But Albion, Nor streams so fresh, so fair, nor fields so gay, May boast as thine, Devonia. ' Carrington. If you look at a map of Devonshire you will see that a very considerable portion is occupied by hill and moorland. In the north, dividing it from Somerset, are the buttresses of Exmoor ; in the south, extending indeed far into the centre and west, is the wild granite waste of Dartmoor ; on the eastern border rises the range of Blackdown. In one or the other of these hill districts nearly every river has its birth ; in one or the other they have their cradles, generally very rough cradles, too. Nay, more, their youth is spent on these uplands.

And a wild dashing youth it is, impatient of control, eager to leave the wild moor for the ferny combes and fat pastures that everywhere in this garden of England lie between the hills and the sea. In fact, till they meet with the all-conquering ocean, few Devonshire rivers ever do learn to behave themselves Characteristics of the Rivers. 2 with propriety. ' A short life but a merry one ' might well be the motto of nearly all. Here are no placid streams meandering for a dozen miles or more through level meads, bordered by nodding sedge or lush water-plant — rivers that bear barges on their bosoms, or reflect the shadows of hanging wood. A staid respectable Midland stream would have nothing to do with the headlong torrents of Devon that, except when they broaden into estuaries, have not depth enough to be useful, and seldom pause to reflect at all.

Yet it is not their fault, after all : they are the victims of circumstance. Facilis descensus Averni. Dame Nature is to blame. Why did she create such a steep path way over which her children may rush to their doom in the glittering sea ? But we blame her not. What though her conduct in a bygone time gave her offspring so desolate a home that they have, ever since their birth, attempted to escape from its uncongenial ways, its harsh manners, ' Its rocky bottoms that do tear its streams And make them frantic, even to all extremes ' ? — forgive me, shade of Herrick, for the slightest of adapta tions. The mighty throes of the great mother that caused the upheaval of Dartmoor, and in a lesser degree of Ex moor, too, have given us one of the loveliest of English counties, and certainly the loveliest of English streams.

For this is why our Devon rivers have such brief existence, this is why many measure but twoscore miles from source to sea, and as many more are of length even less. Not only is the county bounded north and south by the * salt water,' as I once heard a Welsh farmer picturesquely term the sea, but no less than half of them rise in the very centre, fifteen to eighteen hundred feet above the waters of the two channels, and from a neighbouring height you may see the blue expanse right well, and on a clear day the ships too. A descent of a couple of hundred Dartmoor. 3 feet in a single mile is nothing for these mountain-born streams. Desolate but grand are these western moorlands. With Exmoor, that ' filthy barren ground near the Severn sea,' as Camden profanely describes it, we shall have no very extensive acquaintance, except with its western, and perhaps finest, extremity.

Little of it is in Devonshire, though most people imagine that there is a great deal. But here is the Lyn stream, with its beautiful tributaries ; here the ravines of Watersmeet and Glen Lyn ; here the stately Lyn Cliff, and the great cape of the Foreland thrusting its precipices into the Severn Sea. And bere, too, rises the Exe within a mile or so of a Lyn tributary, both trickling out of as sad a piece of bogland as Exmoor can show — both to pass, ereiong, through types of scenery which, though widely different, are each beautiful exceedingly. But Dartmoor we cannot escape if we would. Right in the middle of it rise, as I said just now, more than half of the Devonshire streams, not to speak of a dozen or two fair-sized tributaries. And from north to south Dartmoor is twenty-two miles across.

Thus it will be evident to the meanest capacity — as orators say — that he who would trace the most romantic of West Country streams to their sources must face a good many miles of rough travelling. Nor do I think that this venturesome being will regret his labour. I say ' venturesome ' advisedly, for one who knows a good deal about it says, and says rightly, ' Dartmoor is not a place to be dealt with delicately.' But if you keep clear of fogs (and bogs) you can come to no harm, and you will see rock and boulder, hill and valley, torrent and tor, multiplied almost unceasingly, and the latter, at all events, changing its appearance strangely at every hundred yards. And you will see tints of blue and purple, and ochre, and I know not how many other colours, changing unceasingly too, Dartmoor Bogs. 4 as the cloud shadows move majestically over the waste, a silent but mysterious host.

And, if you will, you can get into the clouds themselves, and that not seldom either ; for this Dartmoor reaches 2,000 feet above the sea. It is in this lofty part of Dartmoor that the rivers are born. Imagine a dreary stretch of black peat morass scored with fissures, fissures due to the action of the fierce rains and the runnels which they generate. No definite stream is seen at first, but if you pull up and listen intently you will hear a something that gradually dominates the beating of your own heart till now the only sound breaking the intense stillness. It is the infant cry of a river, of which it is difficult to tell unless you know your exact whereabouts, for this morass is hundreds of acres in extent, and three or four streams rise close together. It may be the voice of Taw or Ockment flowing north towards the Severn Sea, or that of Tavy or Dart hastening towards the English Channel.

It might — if you wandered a little to the south-east— -even be the Teign, but whatever it be, its voice is the only sound that breaks the solemn silence. In a region scarcely less desolate, away to the south, the Avon, Erme, Yealm and Plym arise and sweep down their stony valleys to fertilize the green pastures of the South Hams. These bogs are not pleasant, but without them where would the vaunted fertility of Devonshire be ? Just suppose for a moment that the rains descended upon rocky ground, what would be the condition of these rivers ? For one short hour a roaring cataract, the next dry or nearly so, in summer heat a chain of little stagnant pools. All this the bogs prevent ; they act as huge sponges, as reservoirs for the rain, the dew, the mist ; and however dry the season, however fierce the sun, the river quails not, for it knows that its storage house is inexhaustible.

Antiquities. 5 But apart from its fertilizing properties, apart from its healthfulness — for does not Mr. Walter Besant say that with Malvern Hill it has ' the finest air that blows over God's earth ' — Dartmoor is a district of the greatest possible interest to the antiquary, especially to him who makes the rude-stone remains of prehistoric days his study. For it is strewn with the ruins of an earlier world. Here upstarting in gaunt loneliness from the heather is the menhir or rock pillar ; there stretching along the smoother plateau, or up over the bleak hillside, are ' stone avenue ' and ' stone row,' both generally found in connection with the cairn and barrow, the last resting place of primeval man. Objects still more striking are the ' sacred ' circles formed of detached moorstone blocks reared on end, with little or no attempt at tooling, and generally with even less regard to harmony in their pro portions.* And on the slopes near the banks of the streams are collections of stone rings, the basements of the huts inhabited by our forefathers long before the Norman won Senlac, perhaps even long before the legions drove back the poor Briton a thousand years earlier.

Such is Dartmoor, for these, if for no other reasons, the most interesting mountain tract in Great Britain. Of the ' greensand ' ridge of Blackdown we touch only the outskirts, for the rivers that rise there are but the Culm and the Otter, the former a tributary of the Exe, the latter a small stream that would be seldom visited by the average tourist, so far is it from the beaten track, were it not for the glorious church of St. Mary and the pleasant watering-place of Budleigh Salterton. As for the Axe, another little river of Devon, it is born among the Dorset downs. Next to Plym comes Tamar, his waters almost mingling * The finest specimen on the moor, that on Scorhill Down, has twenty-five stones erect, ranging from about eight feet to two feet six inches in height. Fernworthy and Grey Wethers circles, however, are much more symmetrical, but the blocks are lower.

The Rivers. 6 with those of the Dartmoor stream in one of the noblest harbours in the world. The birthplace of Tamar, most important of Devonshire rivers, is in a rushy knoll in the dnli moorland country beyond Holsworthy. Close to it rises the Torridge, which, taking the northern slope of the watershed, follows a circuitous course to Appledore. Both rise within four miles of the sea. Yet Tamar has to travel fifty-nine miles before it reaches Plymouth Sound, and the Torridge a distance quite as long to the waters of Bideford Bay. And yet the source of this latter river is, as the crow flies, but some fifteen miles from its mouth ! And now we have them all, and having found where they take their ' small beginnings,' let us, as it were, catalogue them seriatim. Commencing, then, towards the rising sun, first comes Axe, then Otter, then Exe, with its tributary the Culm.

Below the Exe the Dart moor streams descend to the sea, the Teign, the Dart, the Avon, the Erme, the Yealm, the Plym, the Tavy, and its tributary the Walkham. Last of the rivers flowing southward is the Tamar, forming the boundary line between Devon and Cornwall. Of streams taking a northerly course there are three : the Torridge, into which the Ockment falls, discharging itself, as I have just said, into Bideford Bay, where it is met by the Taw from Dartmoor, and last the rushing torrent of the Lyn. Thirteen in all have direct connection with the sea ; three at least have fair-sized tributaries without counting smaller streams, which would swell the number very con siderably. Which is the fairest ? Ah ! that is a question difficult to answer. Paris had no harder task. Popular opinion, I believe, would divide the golden apple into three parts, and give one portion to the Dart, another to the Tamar, a third to the Lyn, and I do not know that it would be far wrong.

Still, there are one or two other rivers that The Rivers. 7 deserve more than passing recognition. Surely the Gorge of Fingle, on the Teign, is the finest ravine in the West of England. Where is a lovelier estuary than that of the Yealm ? Where more varied scenery of wood and rock than the Plym can show about Shaugh ? Some, I know, think highly of more pastoral Exe, and one gentle man (but he is a poet) exclaims : ' First of Devon's thousand streams. Silver Axe !' But for myself, I say give me the short wild moorland stream ; give me the rivers from Exmouth to Hamoaze. From the more gentle Axe, Otter, and Exe, I would take nothing, but they are, to my mind, not to be compared with such streams as the Dart, the Yealm, the Plym, or the Lyn. With such a variety of scenery as Devon affords, with such a geological formation, these rivers must, of neces sity, differ widely, not only as to their surroundings, but even as to their colour.

As long as they are on the heights they are all crystal-clear, but when their race has run a few miles down the valley some of them lose their transparency. This may be due, doubtless is due, to a great extent, to the towns and villages that have arisen on their banks ; but I doubt whether streams flowing through such alluvial soil as do the Tamar, the Exe, and the Culm, were ever quite as pellucid as those bubbling from the granite and flowing over a more or less stony bed all the way to the head of the estuary. Thus, these three large rivers — that is, large as West Country rivers go — though clear as glass compared with their slow moving brethren further east — the muddy Parret, and, if possible, muddier Avon, for instance — have not the sparkle or gleam of the moorland torrent, any more than they have their noisy manners.

And yet not a single Devon river is really sluggish. The country is against it. Importance. Even the mild Exe is swift, while the Tamar (which, as it is navigable for twenty miles or so, some would con sider tardy) is only slow-moving between Weir Head and its estuary. And not one is uninteresting. Where you have not mountain, you have wooded hill ; where ferny combe is not, the rich valley is emerald with greenest grass and stately with some of the finest elms in England. In the river scenery of Devonshire monotony has no portion — the commonplace cannot exist. I have said that the Tamar is the most important stream ; and so it is. But this is not so much because there is a waterway for coasters as far as Calstock, but because its lower course, the estuary called Hamoaze, is a station for the navy, while the great dockyards of Devonport and Keyham lie along the waterside.