The longest of the Devonshire rivers is the Exe, after which are
named Exford and Exton in Somerset, and Exeter and Exmouth in our own
county--a strong and beautiful stream which rises near Simonsbath on
Exmoor, flowing for the first twenty miles through Somerset and crossing
the Devonshire border near Dulverton station, where it is met, on the
left bank, by its great tributary the Barle. It then runs nearly due
south, through well-wooded and fertile country, being joined on its
left bank, at Tiverton, "the town of the two fords," by the Loman; and
farther down on the same side by the Culm, which gives its name to
Culmstock. Near Exeter it receives on the right bank the Creedy, a
pretty and winding stream that lends its name to Crediton, and along
whose shores in some of the richest land in Devonshire. A little below
Exeter, close to the once famous port of Topsham, it is joined on the
left bank by the Clyst, a small and unimportant stream, flowing through
most fertile country, and giving its name to no fewer than seven
villages. Below Topsham the Exe widens out to nearly a mile, forming,
at high tide, from this point to the sea, a noble estuary five miles
long, with the popular watering-place of Exmouth on the slope of the
eastern side of its entrance, which is almost closed by a long sandbank
called the Warren, divided into two parts by a stream. Until late in the
thirteenth century the Exe was navigable from the sea to Exeter. But in
1290 Isabella de Fortibus, Countess of Devon, having quarrelled with the
citizens, blocked the river-bed with stones, at a place still called
the Countess Weir, leaving, however, sufficient room for ships to pass.
At a later period this space was closed by the Earl of Devon, and the
navigation of the river entirely stopped. Vessels now reach Exeter by a
canal.
The second river in point of length is the Tamar, after which are
named North Tamerton in Cornwall and Tamerton Foliott in our own
county. Rising in the extreme north-west, in the high ground that parts
Devonshire from Cornwall, it forms almost the whole of the dividing line
between the two counties, and is characterised throughout the lower
portion of its course by some very beautiful scenery. It is joined by
many streams, some rising in Devonshire and some in Cornwall; some of
which--the Lyd, for example--are renowned for their wildness and beauty.
The largest of the western tributaries is the Lynher, entirely a Cornish
river, whose estuary joins the Hamoaze. The most important of those on
the left bank is the Tavy, a Dartmoor-drawn stream, giving its name to
the town of Tavistock and to the villages of Peter Tavy and Mary Tavy,
and flowing through some of the most fruitful land in Devonshire. A
particularly fertile district is that lying between the Tavy and the
Tamar.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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