page_title: River Tamar
section_title: Crossings
hierarchical_section_title: River Tamar / Geography / Crossings
caption_attribution_description: English: Higher New Bridge over the River Tamar, between St Stephens by Launceston in Cornwall, and St Giles on the Heath in Devon
context_page_description: The Tamar is a river in south west England, that forms most of the border between Devon and Cornwall. The area is a World Heritage Site due to its historic mining activities.
  The Tamar's source is less than 6 km from the north Cornish coast, but it flows southward and its course runs across the peninsula to the south coast. The total length of the river is 61 miles. At its mouth, the Tamar flows into the Hamoaze before entering Plymouth Sound, a bay of the English Channel. Tributaries of the river include the rivers Inny, Ottery, Kensey and Lynher on the Cornish side, and the Deer and Tavy on the Devon side.
  The name Tamar was mentioned by Ptolemy in the second century in his Geography. The name is said to mean "Great Water." 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.
  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.
context_section_description: The river has 22 road crossings, including some medieval stone bridges. The oldest bridge still extant is at Horsebridge (1437), and the next oldest is Greystone Bridge near Lawhitton — this arched stone bridge was built in 1439. Gunnislake New Bridge was built in 1520 by Sir Piers Edgcumbe, the owner of Cotehele and Mount Edgcumbe. The Gunnislake bridge was a main route into south east Cornwall and the lowest bridge over the Tamar until the Tamar Bridge at Saltash was opened in 1962.
  The lower Tamar is spanned also by the Royal Albert Bridge (built 1859), a rail bridge now adjacent to the newer Tamar Bridge. Both of these bridges are between Saltash (known as the 'Gateway to Cornwall') and Plymouth. Further downstream, crossing the Hamoaze, is the Torpoint Ferry — a chain ferry connecting Torpoint to Devonport — and at the most downstream part of the Hamoaze there is also the Cremyll Ferry.
  The Calstock Viaduct is another notable structure on the Tamar, being 120 feet (37 m) high with twelve 60-foot (18 m) wide arches, of which three of the piers stand in the river, and was built between 1904 and 1907.
caption: Higher New Bridge, near St Stephen by Launceston
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