The River Exe at Tiverton
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.
Although it is a much shorter river than the Exe or the Tamar, the Dart is better known than either, and is perhaps the most familiar by name of all the Devonshire streams. Along its banks, especially near Holne and Buckland-in-the-Moor, and along the wooded shores of its magnificent estuary, is some of the most beautiful river-scenery, not in this county only but in all England. The most important of its many tributaries are the East and the West Dart—both of which rise in the great bog round Cranmere Pool, and join at a picturesque spot called Dartmeet—and the Webburns, East and West. Below Totnes the Dart widens out into a long and most beautiful estuary, winding among finely-wooded hills. On the west side of its entrance is the old port of Dartmouth, named, like Dartington, after the river, and on the opposite shore is the smaller but equally picturesque little town of Kingswear.
On the Dart; Sharpham Woods