Tamar River Trip - Plymouth Boat Trips

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	River Tamar Trip to Morwellham Plymouth Boat Trips All images link to larger copies which will open in a new window/tab This page is under construction!
	This page shows postcards and images from a cruise on the River Tamar with Plymouth Boat Trips in June 2015 on the vessel Plymouth Princess, with two hours at Morwellham Quay. The Tamar has a high tidal range so only runs on selected dates to Cotehele, Morwellham or Calstock. Websites:- www.plymouthboattrips.co.uk - www.cawsandferry.co.uk Email:- plymouthboattrips@hotmail.co.uk Telephone:- 07971 208381

	Sections on this Page Plymouth Princess Trip to the River Tamar in June 2015 Mount Batten Breakwater Mount Batten Tower Drake's Island Royal Albert Bridge Cotehele Quay Calstock Morwellham Quay Morwellham Mine Railway Other Devon Pages Devon Header Page Cawsand Ferry & Cawsand - this page Dartmouth Higher & Lower Ferry Dartmouth Riverboats Dartmouth Steam Railway and River Boat Company Dart Pleasure Craft Devon Railway Ferries & Tenders Devon Dock, Pier & SS Co Greenway Ferry - Torquay & Dart Millbrook SB & Trading Company - Plymouth Plymouth Boat Cruises Plymouth Boat Trips River Dart SB Co Sound Cruising - Plymouth Tamar Cruising & Cremyll Ferry Co - Plymouth Western Lady Ferry Service - Torquay Yealm River trip in May 2014 - Plymouth Boat Trips Contacts Website:- www.cawsandferry.co.uk Website:- www.plymouthboattrips.co.uk Email:- plymouthboattrips@hotmail.co.uk Telephone:- 07971 208381 http://www.hollandamerica.com	Associated Pages UK Excursion Vessels Cruise Ships Ocean Liners World Ferry Fleets Simplon Postcards. Home Page Simplon Postcards - Recent Updates - Simplon Postcards facebook page References Trip Out Guides - Various Editions 1985-2016 by Geoffrey Hamer - wwww.trip-out.co.uk Trip Out Guides are available from Geoffrey Hamer, PO Box 485, Southall, UB1 9BH Estuary & River Ferries of South West England - Martin Langley & Edwina Small - Waine Research (1984) Passenger Steamers of the River Tamar - Alan Kittridge - Twelveheads Press (1984) Passenger Steamers of the River Dart - Richard Clammer & Alan Kittridge - Twelveheads Press (1987) South Devon Ferries - Alan Kittridge - Tempus (2003) Steamers & Ferries of the River Tamar & Three Towns District - Alan Kittridge - Twelveheads Press (2003) Timetable Archive (PDF Files) 2011 Timetable http://www.hollandamerica.com
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As we leave the Barbican we pass the Mount Batten Breakwater. Work on the Mount Batten Breakwater (also referred to as Mount Batten Pier and Cattewater Breakwater) started in 1878 and was completed in 1881 at a total cost of £20,000. It is 915 feet (279 metres)in length and the foundations are 20 feet (6 metres) below the low tide mark. The breakwater was promoted by the Cattewater Commissioners who were responsible for shipping in the area. During the air-station years the breakwater was closed to the public and used, for a period, to store flying boats. In 1995 the breakwater was refurbished and re-opened to the public.

To the west as we leave the Barbican we can see Drake's Island in Plymouth Sound. The first recorded name for the island was in 1135, when it was referred to as St Michael's, after the chapel erected on it. At some later date the chapel was rededicated to St Nicholas and the island adopted the same name. From the latter part of the 16th century the island was occasionally referred to as Drake's Island after Sir Francis Drake, the English privateer who used Plymouth as his home port. Even well into the 19th century, maps and other references continued to refer to the island as St Nicholas's Island and it is only in about the last 100 years that this name has slipped into disuse and the name Drake's Island has been adopted.

The 1859 Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom recommended a huge programme of new fortifications to defend Plymouth. On Drake's Island, the existing battery at the centre of the island was replaced by five 12-inch muzzle loading guns in open emplacements. A new battery was also built on the south-western end, of twenty one 9-inch guns in an arc of stone casemates with iron shields. Six 12-pounder quick firing guns were added in 1897 and three 6-inch guns became the main armament in 1901.

The island was sold for £384,000 in 1995, with plans to turn it into a hotel complex, but the owner has not, to date, obtained planning permission. The island contains derelict military barracks and buildings from the Napoleonic era, and a MoD radio mast.

The Royal Albert Bridge is a single track railway bridge that spans the River Tamar in England between Plymouth (Devon) and Saltash (Cornwall). Its unique design consists of two 455 feet (138.7 m) lenticular iron trusses 100 feet (30.5 m) above the water, with conventional plate-girder approach spans. This gives it a total length of 2,187.5 feet (666.8 m). It carries the Cornish Main Line railway in and out of Cornwall.

It was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Surveying started in 1848 and construction commenced in 1854. The first main span was positioned in 1857 and the completed bridge was opened by Prince Albert on 2 May 1859. Brunel died later that year and his name was then placed above the portals at either end of the bridge as a memorial. Work was carried out during the twentieth century to replace the approach spans and strengthen the main spans. It has attracted sightseers since its construction and has appeared in many paintings, photographs and guidebooks. Anniversary celebrations took place in 1959 and 2009.

www.simplonpc.co.uk/Plymouth.html#RoyalAlbertBridge

Cotehele was the ancestral home to the Edgcumbe family for centuries. The Tudor house, perched high above the River Tamar, is decorated with tapestries, arms and armour, pewter, brass and old oak furniture. The interior tour has changed little over the years, although the furnishings were titivated as Cotehele continued to inspire its owners.

In the 19th century local industries boomed and Cotehele Quay bustled with vessels loading and unloading cargo. Paddle steamers came upriver to see the Tamar Valley’s famous blossoming orchards and small boats carried market-gardening produce back down the river for sale at Devonport Market.

The restored sailing barge Shamrock is usually moored at the quay at Cotehele. Shamrock was built in the Stonehouse yard of Frederick Hawke as a Ketch rigged Tamar sailing barge in 1899. Shamrock is 17.5m (57ft 6in) long, has a beam of 5.51m (18ft 1in), a hold depth of 1.62m (5ft 4in) and was initially registered as of 31.71 tons gross. Her hold is 6.7m (22ft) by 3.5m (11ft) and main mast is 12.5m (42ft) high.

After a long varied working life Shamrock ended up being used as a scrap iron store in Hooe Lake Plymouth. She was acquired by the National Maritime Museum and, in conjunction with the National Trust, taken to Cotehele Quay in 1973 as a restoration project. This restored Shamrock to as she was after being converted to a coastal vessel in the early 1920's and was completed in 1979. She now has the distinction of being the last working Tamar Sailing barge. Shamrock was named after the unsuccessful Irish challenger for the 10th America's Cup Race in 1899. She is considered to be the most advanced Tamar sailing barge ever built - it was a conscious effort to design a vessel which would carry the maximum cargo for her size on the minimum draft and at the lowest operating and maintenance costs.

Shamrock is now permanently berthed at Cotehele Quay, a National Trust property, and still has occasional trips up and down the river. Shamrock is listed on the National Trust Collections website, and has inventory number 348277. She is also listed on the UK National Historic Ships Register, maintained by the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, and has Certificate number 665. Shamrock is currently jointly owned by the National Trust and the National Maritime Museum. Ref: Wikipedia

Calstock (Cornish: Kalstok]) is a civil parish and a large village in south east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, on the border with Devon. The village is situated on the River Tamar 6 miles (9.7 km) south west of Tavistock and 10 miles (16 km) north of Plymouth.

Mining was important in Calstock from Mediaeval times, with the Duchy mining silver. The industry was booming in the late 19th century and the discovery of copper, and coupled with nearby granite quarrying made Calstock a busy port. The rapid population boom due to the growth of industry led, in 1849, to an outbreak of cholera. The industry declined in the early 20th century due to foreign competition, and now only the ruined pump houses that dot the landscape remain.

The Tamar is navigable to boats past Calstock some 3 miles (4.8 km) upstream to Morwellham Quay with some 10 feet (3.0 m) or even 20 feet (6.1 m) of water at extreme spring tides. Calstock Quay was once important for transporting goods, and in the Victorian era when steamers brought tourists to the village, Calstock was visited by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1846.

The 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge East Cornwall Mineral Railway was opened to Kelly Quay at Calstock on 8 May 1872. Wagons with goods from the mines around Gunnislake and Callington were brought down the hillside on a 0.4 miles (0.6 km) cable-worked incline with a gradient of 1 in 6 (17%).The importance of the river as a transport route declined with the construction of the 14 miles (23 km) Tamar Valley railway at the start of the 20th century. The village is still dominated by the railway's viaduct. The viaduct, constructed entirely from precast concrete blocks, was first crossed by truck on 8 August 1907 and first used by passengers on 2 March 1908. The Plymouth, Devonport and South Western Junction Railway opened the station on 2 March 1908. This line was a branch from Bere Alston to Callington Road and crossed the River Tamar on Calstock Viaduct.

A steam-powered lift was attached to the downstream side of the viaduct which could raise and lower wagons to the quays 113 feet (34 m) below, making it one of the highest such lifts in the country. It was connected to the station goods yard by a second parallel steel stub viaduct. A short section of the narrow gauge line was retained to serve a lime kiln, but the wagon lift and all the sidings were taken out of use in September 1934. Ref: Wikipedia

Morwellham Quay is a historic river port in Devon, England that developed to support the local mines. The port had its peak in the Victorian era and is now run as a tourist attraction and museum. It is the terminus of the Tavistock Canal, and has its own copper mine. The open-air museum includes the restored 19th-century village, the docks and quays, a restored ship, the George and Charlotte copper mine which is toured by a small train, a Victorian farm and a nature reserve with trails.

In July 2006, UNESCO (the cultural arm of the United Nations) awarded World Heritage Site status to the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape area. Morwellham is strategically sited at the centre of the Tamar Valley Mining District which, together with nearby Tavistock, forms the easternmost gateway area to the rest of the World Heritage Site.

Morwellham Quay was originally set up by the Benedictine monks of Tavistock Abbey, which was founded in 961, to carry goods to and from Plymouth on the River Tamar, since the River Tavy was un-navigable. By the 12th century, tin ore was being transported through the quay, followed by lead and silver ores in the 13th century. Later, copper deposits were also discovered at the Quay itself and the George and Charlotte Mine opened in the 18th century. In addition, by 1800, manganese deposits were being extracted from the northern and western edges of Dartmoor and being brought to Morwellham.

By the end of the 18th century, the trail of pack horses across the rugged terrain was too much, and in 1817 the 4.5-mile-long Tavistock Canal was opened. The canal included a 1.5-mile tunnel which ended 237 feet above the quay at Morwellham. From here an inclined plane was constructed to bring the iron barges down to the quay, powered by a water wheel.

The heyday for Morwellham Quay came when the largest and richest copper deposits ever were discovered at the Devon Great Consols just 4 miles to the north in 1844. £1 shares were soon worth £800 as the rush to extract the ore started. This gave rise to Morwellham's fame as the "richest Copper port in Queen Victoria's Empire", and the queen herself visited in 1856. Another inclined plane was built to transport the ore down the hill and a new quay was added to handle the 30,000 tons of ore that were exported each year. Arsenic was also extracted and it became the world's largest supplier of the mineral in the latter part of the century. However by 1903 the Consols' wealth was exhausted and the mines closed. By this stage, the railways had taken over and Morwellham's usefulness was also ended. The canal tunnel was used as a water supply for a hydroelectric plant and the inclined planes were abandoned.

In 2009 Devon County Council withdrew funding for the mining museum, which as a direct result was placed into administration. In April 2010 the site was purchased by the owners of Bicton Park, and it reopened to the public later in the year. Ref: Wikipedia

The mine train at Morwellham runs into the George & Charlotte copper mine for a fascinating insight into the harsh living and working conditions in the 19th Century. It is a very interesting ride and the driver/guide was extremely good. The railway is not authentic however as all original tunnels would have been just 5ft tall and 2ft wide. They have been blasted out into much wider tunnels to take the trains.

Unidentified Morwellham Mine loco (No.1?)
Photo: © Ian Boyle, 29th June 2015