With my recent contemplations of the river Tavy in the context of the history of British rivers, I began wondering what all this meant for the stages of development of the town of Tavistock. In this blog I use a hydrological perspective to explore, what I hope is an informed speculation, that the original Saxon abbey may not lie under the remains of the abbey as we see them today, but on slightly higher ground north of the floodplain.
Category: <span>Rivers</span>
Rivers feel like a very natural part of our landscape yet they are far more altered than many people think. A great deal of river change happened in the medieval, as valleys floors became blanketed in sediment, altering floodplains and river channel forms – all of which had consequences for medieval settlement, communications, farming and industry.
Rivers feel ‘natural’ but they are natural features with a very modified past. What can we know of the natural geomorphic history of the Tavy and does this help us when thinking about the history along it? This blog peels away the layers of sediment and infrastructure to discover a different type of river of the past.
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