Saltash is a
picturesque little town well worth a day for a visit. It's many shops
provide you with all that you need and it's friendly pubs are a joy to
be included in! Known as the Gateway to Cornwall, Saltash lies on the River Tamar.
Saltash has good leisure facilities including sailing, a country
club, a leisure center and is close to the sea and the major city
of Plymouth.
Transport includes a railway station and the main A38 trunk road.
Saltash has a small but pleasant shopping high street, which lies
in the heart of the town.
In 1829 easy contact with the outside world was made with the
installation of a floating bridge or ferry over the Tamar.
Some Historical Notes.
Saltash owes it's status as a town due to the river crossing of the
Tamar which has been in operation at least since Roman times. It has
also served as a port and safe harbour well before Plymouth and
Devonport developed.
Little is known of the Saltash history before 1066 but then came the
Norman conquest and the construction of the castle at Trematon (on the
outskirts of Saltash near the village of Forder and can be viewed on
occasions in the year).
The castle was strongly linked to the early Christian cathedral at St
Germans.
An early church building (Norman) was St Nicholas and St Faith just
uphill from the ferry crossing. This however was not the main parish
church for Saltash which is St Stephens (Perpendicular mainly 15th
century) about a mile from the center of the town.
Sir Francis Drake of the Armada fame had strong connections with
Saltash. He married a Saltash girl (Mary Newman - whose cottage is
preserved and can be visited) and used the port facilities to unload
some Spanish treasure ships of their cargo.
Another significant change was the coming of the railway to Saltash. The
Great Western Railway and the construction of the Royal Albert
Bridge made available markets for products (mainly agricultural) and
brought about changes in the development of the town.
The Saltash ferry continued to operate for road and passenger services
but this changed in 1961 with the construction of the Tamar road bridge.
This enabled direct road links across to Plymouth and to the main trunk
road network across the country.
The Waterside area of Saltash is dominated by these two major bridges.
Recent times has seen the provision of a tunnel for the main A38 road to
relieve the congestion in the shopping center of the town.
MAPof the area
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