The River Yarty is a river in east Devon, England, near the boundary with Somerset and Dorset.
The River Yarty is a river in east Devon, England, near the boundary with Somerset and Dorset.
The river is about 26 kilometres (16 mi) long. The source is in Staple Hill in the Blackdown Hills. It flows on a roughly southern course through Bishopswood, briefly forming the boundary between Devon and Somerset, then between Devon and Dorset following a tripoint of all three counties, through Marsh. It continues to form a river valley for much of the rest of its course, passing between Yarcombe, Stockland, Dalwood and Membury until it meets the River Axe just southwest of Axminster, which continues to the English Channel. [1]
The A303, a major road across southern England, runs across the Yarty on a high viaduct at Marsh. [2] Further south, the A30 crosses the river east of Yarcombe, slightly west of the Devon – Dorset border at the Crawley Bridge. [3]
The name is of an uncertain origin but is believed to be derived from Old English. The villages of Yarcombe and Yartyford are both named after the river. [4]
The upper area forms one of several bisections of the otherwise hilly area around the Blackdown Hills. [5] As the river is based in a relatively deep valley, it is prone to flooding. There have been numerous formally recorded reports of property damage near the Yarty since the 1960s. [6] The land across the flood plain of the Yarty is boggy and difficult to cross. In the late spring of 1685 during the Monmouth Rebellion, this caused problems when Lord Albermarle's army were unable to defend the advancing Duke of Monmouth northwards from Lyme Regis towards Sedgemoor. [7]
Axminster is a market town and civil parish on the eastern border of the county of Devon in England. It is 28 miles (45 km) from the county town of Exeter. The town is built on a hill overlooking the River Axe which heads towards the English Channel at Axmouth, and is in the East Devon local government district. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 5,626, increasing to 5,761 at the 2011 census. The town contains two electoral wards whose combined population is 7,110. The market is still held every Thursday.
The River Axe is a 22-mile (35 km) long river in the counties of Dorset, Somerset and Devon, in the south-west of England. It rises in Dorset and flows south to Lyme Bay which it enters through the Axe Estuary in Devon. It is a shallow, non-navigable river, although its mouth at Seaton has some boating activity. The name Axe derives from a Common Brittonic word meaning "abounding in fish", and is cognate with pysg, the Welsh word for fish.
The A30 is a major road in England, running 284 miles (457 km) WSW from London to Land's End.
The Fosse Way was a Roman road built in Britain during the first and second centuries AD that linked Isca Dumnoniorum (Exeter) in the southwest and Lindum Colonia (Lincoln) to the northeast, via Lindinis (Ilchester), Aquae Sulis (Bath), Corinium (Cirencester), and Ratae Corieltauvorum (Leicester).
The Monmouth Rebellion, also known as the Pitchfork Rebellion, the Revolt of the West or the West Country rebellion, was an attempt to depose James II, who in February 1685 succeeded his brother Charles II as king of England, Scotland and Ireland. A group of dissident Protestants led by James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, eldest illegitimate son of Charles II, opposed James largely due to his Catholicism.
The A303 is a trunk road in southern England, running between Basingstoke in Hampshire and Honiton in Devon via Stonehenge. Connecting the M3 and the A30, it is part of one of the main routes from London to Devon and Cornwall. It is a primary A road throughout its length, passing through five counties.
The Blackmore Vale is a vale, or wide valley, in north Dorset, and to a lesser extent south Somerset and southwest Wiltshire in southern England.
East Devon is a local government district in Devon, England. Its council is based in the town of Honiton, although Exmouth is the largest town. The district also contains the towns of Axminster, Budleigh Salterton, Cranbrook, Ottery St Mary, Seaton and Sidmouth, along with numerous villages and surrounding rural areas.
The A35 is a major road in southern England, connecting Honiton in Devon and Southampton in Hampshire. It is a trunk road for some of its length. Most of its route passes through Dorset and the New Forest. It originally connected Exeter and Southampton, the original A35 ran along what is now the A3052 joining the present road at Charmouth.
The River Otter is a river that rises in the Blackdown Hills just inside the county of Somerset, England near Otterford, then flows south through East Devon. It enters the English Channel at the western end of Lyme Bay, part of the Jurassic Coast, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Permian and Triassic sandstone aquifer in the Otter Valley is one of Devon's largest groundwater sources, supplying drinking water to 200,000 people.
Hemyock is a village and civil parish in Devon, England. It is about 8 miles north-west of Honiton and 5 miles (8 km) south of the Somerset town of Wellington. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 1,519. Hemyock is part of the electoral ward of Upper Culm. The population of this ward at the above census was 4,039. The River Culm flows through Hemyock. Hemyock was the former home of the St Ivel dairy processing plant, formerly where the butter-spreads 'St Ivel Gold' and 'Utterly-Butterly' were produced before being moved to a factory in the north of England.
The Blackdown Hills National Landscape is a National Landscape along the Somerset-Devon border in south-western England, which were designated in 1991 as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). In November 2023, it has become 'Blackdown Hills National Landscape' The area encompasses a set of hills of the same name.
Tiverton and Honiton is a constituency in Devon, England. The current MP is Richard Foord of the Liberal Democrats, elected at a by-election on 23 June 2022.
Somerset is a rural county in the southwest of England, covering 4,171 square kilometres (1,610 sq mi). It is bounded on the north-west by the Bristol Channel, on the north by Bristol and Gloucestershire, on the north-east by Wiltshire, on the south-east by Dorset, and on the south west and west by Devon. It has broad central plains with several ranges of low hills. The landscape divides into four main geological sections from the Silurian through the Devonian and Carboniferous to the Permian which influence the landscape, together with water-related features.
Dorset is a county in South West England. The county is largely rural and therefore does not have a dense transport network, and is one of the few English counties without a motorway. Owing to its position on the English Channel coast, and its natural sheltered harbours, it has a maritime history, though lack of inland transport routes have led to the decline of its ports.
Stockland is a village and civil parish in Devon, close to the Somerset boundary. The parish is surrounded clockwise from the north by the parishes of Yarcombe, Membury, Dalwood, Widworthy, Offwell, Cotleigh and Upottery. Its nearest neighbouring towns are Honiton and Axminster, which are 6 miles (10 km) and 5 miles (8 km) away respectively. It has a population of around 600. The village is placed within the Blackdown Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The Stockland parish had historically been an exclave of Dorset until the Counties Act 1844.
The county of Somerset is in South West England, bordered by the Bristol Channel and the counties of Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, and Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south, and Devon to the west. The climate, influenced by its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean and the prevailing westerly winds, tends to be mild, damp and windy.
Yarcombe is a village and civil parish in the county of Devon, England, situated in the East Devon administrative district on the A30 road near the towns of Honiton and Chard. It is sited in the steep rolling meadows and ancient woods of the Yarty Valley on the south edge of the Blackdown Hills, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The population according to the 2011 census was 500.
Marsh is a village in the Blackdown Hills, Devon, England. It is part of the East Devon district, and close to the River Yarty and border with Somerset.
The Battle of Bridport was a battle fought on June 14, 1685, at the start of the Monmouth Rebellion in the town of Bridport, in Dorset, England. The battle was a victory for the Royalist forces and the rebels were forced to march to Axminster.