Calstock Cornwall – Riverside Village in the Tamar Valley with Iconic Viaduct Views

CALSTOCK

Calstock is a small village in the Tamar Valley, its tall white houses clinging to the steep Cornish bank of the River Tamar some fourteen miles upriver from Plymouth Sound. It has been a river crossing and landing place for centuries, and the whole valley is now protected as the Tamar Valley National Landscape.

The village is dominated by its splendid railway viaduct. Built between 1904 and 1907 and opened in 1908, its twelve arches carry the Tamar Valley Line between Plymouth and Gunnislake high above the river – originally linking the main line at Bere Alston with the East Cornwall Mineral Railway.

Calstock’s heyday as a port came in the 19th century, when it served an area of intense mining and industrial activity – many remains of which can still be seen in the valley – and a rural parish renowned for growing fruit and flowers. A small boatyard is still active, and the river is navigable from Plymouth at high tide.

COTEHELE (NATIONAL TRUST)

About a mile downriver by footpath lies the enchanting Tudor house and estate of Cotehele, owned by the National Trust since 1947, with its river quay, working watermill, gardens and glorious woodland walks.

Built mainly by Sir Richard Edgcumbe and his son Piers between the late 15th and early 16th centuries, Cotehele is one of the least altered houses of its age in Britain – a unique mirror into the past, with its original furniture, armour and tapestries.

Down at Cotehele Quay lies the restored Tamar sailing barge Shamrock, built in 1899 to carry cargo on the Tamar and the coast and bought by the National Trust in 1974. A little further through the woods is Cotehele Mill, the estate’s restored working watermill.

Read more about Cotehele House · Walking at Cotehele