| River Tavy | |
| Pushpin Map: | Devon#UK |
| Subdivision Type1: | Country |
| Subdivision Name1: | England |
| Subdivision Type2: | County |
| Subdivision Name2: | Devon |
| Mouth: | River Tamar |
| Mouth Location: | Bickleigh |
| Mouth Coordinates: | 50.4667°N -13°W |
The Tavy is a river on Dartmoor, Devon, England. The name derives from the Brythonic root "Tam", once thought to mean 'dark' but now generally understood to mean 'to flow'.[1] It has given its name to the town of Tavistock and the villages of Mary Tavy and Peter Tavy.
It is a tributary of the River Tamar and has as its own tributaries: Collybrooke, River Burn, River Wallabrooke, River Lumburn, and River Walkham. At Tavistock it feeds a canal running to Morwellham Quay.
Its mouth is crossed by the Tavy Bridge which carries the Tamar Valley railway line.
The river is navigable inland as far as Lopwell, where a weir marks the normal tidal limit, about a 9miles journey from North Corner Quay at Devonport.[2] River transport was an important feature of the local farming, mining, tourism and forestry economies.[3] [4]
The Queen's Harbour Master for Plymouth[5] is responsible for managing navigation on the River Tavy up to the normal tidal limit.[6]