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The town of Saltash
The Waterside area of Saltash has been inhabited for at least a thousand years. The site lay within the Anglo -Saxon manor of Trematon, at a place where a major highway crossed the Tamar Estuary by means of a ferry which belonged to the manor. One of the factors that determined the location of the ferry was the existence of a hard beach interrupting the estuarial mud on the western side. The northern end of the beach was protected by a great rock (called Ashtor) which protruded into the estuary. The first settlement at Ash (which – in its Middle English form Esse, meaning ash tree – was Saltash’s original name) probably consisted of a few ferrymen’s and fishermen’s dwellings lining the foreshore behind the beach. Circa 1175 this small community was absorbed when one of de Valletorts, lords of Trematon Castle, had streets and building plots laid out on the adjoining hillside and founded a Borough. The new market town prospered, and also became a port. To distinguish it from other places in the Southwest called Ash, around 1300 the prefix Salt- was added to
the town’s name (probably this term was used because of the location beside a tidal estuary). Although the town of Sutton (later name: Plymouth) outgrew Saltash before the end of the 13th century, Saltash continued to prosper. It had some advantages: Saltash Reach in the Tamar was a good deep-water anchorage for large ships at all states of the tide, and it was a safe five miles from the open sea. Saltash merchants operated a small fleet of oceangoing vessels crewed by local men. Their ships were requisitioned for war service on various occasions during the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. In the 15th century the ‘Thomas’ of Saltash carried pilgrims bound for
Compostela, and the ‘Nicholas’ traded as far as NE Norway (well inside the Arctic Circle). In 1568 the inhabitants of Waterside were excited when two Spanish treasure ships which had been seized were unloaded there. There was an even greater spectacle for Saltash in 1587, when Sir Francis Drake brought up river the carrack ‘San Felipe’ (a prize seized by him off the Azores). She was laden with calicoes, silks and spices, as well as chests of jewels, gold plate, etc. All the cargo was discharged and inventoried at Saltash; it was worth £12,000,000 in relation to today’svalues.
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