ORIGIN- River Swincombe Dartmoor UK - River Origins, Destinations and Confluences on Waymarking.com

The birth of the river Swincombe starts, and unusually, as the river Strane which rises some 390 meters up on Dartmoor in the valley between South Hessary Tor and Tor Royal.
The river Strane along with other run off streams flow into a natural basin which hold a large peat bog. The peat bog is like a hug sponge, a capacitor/reservoir for water. releasing the water at the lowest point where the river is renamed the Swincombe river.
At this point a small dam had been built and water is taken by a pipe line to augment the water supply to the nearby Venford reservoir.
Even though the Swincombe is small in spate condition can rise by up to 3/4 feet.

During the late 1960's there were plans to dam the area creating a huge reservoir to assist with increasing demand on water supplies to the South Devon area. This was finally quashed by Parliament.

Note:-
As the river Swincombe is "born" out of a vast peat bog it is not possible to pin point its actual source. The images attached should assist visitors to the area.
The Fox tor mire is deep in places and could put the unwary traveller at risk.
This Waymark is remote high on Dartmoor, the weather can change very quickly so have appropriate equipment and clothing and know how to navigate.

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Fox Tor Mire is famous for being the atmospheric place that probably inspired Conan Doyle to write about the Hound of the Baskervilles. It can be intimidating in misty weather and is certainly a place to be careful about crossing owing to the wet and boggy ground. The mire is contained within a large shallow amphitheatre where the feeder streams pass slowly through the peaty ground to emerge at the NE corner as the river Swincombe. It is a very quiet place - even by Dartmoor standards. Herons, skylarks and black cattle are the main inhabitants.

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Date Logged Log User Rating   06/28/2019 MoreOutdoor visited it