This selection of photos were taken in Riverside Plymouth on the Tamar opposite Saltash. I have already made a detailed post about Saltash Ferry here. This set show the Plymouth side of the river, with great views of the Royal Albert Bridge by Brunel. This is a more handmade version below. In fact the sort of artwork sailors used to make with their spent matches. This model is in the Ferry House Inn.
This narrow stretch of the river, hence the bridges being sited here, is the Saltash Passage.
On the approach you pass under the bridge.
Behind the Royal Albert Bridge is the much later, 102 years later in fact, Tamar suspension bridge for road traffic. Until 1962 the nearest road bridge was at Gunnislake, upriver, which is so old that a Civil War Battle was fought for control of it. I mention the Gunnislake Bridge in more detail here. It has some interesting stories to tell.
Next to the bridge is this war memorial.
It is yet another reminder of how significant D-Day was in British history. Because of the allocation of landing beaches in France this part of the south coast all of the way to Cornwall was used by American forces to assemble the invasion fleet. Landing craft and other assorted floating assemblages of the mulberry harbours were prepared and secreted in every creek, river, estuary and harbour from Lyme Bay to the tip of Cornwall.
This particular operation was a 24 hour a day task and approximately 36,000 men and 60,892 tons of equipment were loaded over all Tamar hards from D minus 14 to D plus 14.
D-Day as a whole was the biggest amphibious assault in history. It involved 2 years of meticulous planning, over 5,000 ships and vessels, and putting ashore 150,000 men in the first 24 hours.
The almost incredible fact that stands out above all else was that all of that was kept a secret, until the day of the invasion.
The slipway in the centre of this photo is the original ferry slipway of the Saltash Ferry which operated in various forms here for a thousand years. The building on the left is the Ferry House Inn.
The Ferry (1066 - 1961)
The original rights to the Ferry at Saltash Passage dates back to the Norman Conquest in the 11th Century. The Ferry was also given as patronage by Edward, The Black Prince to William Lenche for his services in the Hundred Years War.
During its long history, the many Ferries of Saltash Passage underwent the benefits of industrial progressions, moving from sweeps, oars and stay ropes to chain and steam.
The journeys weren't always safe, as in 1733 the Ferry capsized and sank with twenty lives lost to the River Tamar. The Ferry House Inn
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