![Tresillian River at Malpas (28791654463)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/Tresillian_River_at_Malpas_%2828791654463%29.jpg)
The Truro River ( kw, Hyldreth) is a
river
A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...
in the city of
Truro
Truro (; kw, Truru) is a cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its population was 18,766 in the 2011 census. People of Truro ...
in
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
,
UK. It is the product of the convergence of the two
river
A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...
s named
Kenwyn
Kenwyn ( kw, Keynwynn) is a settlement and civil parish in Cornwall, England. The settlement is a suburb of the city of Truro and lies 0.5 mi (1 km) north of the city centre, within Truro parish, whereas Kenwyn parish covers an area w ...
and
Allen Allen, Allen's or Allens may refer to:
Buildings
* Allen Arena, an indoor arena at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee
* Allen Center, a skyscraper complex in downtown Houston, Texas
* Allen Fieldhouse, an indoor sports arena on the Unive ...
which run under the city: the Truro River (named after the city) flows into the
River Fal
The River Fal ( kw, Dowr Fala) flows through Cornwall, England, rising at Pentevale on Goss Moor (between St. Columb and Roche) and reaching the English Channel at Falmouth. On or near the banks of the Fal are the castles of Pendennis and ...
, estuarial waters where wildlife is abundant, and then out into the
Carrick Roads
Carrick Roads ( kw, Dowr Carrek, meaning "rock anchorage") is the estuary of the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall in England. It joins the English Channel at its southern end near Falmouth.
Geography
It is a large flooded valley, or ...
. The river is navigable up to Truro.
The river valleys form a bowl surrounding the city on the north, east and west and open to the Truro River in the south. The fairly steep-sided bowl in which Truro is located, along with high precipitation swelling the rivers and a
spring tide
Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another.
Tide tables ca ...
in the River Fal, were major causes of flooding in 1988 which caused large amounts of damage to the city centre.
Since then,
flood defences
Flood control methods are used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters."Flood Control", MSN Encarta, 2008 (see below: Further reading). Flood relief methods are used to reduce the effects of flood waters or high water level ...
have been constructed around the city,
including an emergency
dam
A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...
at New Mill on the River Kenwyn and a
tidal barrier on the Truro River, to prevent future problems. The valley of the Tresillian River is between the valleys of the Truro River and the Fal; the Tresillian River flows into the Truro River just upstream of where the latter joins the Fal. Early records give the Tresillian River the name "Seugar" (1297) or "Sowgar" (1530); the meaning of this name is unknown.
The river is mentioned in the medieval
Cornish language play
Bewnans Ke (c. 1550), as the place from which the eponymous
Saint Kea
Saint Kea ( Breton and Cornish: ''Ke''; french: Ké) was a late 5th-century British saint from the ''Hen Ogledd'' ("Old North")—the Brythonic-speaking parts of what is now southern Scotland and northern England. According to tradition he was ...
embarks for Rosené. It uses the river's Cornish name ''Hildrech'', which in modern spelling is ''Hyldreth''.
Malpas Estuary
The river from the city to the village of
Malpas, including Lambe Creek and Calenick Creek, form Malpas Estuary SSSI (
Site of Special Scientific Interest). It is an important habitat of tidal
mudflats, which are feeding grounds for
wildfowl
The Anatidae are the biological family of water birds that includes ducks, geese, and swans. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring on all the world's continents except Antarctica. These birds are adapted for swimming, floating on ...
and
wading birds
245px, A flock of Dunlins and Red knots">Red_knot.html" ;"title="Dunlins and Red knot">Dunlins and Red knots
Waders or shorebirds are birds of the order Charadriiformes commonly found wikt:wade#Etymology 1, wading along shorelines and mudflat ...
as well as fish species including
European seabass
The European bass (''Dicentrarchus labrax'') is a primarily ocean-going fish native to the waters off Europe's western and southern and Africa's northern coasts, though it can also be found in shallow coastal waters and river mouths during the su ...
,
thicklip grey mullet
The thicklip grey mullet, ''Chelon labrosus'', is a coastal fish of the family Mugilidae. It typically is about long, with being the maximum recorded. It is named after its thick upper lip and silvery-grey appearance.
It is a common fish of sh ...
,
European flounder
The European flounder (''Platichthys flesus'') is a flatfish of European coastal waters from the White Sea in the north to the Mediterranean and the Black Sea in the south. It has been introduced into the United States and Canada accidentally th ...
and
European eel. There is also a small run of migratory
brown trout (Sea Trout, known in Cornwall as Peel) into the River Allen. The banks of the estuary are also noted for their
flora
Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' ...
.
References
{{authority control
Rivers of Cornwall
Truro
Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Cornwall
1Truro