The St Austell River ( kw, Dowr an Wynyk, meaning ''the little white river'') properly known as the River Vinnick, but historically called The White River, is a long river located in south
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, United Kingdom. . The river has also been known as the "red river" due to tin streaming and mining activity upstream.
The river drains the central southern section of the
St Austell
St Austell (; kw, Sans Austel) is a town in Cornwall, England, south of Bodmin and west of the border with Devon.
St Austell is one of the largest towns in Cornwall; at the 2011 census it had a population of 19,958.
History
St Austell wa ...
Moorland, the second largest
granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...
mass in Cornwall, an upland formed in the
Variscan orogeny
The Variscan or Hercynian orogeny was a geologic mountain-building event caused by Late Paleozoic continental collision between Euramerica (Laurussia) and Gondwana to form the supercontinent of Pangaea.
Nomenclature
The name ''Variscan'', comes f ...
, to the north of St Austell. The highest natural point of the moorland is
Hensbarrow Beacon
Hensbarrow Beacon is a hill in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated a mile north-west of Stenalees village at . It is the highest natural point of the Hensbarrow uplands, a natural region and national character area.
The natural s ...
at ; however modern
china clay
Kaolinite ( ) is a clay mineral, with the chemical composition Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4. It is an important industrial mineral. It is a layered silicate mineral, with one tetrahedral sheet of silica () linked through oxygen atoms to one octahedral ...
mining
waste tips now rise above it.
The name ''White River'' has been adopted locally because waste water from
china clay
Kaolinite ( ) is a clay mineral, with the chemical composition Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4. It is an important industrial mineral. It is a layered silicate mineral, with one tetrahedral sheet of silica () linked through oxygen atoms to one octahedral ...
quarrying
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their environ ...
and
refining
{{Unreferenced, date=December 2009
Refining (also perhaps called by the mathematical term affining) is the process of purification of a (1) substance or a (2) form. The term is usually used of a natural resource that is almost in a usable form, b ...
practices was emptied into the river giving it a white colour.
The local term ''White River'' has given its name to the St Austell Town Centre Redevelopment Scheme, which is now called White River Place.
The route
The river has two main tributaries, the first of which begins several hundred metres south of
Hensbarrow Beacon
Hensbarrow Beacon is a hill in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated a mile north-west of Stenalees village at . It is the highest natural point of the Hensbarrow uplands, a natural region and national character area.
The natural s ...
at and heads south east past the southern edge of
Gunheath china clay pit. At
Carthew, the river heads south and passes
Ruddlemoor and
Trethowel in the
Trenance Valley
Trenance ( kw, Trenans) is a hamlet adjoining Mawgan Porth in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. Trenance Point is a headland nearby.
There are also places called Trenance in the parishes of Mullion, Newquay, St Issey, St Keverne and St Wen ...
, where several mills and
blowing house
A blowing house or blowing mill was a building used for smelting tin in Cornwall and on Dartmoor in Devon, in South West England. Blowing houses contained a furnace and a pair of bellows that were powered by an adjacent water wheel, and they wer ...
s made use of the river. This is a steep sided ‘V’ shaped valley carved through
granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...
. A number of very minor
tributaries
A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage b ...
enter this section, including springs and adits/levels at
Gunheath,
Lansalson, and
Bojea. At the end of the Trenance Valley the river passes under the
Cornish Main Line
The Cornish Main Line ( kw, Penn-hyns-horn Kernow) is a railway line in Cornwall and Devon in the United Kingdom. It runs from Penzance to Plymouth, crossing from Cornwall into Devon over the famous Royal Albert Bridge at Saltash.
It directly ...
railway
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
and enters St Austell.
The second tributary begins within the massive Littlejohn's/Dorothy china clay pit in a region that was originally known as
Longstone Moor Longstone or Long Stone may refer to
Places
* Longstone, Edinburgh, a suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland
* Longstone, County Armagh, a townland in County Armagh, Northern Ireland
* Longstone, Cornwall, a hamlet in Cornwall, England
* Longstone, Isles of ...
, where previously it had been a long, shallow valley that had drained the surrounding high moorland area. It travels southwards beneath a massive waste tip, whence it issues from a culvert at the head of the
Gover Valley and the base of the tip. From there, it winds roughly south until it too reaches another viaduct belonging to the Cornish Main Line railway, wherefrom it turns east southeast and follows this heading for approximately a kilometre into St Austell, where it joins the Trenance Valley river.
Once leaving St Austell the river flows south along the
Pentewan
Pentewan ( kw, Bentewyn, meaning ''foot of the radiant stream'') is a coastal village and former port in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated at south of St Austell at the mouth of the St Austell River.
Pentewan is in ...
Valley, which extends for , to the
village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...
of Pentewan where the river enters the
English Channel
The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...
. The final section of the river can vary course significantly as it crosses Pentewan beach and flows into the sea at .
See also
*
Gover Stream
The Gover Stream ( kw, Gover, meaning ''stream'') is an approximately long stream located in mid south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom.
The source of the stream is at the north eastern side of Blackpool China clay pit at . The stream flows s ...
References
External links
St Austell Stream or White River Cornwall Rivers Project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Austell River
Rivers of Cornwall