Many of us see the River Torridge most days. We casually note the state of the tide and maybe even focus on the channels that remain at low water. Like all navigable rivers, there will be evidence of past activity, sometimes the remains of a boat or a fixture in the bank or mud.

Only a minority use the river as a navigable highway. Once on the water, the whole perspective changes. The quaysides tower above, and the details of construction become apparent. There are many redundant posts or timber structures that appear as the tides do their magical thing.

Traveling upstream from Appledore, we pass the remains of slipways at Richmond Dock. Zeta berth is on the left with landing craft tied alongside. The berth got its name from a yacht named Zeta which once berthed there.

The shipyard lies on the right with its massive, covered dock. In part of the yard there used to be another dock, now filled in. Wrecks line the foreshore here, known locally as ‘the graveyard’.

The floating crane is the Bristol Giant. It is still serviceable and was built in Bristol. One interesting wreck is the remains of a Navy pinnace. These used to be common around dockyards and it would be interesting to know how this one got to where it is now. Quite close to the shore is the remains of a sand barge with its Widdop engine still installed.

Again on the right, we pass Boathyde. This is an interesting area as there are various mooring points along the foreshore and a slip. The lane up from here is lined with pebbles and so could have been a route for taking materials from a beached ship up to Northam.

A few yards on the same side, a row of short posts can be seen. It looks as though there could have been a half tide causeway as many people walked to work at the shipyards via this route from Bideford.

On the right is a cluster of large ship remains, abandoned here after use for barrage balloon duty during the war. Well known vessels such as Hobah and Emma Louise are slowly fading away. Even so, they are worth looking at as construction methods are clear to see. Lower Cleave had a shipyard here and even built iron ships. We will continue our journey upstream in a future column.

JP