Page:Rivers, Canals, Railways of Great Britain.djvu/206



DARENT RIVER.
THIS river rises in Surrey, two miles from Westerham, from whence it takes an eastwardly course down one of the most beautiful vales in Kent, passing Hill Park, Brasted Place, and Chipsted, to River Head, where it takes a northerly course by Lullingstone Castle, (the seat of Sir Thomas Dike, Bart.) Farningham and Darent, to the town of Dartford. From this place to the Thames, into which it falls in Longreach, it is navigable for barges at high water. The navigable part is in length about four miles, all tideway and free of toll; and it is chiefly used for the trade of Dartford. The celebrated Dartford Gunpowder Mills are situate on its banks, besides other manufactures in the vicinity, which reap the benefit necessarily resulting from this navigation.

DART RIVER.
THIS river rises on the south side of Cut Hill, on Dartmoor Forest, in the county of Devon; from whence it pursues a southerly direction to Two Bridges, and thence, south-eastwardly, by New Bridge and Buckfastleigh, to a mill weir about a mile above the town of Totness, to which place it is navigable. Its course, to the sea, is very crooked, by the above-mentioned town, Stoke Gabriel, and the port of Dartmouth, a mile below which place it falls into the English Channel, in Dartmouth Harbour. The navigable part, by the low water channel, is twelve miles and a half in length; the tide flows throughout, and it is free of toll. The entrance to the river forms an excellent harbour, and as Dartmouth is a port, into which, in the year 1824, seventy-three English and six Foreign ships entered, some estimate may be formed of its importance.

As a navigation, the chief uses to which it is put, are the conveyance of coal and shell-sand manure from Totness and vicinity; and to export the produce of the tin, lead and copper mines, which are worked to a considerable extent on the borders of Dartmoor Forest.