[FLYING BANANA]

Carkeel Roundabout

Saltash came into existence because of the Waterside which had developed around an important ferrying place on the Tamar. The Normans recognised the commercial opportunities of the ferry and established a borough at Saltash around 1175 which included the Waterside and extended up the hill to the lower half of our present Fore Street with a market where people from the surrounding area could trade where Alexandra Square is now.

The ferry continued right up until 1961 when the Tamar Road Bridge opened alongside the earlier Royal Albert Bridge which had brought the railway to Cornwall in 1859.

But I well remember when the “through” traffic used New Road and the holiday traffic hold ups around Burraton Cross. I also remember the Saltash by-pass and tunnel being built and opened in the late 1980s, which took the traffic away from the town, and how blissfully quiet New Road was for a while afterwards.

The past sixty-three years since the opening of the Road Bridge has seen Saltash grow considerably and more than it had in the preceding eight hundred years, and much of that I remember.

Many of you, like me, miss the Saltash of our youth. The characters who have gone before us and the countryside that we have seen built on.

Unfortunately, none of us can stand in the way of progress. But we should try to influence the planning authorities to do it in a way that, as much as possible, preserves the beauty and identity of our area along with its rich, history and culture.

Saltash is a very historic place. The home we love and a great place to live. It is still an important crossing place between Devon and Cornwall and always will be the “Gate Way To Cornwall” although today many travellers just pass by and don’t know what they have missed!

***Seen through the eyes of one our residents. Copied from the Saltash Community Page.