Two Rivers: Barle and Exe.

This is a scoping exercise for a forthcoming project. The original idea was a a collection of photos leading towards a book on the River Exe: Source to Sea. The two rivers idea, Barle and Exe, also interests me. Although the Barle River is a tributary of the Exe, upstream of their confluence above Exbridge you would be hard pressed to guess which is the most important watercourse.

The Barle rises at the Chains on Exmoor, Somerset, north west of Simonsbath. The Exe rises 20m lower at Exe Head, Somerset, downstream and a mile or so closer to Simonsbath. Somewhere, no doubt, there will be hydrological criteria that define how one river becomes the mainstream and why another is regarded as a tributary. I suspect that it has something to do with the size of the watershed and the number of contributory streams or rivers (tributaries).  But none of this nomenclature would have existed in the days when Exmouth, Exeter, Exton and Exbridge – all of them downstream of the confluence of the Barle and Exe – were first named. How would anyone have known that the main watercourse was the Exe and not the Barle? The Exe does have more tributaries than the Barle; the principal one being the Haddeo to the east. Furthermore, the Exe sits between the Barle to the west and the Haddeo to the east which suggests that its watershed is larger and includes those of its tributaries.

Here’s a collection of shots of the two rivers.