Warfleet Creek facts for kids

Warfleet Creek is a small, triangle-shaped area of water. It is on the west side of the River Dart estuary in England. You can find it near Dartmouth, Devon. The sides of the creek are steep and rocky. When the tide goes out, there is a stony beach with small rockpools.

Learning to Dive at Warfleet

The British Underwater Centre was once located on the north side of Warfleet Creek. This centre had a place for boats to anchor. It also offered training for people who wanted to learn scuba diving and standard diving. Captain Trevor Hampton ran the centre for many years.

Dartmouth Pottery Building

Warfleet Creek was also home to Dartmouth Pottery. This was a well-known building in the area. It has been used for many different things over 400 years. Today, it has been changed into homes and holiday apartments.

What's in a Name?

The name "Warfleet Creek" has an interesting history. Experts say its true meaning is not fully clear. Early spellings of the name often started with "Wal-" or "Wel-". This suggests it was probably not named after "war fleets" from the Crusades. Even though Dartmouth's harbour has seen many war fleets, like the American fleet heading to Utah Beach on D-Day.

The second part of the name, "Fleet," comes from an old English word. This word, flēot, means "estuary" or "tidal creek".

One idea for the name's origin is from Anglo-Saxon times. It might come from Wēala flēot. This means "the estuary or creek of the Britons". This could be true if the Anglo-Saxons found Celtic-speaking or Latin-speaking people living there. Perhaps these people used the creek for fishing boats.

A local historian named Ray Freeman has another idea. She believes the name comes from "Wall" (which changed to "War") and "River" or "Stream" (which is a meaning of "Fleet"). There is a stream at the very end of the creek, next to a wall.

The story that crusader fleets once anchored there is likely just a fun tale. Local river cruise guides might have made it up. They probably wanted a more exciting, but untrue, version of history.