Walla Brook

The Walla Brook is the name of four different streams on Dartmoor, England:^[1]

• The Walla Brook rises near the Warren House Inn and flows south for some 4 miles (6 km) to join the lower East Dart River near Babeny. It forms part of the boundary between Teignbridge (to the east) and West Devon Districts.^[2]

Walla Brook near Babeny

• The North Walla Brook also rises near the Warren House Inn but flows north and then east towards the River Bovey.^[3]

• The Walla Brook rises near Hangingstone Hill (1 mile east of Cranmere Pool) and flows north and then east towards the North Teign River.^[4]

• The Walla Brook rises near Doe Tor and flows west across Doetor Common towards the River Lyd.

In addition, there is the Western Wella Brook, a tributary of the River Avon^[5] and the River Wallabrooke, a tributary to the River Tavy.

Charlotte Shaw

On 4 March 2007, while training for the annual Ten Tors event, Charlotte Shaw was killed after she was knocked unconscious and swept downstream. She was found by a Royal Navy Rescue Helicopter approximately 20 minutes after the alarm was raised. She was found 150m downstream from where she had fallen in. She died in the early hours of the 5th, cause of death was later established as cardiac arrest as a result of drowning.

Etymology

There are suggestions that the name indicates continued habitation by Iron Age farmers ("the stream of the Welsh" (i.e. foreigners)).^[6]

However wella is also an Old English word for "stream".

1. Dartmoor National Park Authority: Landscape Character Assessment
2. Ordnance Survey map (Outdoor Leisure 28)
3. Ordnance Survey map (Outdoor Leisure 28)
4. Ordnance Survey map (Outdoor Leisure 28)
5. Ordnance Survey map (Outdoor Leisure 28)
6. Dartmoor National Park Authority: Landscape Character Assessment