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.^[2]
• The Walla Brook rises near Hangingstone Hill (1 mile east of Cranmere Pool) and flows north and then east towards the North Teign River.^[2] This brook is also known locally as Headon River.^[3]
• The Walla Brook rises at Wallabrook Head, just south of Doe Tor, and flows west for 1 mile (1.6 km) across Doetor Common towards the River Lyd.^[2]

In addition, there are:

• the Western Wella Brook, a tributary of the River Avon^[2]
• the River Wallabrook. This is a tributary of the River Tavy. It is just outside the Dartmoor National Park boundary, but it flows for about 4 miles or 6 km in a southerly direction from near Brent Tor and joins the River Tavy near Tavistock.

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 about 20 minutes after the alarm was raised. She was found 150 m downstream from where she had fallen in. She died in the early hours of 5 March; the 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).^[1] However wella is also an Old English word for "stream".