Ivybridge To Holbeton
After leaving the national park, the river continues southward, passing through the centre of the town of Ivybridge where it formed the source of the town's prosperity by powering a grist mill, a paper mill and a fulling and tucking mill. In 1813 the only bridge over the river in the village (as it was then) was the inspiration for J. M. W. Turner's painting The Ivy Bridge.
Immediately south of Ivybridge, the river passes beneath the Devon Expressway – the main road link between Exeter and Plymouth – and then continues to flow southerly through countryside. On its western bank is the village of Ermington with its famous crooked church spire and the Grade I listed Flete House; and about a mile to the east, the small town of Modbury. The A379 road between Modbury and Yealmpton crosses the river at Sequer's Bridge, shortly below which the river flows over a weir and becomes tidal.
Surrounding this stretch of the river there are several apple orchards, remnants of the many that were once here. Unlike most of the South Hams where the field boundaries consist of Devon hedge banks, hereabouts the boundaries are walls constructed from rounded river boulders, more like the dry stone walls found on Dartmoor.
Read more about this topic: River Erme