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Taw Bridge water level

River gauge, River Taw, Devon, United Kingdom

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Right now

Very low for mid-October

Water level

0.12m Up 0.01 m over the last 24 hours

0 1 2 3 Highest onrecord 2.99 m Lowest on record 0.06 m

History

History
0.10.20.30.4mOct 10Oct 12Oct 13Oct 15Oct 17Bottom of normal range0.10.20.30.4mOct 10Oct 13Oct 17Bottom of normal range
0.10.20.30.4mSep 17Sep 24Oct 2Oct 9Oct 17Bottom of normal range0.10.20.30.4mSep 17Oct 2Oct 17Bottom of normal range
0.20.40.60.8mOct 2025Jan 2026Apr 2026Jul 2026Oct 2026Bottom of normal range0.20.40.60.8mOct 2025Apr 2026Oct 2026Bottom of normal range
0.20.40.60.8mJanMarMayJulSepNov20260.20.40.60.8mJanAprJulOct2026

20252026

Water level Normal range (10–90 %) Top of normal rangeBottom of normal range

What this means

At 0.12 m, the River Taw at Taw Bridge is far below normal for mid-October.

The median for mid-October is 0.21 m, based on 21 years of readings, so the river level is 0.09 m below typical. On the same day last year the reading was 0.14 m, a difference of −0.02 m. The lowest reading on record is 0.06 m (August 23, 1976).

The water is rising: up 0.01 m over the past 24 hours. Over the past 30 days it has moved between 0.10 m and 0.16 m.

Autumn rain usually starts to lift rivers again after the summer low.

Compared with 21 years of daily readings for this time of year. How to read levels

Key numbers

Median for this date
0.21 m0.09 m below the median for this date
Normal for this date
0.15 m – 0.35 m8 years in 10 fall in this range (21 years of records)
Normal range
0.12 m – 1.90 m
Same day last year
0.14 m−0.02 m
Lowest and highest in 30 days
0.10 m – 0.16 m
Lowest and highest in 12 months
0.10 m – 0.77 m
Highest on record
2.99 mDecember 27, 1979
Lowest on record
0.06 mAugust 23, 1976

On the river at Taw Bridge

Low, clear water makes fish wary, and anglers often do better early and late in the day. For canoeists, shallow riffles mean scraped hulls and the odd portage.

Flood warnings for the area come from the Environment Agency.

About the River Taw

River Taw

The River Taw in England rises at Taw Head, a spring on the central northern flanks of Dartmoor, crosses North Devon and at the town of Barnstaple, formerly a significant port, empties into Barnstaple Bay in the Bristol Channel, having formed a large estuary of wide meanders which at its western end is the estuary of the River Torridge.

Read more on Wikipedia

Text and image from Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA.

Weather at the gauge

Rain in the last 3 days: 2.6 mm. Rain that falls upstream can take hours or days to show up at a river gauge.

17 Sat 13° 5° – Wind 14 km/h
18 Sun 12° 4° – Wind 13 km/h
19 Mon 11° 8° 2.7 mm, 57% Wind 15 km/h
20 Tue 12° 6° 2.4 mm, 57% Wind 14 km/h
21 Wed 10° 6° 7.2 mm, 69% Wind 43 km/h
22 Thu 13° 8° 2.1 mm, 67% Wind 21 km/h
23 Fri 13° 8° 12 mm, 81% Wind 36 km/h

Forecast: Open-Meteo

Sunrise 07:42 AM Sunset 06:21 PM Daylight 10 hr, 39 min First quarter 38%

Map

Other gauges on the River Taw

Gauge Level Compared with normal 24 hours Distance
Newnham BridgeRiver gauge, River Taw 0.20 m Very low ±0 11 km
SticklepathRiver gauge, River Taw 0.18 m Normal ±0 12 km
Sticklepath GSRiver gauge, River Taw 0.08 m Normal ±0 14 km
UmberleighRiver gauge, River Taw 0.29 m Low +0.05 m 18 km
BarnstapleTidal gauge, River Taw 0.92 m No reference yet −0.04 m 29 km

Nearby gauges

Gauge Level Compared with normal 24 hours Distance
LapfordRiver gauge, River Yeo 0.36 m Very low ±0 5.5 km
ChulmleighRiver gauge, Little Dart River 0.36 m Very low ±0 7.1 km
JacobstoweRiver gauge, River Okement 0.25 m Very low −0.02 m 9.5 km
DoltonRiver gauge, River Torridge 0.28 m Normal +0.11 m 13 km
YeofordRiver gauge, River Yeo 0.18 m Normal ±0 14 km
WoodleighRiver gauge, River Mole 0.42 m Low −0.08 m 14 km
Okehampton Mill RoadRiver gauge, East Okement River 0.10 m Very low −0.02 m 14 km

Questions and answers

Is the River Taw at Taw Bridge higher than last year?

No, it is 0.02 m lower than on the same day last year, when the reading was 0.14 m.

What is a normal level for the River Taw at Taw Bridge in mid-October?

The median for mid-October is 0.21 m. In 8 years out of 10 the reading falls between 0.15 m and 0.35 m, based on 21 years of records.

Is the river level the same as the depth of the water?

No. The reading is measured from a fixed zero mark at the gauge, so 0.12 m on the gauge does not mean the water is that deep.

What is the water level of Taw Bridge today?

On 17 Oct 2026, 07:45 BST, the water level was 0.12 m. Up 0.01 m over the last 24 hours.

Is Taw Bridge rising or falling?

Up 0.01 m over the last 24 hours. Steady over the last 7 days.

Is the level of Taw Bridge normal?

Very low for mid-October. Compared with 21 years of daily readings for this time of year.

What is the highest water level ever recorded at Taw Bridge?

The highest level on record is 2.99 m on December 27, 1979. The lowest is 0.06 m on August 23, 1976.

For specialists

Station codes, datum, parameters, data quality and downloads
Operator
Environment Agency
Station code
ea:50119 (Agency page)
Coordinates
50.84546, -3.88625 (WGS84)
Vertical datum
station datum
Update interval
every 15 minutes
Licence
Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains Environment Agency data licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0

Published series

ParameterLast valueTime (UTC)Quality
Water level 0.12 m 2026-10-17 06:45 Provisional

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How to cite

Environment Agency: Taw Bridge (ea:50119). Accessed October 17, 2026 via Nivelmap, https://nivelmap.com/en/united-kingdom/devon/taw-bridge

How we check values

Each reading is stored as published. We hold back values that jump faster than physically plausible and show the measurement time with every value.