Saltash. Saltash is a town and civil parish in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It had a population of 16,184 in 2011 census. Saltash faces the city of Plymouth over the River Tamar and is popularly known as the Gateway to Cornwall. Saltash’s landmarks include the Tamar Bridge which connects Plymouth to Cornwall by road, and the Royal Albert Bridge. The area of Latchbrook is part of the town. Saltash is the location of Isambard Kingdom Brunel's Royal Albert Bridge, opened by Prince Albert on 2 May 1859. It takes the railway line across the River Tamar. Alongside it is the Tamar Bridge, a toll bridge carrying the A38 trunk road, which in 2001 became the first suspension bridge to be widened whilst remaining open to traffic. Saltash railway station, which has a regular train service, with some routes between London Paddington station is close to the town centre. Stagecoach South West, Plymouth Citybus, and Go Cornwall Bus operate bus services from Saltash, into Plymouth city centre, Launceston, Liskeard, Looe, and Polperro. The grade II listed cottage of Mary Newman, the mistress of Sir Francis Drake, is situated on Cuvier Road. Nearby are the castles at Trematon and Ince, as well as the nature reserve at Churchtown Farm. Burrell House near Saltash was built in 1621 and has a wing dated 1636. The entrance side was altered in the 18th century. The town expanded in the 1990s with the addition of the large new estate Latchbrook, and again with the more recent building of another housing area, Pillmere. In the summer of 2009, the Saltash postcode area was judged as the most desirable place to live in Great Britain in a survey that included statistics from school results and crime figures. The Charter of Incorporation refers to the place as Essa. However, the spelling of the town has changed over the years. For example, in Edward the Confessor's time, it was called and spelt Aysche. In the 1584 Charter, it is stated that Essa is now commonly called Saltash. A family called Essa lived in the twelfth century at their property near Ashtor Rock, where the Manor Courts were once held. The Salt part of the name was added to distinguish it from other places called Ash. Roger de Valletort sold out in 1270 to Richard, Earl of Cornwall and King of the Romans while Edward, the Black Prince, became the first Duke of Cornwall, and a visitor to Trematon Castle. in 1549 there was a Cornish insurrection against the introduction of the Protestant liturgy, and the rebels under Humphrey Arundell, for which he was beheaded at Tyburn, gained possession of Trematon Castle by treachery, capturing Sir Richard Grenville, the elder, in the process. They then carried out acts of barbarity on their surprised visitors. The arms of Saltash are Az. the base water proper in pale an escutcheon Or thereon a lion rampant Gu. within a bordure Sa. bezantee ensigned with a prince's coronet of the third on either side of the escutcheon an ostrich feather Arg. labelled Or. There are seals of Saltash: A three-masted ship with sails furled at anchor; and An escutcheon charges with a lion rampant within a bordure bezantee resting upon water surmounted by a coronet composed on crosses patee and fleurs-de-lis and either side an ostrich feather; with the legends Sigillum aquate Saltash and Sigillum Saltashe respectively. Saltash Guildhall was built in about 1780 and extended and restored in 1925. The history of Saltash is linked to the passage, or ferrying place across the Tamar. The original ferry became established by fishermen for those passing to and from the monastery at St Germans and to Trematon Castle. After the Norman Conquest, Robert, Count of Mortain, who held the castle and manor at Trematon, took the market from the canons at St. Germans and established it at Saltash. The Count granted Trematon and other manors to the de Valletorts, who had then to provide for the ferry boat. In the twelfth century a borough was founded, and Saltash became the only franchised seaport between Dartmouth and Fowey. This fact has given rise to the Saltash saying, Saltash was a borough town, when Plymouth was a fuzzy down, as the town of Plymouth and its seaport did not exist in 1190. In medieval times the ferry was part of the manor of Trematon, held by the Valletorts.