Hamoaze

First referred to on paper in 1584 as Ham-oze, then in 1643 as Hamwose it had become Hamoaze by 1824. Commonly believed to have come from Ham - a village or perhaps the inside bend of a knee - together with the Celtic 'usig', hence 'ooze', 'oaze' or 'wase', meaning the end of a tidal river there is another more colourful theory on the derivation of this name. Advanced by the Reverend Worthington Jukes this involves a word from the Hebrew bible - hammoaz. The word occurs twice and the 'h' here is the definite article, while the 'moaz' is a fortress.

With appropriate biblical references being made to the Phoenician ports of Tyre and Sidon, Jukes contends that as the Phoenicians were thought to have been shipping tin out of Cornwall down through the Tamar some 3,000 years ago it is likely that they would have erected a fortress at the mouth of this river to protect their interests and that with the passing of time and of the fortress the adjacent stretch of water would have become known by that name - hammoaz.