ALAN, or Camel (The), a river of CornwalI. It rises near Davidstow; runs southward, past Camelford, Michael stow, and Helland, to Bodmin; then goes west-north westward, past Wadebridge, to the Bristol Channel below Padstow. Its entire length is about 27 miles; and its lowest reach is estuary, and forms Padstow harbour.

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))