Gunnislake is a large village in east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated in the Tamar Valley approximately ten miles north of Plymouth The first woman cabinet minister in the British Empire, Mary Ellen Smith, was born here in 1863. Gunnislake is in the civil parish of Calstock and is close to Cornwall's border with Devon which follows the course of the River Tamar. It has an electoral ward in its own name which includes much of Calstock and the surrounding area.