Teignmouth
Teignmouth is a seaside town, fishing port and civil parish in the English county of Devon. It lies on the north bank of the estuary mouth of the River Teign, about south of Exeter. The town had a population of 14,932 at the 2021 census.
From the 1800s onwards, the town grew rapidly in size from a fishing port associated with the Newfoundland cod industry to a fashionable resort of some note in Georgian times; there was further expansion after the opening of the South Devon Railway in 1846. Today, its port still operates and the town remains a popular seaside and day-trip holiday location.
History
Pre-19th century
The first record of Teignmouth, Tengemuða, meaning mouth of the stream, was in 1044. Nonetheless, settlements very close by are attested earlier, with the banks of the Teign estuary having been in Saxon hands since at least 682; a battle between the Ancient Britons and Saxons was recorded on Haldon in 927 and Danish raids having occurred on the Teign estuary in 1001.There were originally two villages, East and West Teignmouth, separated by a stream called the Tame, which emptied into the Teign through marshland by the current fish quay. Neither village is mentioned in the Domesday Book, but East Teignmouth was granted a market by charter in 1253 and one for West Teignmouth followed a few years later. The Tame now runs under the town in culverts and is visible only higher up the town as Brimley Brook, joined by smaller streams such as the Winterbourne.
Documents indicate that Teignmouth was a significant port by the early 14th century, second in Devon only to Dartmouth. It was attacked by the French in 1340 and sent seven ships and 120 men to the expedition against Calais in 1347. Its relative importance waned during the 15th century and it did not figure in an official record of 1577. This may have been due to silting up of the harbour caused by tin mining on Dartmoor.
During the 17th century, in common with other Channel ports, Teignmouth ships suffered from raids from Dunkirkers, who were privateers from Flemish ports. It is possible that smuggling was the town's most significant trade at this time, though cod fishing in Newfoundland was also of great importance.
In July 1690, after the French Admiral Anne Hilarion de Tourville defeated an Anglo-Dutch fleet at the Battle of Beachy Head, the French fleet was anchored in Torbay and some of the galley fleet travelled the short distance up the coast and attacked Teignmouth. A petition to the Lord Lieutenant from the inhabitants described the incident:
After examining 'creditable persons', the Justices of the Peace concluded that:
As a result, the Crown issued a church brief that authorised the collection of £11,000 for the aid of the town. Churches from as far afield as Yorkshire contributed and the collections enabled the further development of the port. This was the last invasion of England and French Street, with its museum, is named in memory of the occasion.
In the 1600s and 1700s, there are records of a windmill on the Den – an area that was then a large sand dune and is now a grassy public open space near the seafront. By 1759, this windmill was demolished.
19th and 20th century
In the late 18th century, privateering was common in Teignmouth, as it was in other west country ports. In 1779, the French ship L'Emulation with a cargo of sugar, coffee and cotton was offered for sale at "Rendle's Great Sale Room" in the town. Teignmouth people fitted out two privateers: Dragon with 16 guns and 70 men; and Bellona, described as carrying "16 guns, 4 cohorns and 8 swivels". Bellona set sail on her first voyage in September 1779 and was "oversett in a violent Gust of Wind" off Dawlish, with the loss of 25 crew members.The Newfoundland fisheries continued to provide the main employment into the early 19th century. With the men in Newfoundland for most of the year, the women did the local fishing and rowed the ferries across the estuary. Early tourists, such as Fanny Burney, referred to the women as the "Amazonians" of Shaldon and Teignmouth, and wrote of their strength, health and tendency to wear trousers or hitch their skirts up to their knees to fish.
As the fisheries declined, tourism increased. A tea house was built on the Den in 1787 amongst the local fishermen's drying nets. By 1803, Teignmouth was called a "fashionable watering place" and the resort continued to develop during the 19th century. Its two churches were rebuilt soon after 1815 and the first bridge across the estuary to Shaldon was built in 1827; George Templer's New Quay opened at the port; and the esplanade, Den Crescent and the central Assembly Rooms were laid out. The population in the 1841 census was 4,459 inhabitants. The railway arrived in 1846 and the pier was built 1865–7.
A version of the legend of the Parson and Clerk, dating to 1900, tells the tale of the Bishop of Exeter visiting Teignmouth and whilst being guided by a local priest, the devil turns them both to stone, which is seen in the form of two stacks.
World War I had a disruptive effect on Teignmouth; over 175 men from the town lost their lives and many businesses did not survive. In the 1920s, as the economy started to recover, a golf course opened on Little Haldon; the Morgan Giles shipbuilding business was established, and charabancs took employees and their families for annual outings to Dartmoor and elsewhere. By the 1930s, the town was again thriving and, with the Haldon Aerodrome and School of Flying nearby, Teignmouth was advertised as the only south coast resort offering complete aviation facilities.
During the World War II, Teignmouth suffered badly from "tip and run" air raids. It was bombed 21 times between July 1940 and February 1944; 79 people were killed, 151 wounded, 228 houses were destroyed and over 2,000 damaged in the raids. Teignmouth's hospital was bombed during a raid on 8 May 1941, killing three nurses and seven patients. It was rebuilt and reopened in September 1954, making it the first complete general hospital in the country to be built after the formation of the National Health Service.
A US Navy plan was created, which proposed to dam the harbour and set up a seaplane base, but it was abandoned as the war turned in favour of the allies.
21st century
On 27 July 2005, Teignmouth received status as Devon's first Fairtrade Town. Also in 2005, the volunteer Teignmouth Regeneration Project, in association with the town, district and county councils, published a strategic plan that identified issues to be dealt with by 2015. Among the issues listed are to develop quality tourism, alleviate the danger of flooding to the town and provide affordable housing.In May 2010, Teignbridge District Council put forward for consultation, A Vision for Teignmouth, which was a plan consisting of 21 regeneration projects for the town. A skatepark was opened on the seafront in July 2010 and flood defences at the Fish Quay were completed in October 2012.
Teignmouth Pier was damaged, with part of it washing away, during Storm Ingrid that hit the South Devon coast on 24 January 2026. A large sinkhole was discovered on Sprey Point in the storm's aftermath two days later.
Port
The port of Teignmouth, in existence since the 13th century, remains active; it handles mostly clay, timber and grain.The Old Quay was built in the mid-18th century on land leased from Lord Clifford. The opening of the Stover Canal by James Templer in 1792 provided a boost to the port, due to the ease with which ball clay could be transported from the mines north of Newton Abbot. After travelling along the canal, the barges continued down the estuary to the port. By 1820, this trade was supplemented by granite from the quarries near Haytor on Dartmoor carried via the unique granite-tracked Haytor Granite Tramway which was linked to the Stover Canal. The granite to build the new London Bridge came via this route and was sent from the New Quay, which had been built for this traffic in 1821–25 by George Templer, James's son.
The Old Quay was sold to George Hennet in 1850 and became the centre of his trading network. It was connected to the South Devon Railway the previous year.
Until 1852, Teignmouth was legally part of the Port of Exeter. In September of that year, after many years of campaigning, the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury agreed that Teignmouth should be independent which was the cause of much celebration.
Teignmouth has a tradition of shipbuilding from the 17th century. By the turn of the 19th century, there were three shipyards in Teignmouth, with three in Shaldon and Ringmore on the opposite side of the estuary. The industry declined in the early 20th century but, in 1921, Morgan Giles bought the last derelict shipbuilding yard and gave the industry a new stimulus. His shipyard became a major employer, building pleasure craft in peacetime and small craft such as torpedo boats during World War II. The business failed in 1968, not long after Donald Crowhurst's attempt to sail around the world.
The Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners' Royal Benevolent Society sent a lifeboat to Teignmouth in 1851 and kept it in a boathouse on the beach near the Custom House. In 1854, the society transferred its lifeboats to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. A new boathouse was provided on The Den with doors facing the harbour which was used until 1940. After a gap of fifty years, on 3 November 1990, the RNLI reopened Teignmouth Lifeboat Station with an inshore lifeboat.
Teignmouth Lighthouse was erected in 1845 to guide ships into the harbour.
Shaldon Bridge
The original bridge was owned by the Teignmouth and Shaldon Bridge Company. The first stone was laid on 20 September 1824 and it opened on 8 June 1827. It had 34 wooden arches and was long, which made it the longest wooden bridge in England when built. It had abutment walls of a considerable length at either end, and a swing bridge at the Teignmouth end to allow sailing ships to pass up the estuary. It cost around £19,000 to build, but the overall expenditure was about £26,000 due to the costs of the necessary Act of Parliament and the purchase of the old ferry-rights. Toll houses were built at each end of the bridge and the one on the Teignmouth side survives.After eleven years, on 27 June 1838, the centre arches of the bridge collapsed; the timbers had been eaten through by shipworms. It was rebuilt in wood and reopened on 13 April 1840, but it partially collapsed again in 1893.
The bridge was completely rebuilt between 1928 and 1931, using steel for the piers and main girders, and concrete for most of the deck, except for the opening span which used timber. The work was undertaken by the Teignmouth and Shaldon Bridge Company, with the consulting engineers Mott, Hay and Anderson and the contractor Mitchell Bros., Sons and Co. The overall length of the new bridge was carried on 22 spans, with an overall width of providing a carriageway of and two footpaths wide. Each span of four longitudinal girders rests at either end on a large capsill girder, which in turn is supported at its ends by circular piers built up of precast concrete blocks. Each pier rests on four reinforced concrete piles driven into the river bed. The new bridge allowed the lifting of the previous weight limit of. A bascule span was provided in place of the previous opening span.
On 28 October 1948, Devon County Council bought the bridge from the Shaldon Bridge Company for £92,020 and tolls were abolished. The original paintwork was inadequate to deal with the environment, so repairs were required in 1960 and in 1980. In 1998, it was discovered that the bridge had severe structural defects and work to correct this continued until 2002; the bridge remaining open throughout. After this work was completed, residents nearby noticed that in certain wind conditions the bridge "whistles". the problem had not been solved.
In February 2016, Devon County Council announced that the moveable, lifting section of the bridge would be raised later in the year, for the first time since 2002. This is in order to satisfy a condition in the Act that permitted construction, that the opening section be maintained.