Teignmouth

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Teignmouth sea front

Teignmouth (IPA: [ˈtɪnmʊθ]) is a town on the north bank of the estuary mouth of the River Teign in south Devon, England. The town grew from a fishing port to a fashionable resort of some note in Georgian times with further expansion after the opening of the South Devon Railway on 30 May 1846. In the 2001 census the population of Teignmouth was 15,116.

1 History
2 Transport
3 Geography
4 Tourism
5 Sport
6 Trivia
7 External links

[edit] History

Teignmouth Seafront showing the Old Library and the Ness in the Background, circa 1930

The western half of the town was destroyed (apart from the Jolly Sailor public house) by fire during a brief invasion by the French in 1690, the last invasion of England (though not of Britain as the French invaded Carreg Gwastad, near Fishguard, Pembrokeshire in 1797). French Street with its museum is named in memory of the occasion.

[edit] Transport

[edit] Port

The port, in existence since the 13th century, is still active, mostly handling clay, timber and grain, with many smaller pleasure craft mooring in the wide estuary. The granite for London Bridge was sent from here, having come down the unique granite railway from the quarries near Haytor and then down the Stover canal to the port.

[edit] Shaldon Bridge

The original bridge was opened on the 8th june 1827 and had 34 wooden arches and was 1,671 feet long. After two partial collapses in 1838 and 1893 the bridge was completely rebuilt in 1931. Devon County Council bought the bridge from the Shaldon Bridge Company on the 28th October 1948 for £90,000 and tolls were abolished.

The bridge is of Roman Origin and when the present bridge was constructed some of the Roman wood was used to make a table which was kept at Lindridge House. Tragically it was destroyed in the fire that destroyed the house just as its conversion into a hotel was nearing completion in the 1960's.

A Broad Gauge Train leaving Teignmouth with Shaldon Bridge and the Ness in the background, circa 1854

[edit] Railway

Teignmouth railway station is close to the town centre and is served by trains to most stations in Devon was well as London and further afield.

The line built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel runs along a stone embankment between the sea and cliffs for several miles from Newton Abbot to the east towards Dawlish, ending at Exeter. A stretch of this line was originally both broad gauge (7ft.01/4Inch) and worked by the atmospheric system, with steam pump houses at regular intervals to create the vacuum. It was not successful for a host of reasons and was converted to normal steam locomotive working.

The seawall between Teignmouth and Dawlish is the most expensive stretch of line to maintain of the whole British railway network. The Great Western Railway had surveyed a quadruple tracked inland deviation, but the advent of World War 2 brought the project to an end.

[edit] Geography

Map sources for Teignmouth at grid reference SX9473

The town is linked with Shaldon, the village on the opposite bank, by a passenger ferry at the river mouth and by a road bridge further upstream.

In the harbour area is Salty, a small island created through dredging operations. Salmon nets are still employed by locals, especially near Shaldon Bridge.

Teignmouth is twinned with the french town Perros-Guirec

[edit] Tourism

Although greatly reduced from its hey-day, Teignmouth still receives considerable numbers of holiday makers, most of whom visit the sea facing beach and the Pier with its amusement arcade and rides.

[edit] Sport

The town is the home of Teignmouth A.F.C. who's first team currently play in the Devon County League and reserves play in the South Devon League division four.

[edit] Trivia

The poet John Keats spent a few weeks here and completed his epic poem 'Endymion'.

Charles Babbage (26 December 1791 – 18 October 1871) the English mathematician, analytical philosopher, mechanical engineer and (proto-) computer scientist who originated the idea of a programmable computer, lived here for some years and was warden of a local church.

Donald Crowhurst, competing in the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, started his ill-fated attempt to sail round the world single-handed from Teignmouth on October 31, 1968. His boat was a trimaran named the Teignmouth Electron after the town and his electronics company.

The rock band Muse was formed in Teignmouth, and members Matt Bellamy, Chris Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard all attended Teignmouth Community School. After criticising the town for being boring, it was claimed they apologised to the Mayor of Teignmouth. These claims were later denied by the band.^{[citation needed]}

In pop culture,and Neil Forrester, cast member of American reality television show The Real World spent his formative years there. Also, Patrick Wolf has written a song called Teignmouth, which can be found on his album Wind In The Wires.