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TEIGNMOUTH has a fascinating and rich maritime history. It has survived two attacks from French raiders, severe bombing during the second world war, and fluctuations in economic conditions and changing trends in the demands of holidaymakers.
saltmakers’ huts situated around the old Saxon church of St Michael. West Teignmouth was centred on the 12th century church of St James, becoming one of the leading ports on the south coast by the 14th century.
afield. They would spend six months away from home, braving the North Atlantic, to fish for cod off the coast of Newfoundland. The cod would be dried and salted and then traded at Mediterranean ports on the way home. It was a hard life not only for the fishermen, but also for the women left behind who had to provide for their families. This Newfoundland fishing and associated trade continued until the 19th century.
town museum. When the French fleet opened fire on Teignmouth at 4am on July 26, the inhabitants swiftly escaped by fleeing to Haldon. According to written records, the French, ‘our barbarous inhuman enemies’, came ashore to attack the town by burning and plundering, then hastily departing. A resulting Church Brief was read out in churches throughout the land appealing for contributions towards rebuilding of the town. A plaque outside the museum in French Street refers to this event.
Teignmouth developed as a fashionable watering place from the 1750s. People came to improve their health by being ‘dipped’ in the sea. The town’s popularity resulted in an expansion of building and facilities for the ‘strangers’ or visitors. Both parish churches were rebuilt in the 1820s. The first bridge over the river to Shaldon was constructed in 1827, with the present structure replacing it in 1931. The old toll house still stands at the Teignmouth approach. Tolls were charged until 1948.
Isambard Kingdom Brunel was the driving force behind the South Devon Railway. The first train arrived here in 1846. The line was broad gauge until it was changed to standard gauge during one remarkable weekend in 1892.
towns for its size in the south west. The town hall, market and hospital were all destroyed. Subsequent rebuilding has altered the pattern of Teignmouth’s old narrow streets.
The tradition of 600 years of skilled shipbuilding was dealt a huge blow by the closure of the internationally renowned Morgan Giles Shipyard in 1968. Flats now occupy this site. The port of Teignmouth continues to be important to the town. Clay has been exported from the Teign Valley since 1700 and is still shipped all across the world.
The second world war had a severe impact on Teignmouth. It is said that it was one of the most bombed The French Raid of 1690 is well documented in the In the mid-16th century local fishermen began to travel further Teignmouth grew up as two small hamlets. East Teignmouth consisted of a cluster of fishermen and
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