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Town in Devon, England

Teignmouth ('/t//ɪ//n//m//ə//θ/ TINməth) is a seaside town, fishing port and civil parish in the English county of Devon. It is on the north bank of the estuary mouth of the River Teign, about 12 mile (19 km) south of Exeter. The town had a population of 14,749 at the 2011 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.

The port of Teignmouth, in existence since the 13th century, remains active, mostly handling 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 (latterly under the leadership of George Hennet), 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, and 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 (RNLI). 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's lighthouse was erected in 1845 to guide ships into the harbour.

The original bridge was owned by the Teignmouth and Shaldon Bridge Company and opened on 8 June 1827. It had 34 wooden arches and was 1,671 feet (509 m) 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 in 1840, but it partially collapsed again in 1893. On 28 October 1948 Devon County Council bought the bridge from the Shaldon Bridge Company for £92,020 and tolls were abolished. 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. In February 2016 Devon County Council announced that the moveable, lifting section of the bridge will be raised later in 2016, 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.

The line built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel runs along the South Devon Railway sea wall, which is a stone embankment between the sea and cliffs that runs for several miles between Teignmouth and Dawlish Warren. This line was originally both broad gauge 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. Redundant sections of the atmospheric railway pipes were used as drains all over Teignmouth; one was set in the roadside in Woodway Lane, near Woodway House. Such was the terrific force of the impelled water that along the sea wall and railway huge coping stones, probably averaging one ton each, were tossed about like corks |Illustrated London News, 1859. In December 1852, a large landslip from the cliffs east of the town caused the railway to close for four days; and, in 1855 and 1859, the sea broke through the line at Teignmouth. There have been many more closures since, caused both by landslips from the cliffs and breaches by the sea, especially in winter. In 2010, the sea walls and adjoining estuaries were costing Network Rail around £500,000 per year to maintain. In 1936, the Great Western Railway surveyed an inland deviation between Exminster and Bishopsteignton and a shorter route starting near Dawlish Warren; however, the advent of World War 2 brought these projects to an end.

The town is located on the north bank of the mouth of the estuary of the River Teign, at the junction of the A379 coast road, the A381 road to Newton Abbot, and the B3192 which climbs up to the A380 on Haldon and hence on to the M5 away. Teignmouth is linked to Shaldon, the village on the opposite bank, by a passenger ferry at the river mouth and by a road bridge further upstream. The red sandstone headland on the Shaldon side called "The Ness" is the most recognisable symbol of the town from the seaward side. In the harbour area was the Salty, a small flat island created through dredging operations but levelled, supposedly to improve natural scouring of the main channel for shipping, in recent years to leave a large tidal sand bank frequented by seabirds and cockle collectors. Salmon nets are still employed by locals, especially near Shaldon Bridge. The estuary seems disproportionately large for the size of the river flowing through it, this being especially apparent at low tide, because it is a drowned valley caused by a relative rise in sea level following the last Ice Age.

Teignmouth is situated on the coast of Devon, a peninsula of South West England. It has a mild maritime climate. Prevailing winds across the south west of England are from the west. Teignmouth lies to the east of Dartmoor, in a lee / rainshadow, with mean temperatures 3 °C (5 °F) higher and less than 43% of the rainfall of Princetown, which is located on Dartmoor. It receives less precipitate per year than nearby Plymouth, which is located on the south west coast of Devon. Owing to its proximity to the sea, Teignmouth has warmer winters with less frost and snow, as well as slightly cooler summers compared with inland areas of southern England. January is usually the coldest month in Britain; however, sea temperatures usually reach their minimum temperature in late February, which affects Teignmouth's climate, making February its coldest month. The first frost in Teignmouth usually occurs in late November or early December, whereas midland areas of England sometimes have frosts as early as September.

Den Crescent and its central Assembly Rooms, laid out in 1826 by Andrew Patey of Exeter, still survive relatively unchanged today. Over the years, the building was used as a theatre, a dance hall, a conference centre and a billiards hall. In 1934 it was converted into the Riviera Cinema, in which guise it continued until 2000; part of the building has now been converted into flats. In 2016 the lease for the historic auditorium was taken over by the Mars Hill Church with the intention of restoring it as both a cinema and a music and arts facility. The church of St Michael the Archangel is in the east of the town. St. Scholastica's Abbey (now converted to flats), on the road to Dawlish, built in 1864 by Henry Woodyer is a notable Gothic Revival building, and the Roman Catholic Church, on the same road, is a late work by Joseph Hansom, the inventor of the hansom cab. Pubs today include the Blue Anchor Inn on Teign Street and the Devon Arms on Northumberland Place. The River Beach is home to a varied selection of seasonal and permanent beach huts, one of which (now removed to the town's museum) was a Georgian bathing machine, minus wheels. These huts have enjoyed the boom in popularity of such properties in recent years and now change hands for figures approaching £100,000. Teignmouth and Shaldon museum was completed in 2011. It comprises an architecturally iconic extension of the existing 18th century museum building, with new roof terrace looking over the town, glass tower and community facility. Some of the exhibits include a restored bathing machine; artefacts from the Church Rock wreck, such as cannons; exhibits from the nearby Haldon aerodrome, plus film footage including the Beatles' visit to the town and the 2009 homecoming concerts by Muse. The new build cost almost £1.1m and was enabled by a major community fund raising effort, in combination with Lottery and UK government funding and other sources such as local grant funders and Devon County Council. The Church Rock wreck was found when a Zuanne Alberghetti cannon was located on the site of a 16th century wreck, followed by further discoveries. The town's newest public building is the Pavilions Teignmouth, a community arts and enterprise centre on the Den, opened in April 2016.

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. This 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. Two films, The Mercy starring Colin Firth with Rachel Weisz and Press for Time starring Norman Wisdom, have extensive sequences shot in Teignmouth.

Although reduced from its heyday, Teignmouth still receives considerable numbers of holiday makers, in particular day trippers. It is twinned with the French town Perros Guirec. Apart from its sea beach and Teignmouth Pier with amusement arcade and rides, the beach wraps around the spit at the head of the river Teign providing a river beach, commonly known as the Back Beach (dogs are allowed all year on this part of the beach), on the estuary side which overlooks the harbour with its moorings for many pleasure craft, and has views up the estuary to Dartmoor. An 18 mile (29 km) long waymarked route known as the Templer Way has been created between Haytor on Dartmoor and Shaldon. It closely follows the route of George Templer's granite tramway, his father James's Stover Canal and finally the estuary to Teignmouth. In 2005 Fergus O'Byrne and Jim Payne from Newfoundland were the 'headline' artists at that year's festival which celebrated the town's links with that region. to promote the town to tourists visiting. Since 2018 Teignmouth has hosted the annual Teign Shanty Festival, a folk music festival with a focus on sea shanties, with over 40 groups performing in 2021.

Teignmouth Community School (formerly Teignmouth High School, then Teignmouth Community College), a local secondary school including a sixth form, was formed as a merger in 1979 of Teignmouth Grammar School and Teignmouth Secondary Modern School. More recently this has merged further with Inverteign Community Nursery and Primary School to create Teignmouth Community School (TCS). Other secondary schools include Trinity School (independent, with a preparatory department and boarding facilities), formerly known as The Convent of Notre Dame. Primary schools include Hazeldown which is non denominational, and the Catholic school of Our Lady and St Patrick.

Local TV coverage is provided by BBC South West and ITV West Country. Television signals are received from the Beacon Hill and Stockland Hill TV transmitters and from one of the two local relay transmitters, depending on which part of the town (Teignmouth and Coombe). Local radio stations are BBC Radio Devon on 104.3 FM, Heart West on 96.4 and 103 FM Greatest Hits Radio Devon on 105.5 FM, Radio Exe on 107.3 FM and East Devon Radio, a community based station which broadcast on 106.4 FM. The town is served by the local newspaper, Teignmouth Post, a sub edition of the Mid Devon Advertiser which publishes on Fridays.

The town is the home of Teignmouth A. F. C., whose first team currently play in the South West Peninsula League and reserves play in the South Devon League division two. The town is also the home of Teignmouth R. F. C. with the 1st XV playing in the South West 1 league. The Den Bowling Club situated on the sea front is the home of the Teignmouth Open Bowls Tournament. Teignmouth Shotokan Karate Club was established in 1984 and trains twice weekly at the Teign Heritage Centre and Pavilions Teignmouth. The seafront benefits from Teignmouth Lido, a public open air heated swimming pool. This is one of four outdoor pools operated by Teignbridge District Council. The others are at Buckfastleigh, Ashburton and Buckland. Teignmouth is home to the River Teign Rowing club, the largest rowing club in the UK with almost 400 members, the club competes internationally in Cornish Pilot Gig rowing, Locally racing Seine boats and Nationally in Sea Skiffs and Sculls. Members have competed recently as far afield as Russia. Teign Corinthian Yacht Club was founded in 1886, and organises racing and training for sailing dinghies, yachts and powerboats. It has two centres: a clubhouse on Teignmouth seafront built in 1995 and a dinghy park on the River Teign estuary at Coombe Cellars, with a new clubhouse being built there in 2020.

Letitia Elizabeth Landon's poetical illustration A Legend of Teignmouth, in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1834, accompanies an engraving of a view of Teignmouth from the Ness by Thomas Allom.