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Teignmouth is on the north bank of the estuary mouth of the River Teign in south Devon. The town grew from a fishingport 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.

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 Abergwaun (Fishguard), Pembrokeshire in 1797). French Street with its museum is named in memory of the occasion.

Shaldon bridge was opened on the 8th june 1827 and had 34 wooden arches and was 1,671 feet long. Shaldon or Teignmouth Bridge over the Teign estuary to Shaldon and Torquay was the longest wooden bridge in England when built, nearly a third of a mile 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.

Key Stats

• The population of the Teignmouth Devon Town area for 2009 is 19687
• In the last 10 years, the population has grown by 3.1%
• Claimant counts for November 2008 were approximately 140 people
• Job Seekers Allowance for the area reached 1.19% of the working age population in November 2008
• District claimant count figures for 2008 showed a claimant count of 1.52% of the working age population
• The Average income in 2008 for the Teignmouth Devon Town area is £29882.67 per household
• Average house price for the area in 2007 was recorded as £238,715.41
• There were 179 year 11 pupils in this area in 2007
• 55.31% of year 11 pupils attained 5 A*-C grades at GCSE in 2007
• There are 137 year 6 pupils throughout the Teignmouth Devon Town area in 2007
• 70.8% of pupils attained KS2 Level 4+ in 2007
• For statistical profiles of the Teignmouth please click here