Teignbridge

Teignbridge

Teignbridge, district in the south-central part of the administrative and historic county of Devon, southwestern England. It surrounds the valley of the River Teign between Dartmoor and the English Channel.

Teignbridge’s varied coastline attracts tourists and retired residents to such communities as Starcross, Dawlish, and the port of Teignmouth. Dawlish Warren comprises an area of sand dunes at the mouth of the River Exe estuary. Newton Abbot, at the head of the estuary, is the retail, service, and administrative centre for the district; its light industries include electrical engineering, food processing, and publishing.

Between the sea and Dartmoor are numerous villages and hamlets linked by country lanes. A fertile loam supports cereals, potatoes, and fodder roots, and the cultivation of flowers is significant near Dawlish. In contrast, the infertile Haldon Hills are stoney and acidic; they have been afforested with conifers. The Bovey Beds, in an old lake basin, produce the majority of Britain’s ball clay, used for ceramics and insulating porcelain; some is shipped from Teignmouth, and clay accounts for most of its exports.

Farthest inland is Dartmoor, where Dartmoor National Park penetrates into the northwest of the district; the scenery is crowned by granite tors (isolated weathered rocks). At Haytor is the old quarry that, about 1820, supplied the granite used to build the British Museum, the National Gallery, and New London Bridge. The stone was conveyed on a tramway of granite rails to the Stover Canal and thence to Teignmouth. The area is predominantly heathland, grazed by cattle, sheep, and ponies, and is fringed by irregular fields. Hut circles, enclosures, field boundaries, and stone monuments bear testimony to Bronze Age occupation. Old settlements include Widecombe, with its famous fair, and Ashburton, an old stannary (tin) and wool town on the edge of the moor. Area 260 square miles (674 square km). Pop. (2001) 120,958; (2011) 124,220.