The River Teign

The River Teign is an impressive 31 miles long and winds its way down from Dartmoor to the sea at Teignmouth in a backwards S.

As one of South Devon’s main rivers it has played an important part in the areas development.

The river starts its life high on Dartmoor from two separate sources, the North Teign and the South Teign, which meet at Leigh Bridge near the village of Chagford. It then descends the eastern slops of the moors to Dunford Nature Reserve, where it turns south and skirts the edge of the National Park.

From here it passes a number of small villages and hamlets and its first major settles, Chudleigh and Chudliegh Knighton, before meeting the River Bovey just south of Bovey Tracey. The River Teign carries on in a southerly direction until it passes between the towns of Newton Abbot and Kingsteignton where it then joins its two other main tributaries, The River Lemon and the Aller Brook, before it turns east and heads towards the coast. It is just past Newton Abbot that the river becomes a tidal estuary and widens out. The estuary runs for around 5 miles and consists of mud flats at low tide, it then reaches the English Channel between the town of Teignmouth and village of Shaldon. 

The Teign has been instrumental in the areas ball clay mining industry and was used as one of the main transport routes for the movement of clay and granite from Dartmoor to the docks at Teignmouth. The River Teign is connected to two disused canals, the Hackney Canal and the Stover Canal which were both used to move clay to the docks. Today the Stover Canal forms part of the Templer Way an 18 mile waymarked walking route from Dartmoor to Teignmouth which follows the Haytor Granite Tramway.  

The river is a diverse waterway and is popular with many species of birds which can be spotted along the mudflats and banks. The river bed is also farmed for shellfish and is known for its mussels and oysters.