George Hennet

He owned a house called "Fonthill" in Shaldon, on the other side of the River Teign, and took an active part in the life of Teignmouth.

His trading business continued for some years but his railway maintenance contract was cancelled and he had to sell much of his property in Dawlish and Teignmouth.

About six years later he undertook some work for Isambard Brunel, helping with the survey of the Great Western Railway which he was building from London to Bristol.

These contracts amounted to over £400,000, about 20% of the total cost of the railway, and Hennet was able to buy back many of the atmospheric pipes for scrap once they were made redundant by its premature abandonment.

After he won the contract to supply the atmospheric pipes he bought an ironworks at Bridgwater in Somerset to undertake the work and, later, to build rolling stock for several railways.

This location allowed the import by boat of raw materials from Wales and the dispatch of finished work to south Devon using the Bristol and Exeter Railway.

A siding had been laid to it by the railway company in 1849, and the following year Hennet bought the quay itself and developed a small fleet of ships to carry coal and other goods.

Depots were established at Exeter, Starcross, Dawlish, Teignmouth Eastcliff, Totnes, Rattery, Brent, Hemerdon, and Plymouth.