[2] 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.

There were originally two villages, East and West Teignmouth, separated by a stream called the Tame, which emptied into the Teign through marshland by the current fish quay.

A petition to the Lord Lieutenant from the inhabitants described the incident: ... on the 26th day of this instant July 1690 by Foure of the clocke in the morning, your poor petitioners were invaded (by the French) to the number of 1,000 or thereabouts, who in the space of three hours tyme, burnt down to the ground the dwelling houses of 240 persons of our parish and upwards, plundered and carried away all our goods, defaced our churches, burnt ten of our ships in the harbour, besides fishing boats, netts and other fishing craft ...After examining 'creditable persons' the Justices of the Peace concluded that: by the late horrid invasion there were within the space of 12 houres burnt downe and consumed 116 dwelling houses ... and also 172 dwelling houses were rifled and plundered and two parish churches much ruined, plundred and defaced, besides the burning of ten saile of shipps with the furniture thereof, and the goods and merchandise therein ...As a result, the Crown issued a church brief that authorised the collection of £11,000 for the aid of the town.

Early tourists, such as Fanny Burney, referred to the women as the "Amazonians" of Shaldon and Teignmouth, and wrote of their strength, health and tendency to wear trousers or hitch their skirts up to their knees to fish.

Its two churches were rebuilt soon after 1815 and in the 1820s the first bridge across the estuary to Shaldon was built; George Templer's New Quay opened at the port; and the esplanade, Den Crescent and the central Assembly Rooms (later the cinema) were laid out.

[15] A version of the legend of the Parson and Clerk dating to 1900 tells the tale of the Bishop of Exeter visiting Teignmouth and whilst being guided by a local priest, the devil turns them both to stone, which is seen in the form of two stacks.

In the 1920s as the economy started to recover, a golf course opened on Little Haldon; the Morgan Giles shipbuilding business was established, and charabancs took employees and their families for annual outings to Dartmoor and elsewhere.

By the 1930s the town was again thriving, and with the Haldon Aerodrome and School of Flying nearby, Teignmouth was advertised as the only south coast resort offering complete aviation facilities.

It was rebuilt and reopened in September 1954, making it the first complete general hospital in the country to be built after the formation of the National Health Service.

[19] A US Navy plan existed which proposed to dam the harbour and set up a seaplane base, but it was abandoned as the war turned in favour of the allies.

The opening of the Stover Canal by James Templer in 1792[21] provided a boost to the port due to the ease with which ball clay could be transported from the mines north of Newton Abbot.

It lies between the stations of Dawlish and Newton Abbot on the Great Western Main Line between London Paddington and Penzance in Cornwall.

This line was originally both broad gauge and worked by the atmospheric system, with steam pump houses at regular intervals to create the vacuum.

[41] 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.

[42] Local bus services are operated predominantly by Stagecoach South West and Country Bus (Newton Abbot); key routes that serve the town include:[43] 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 19 kilometres (12 mi) away.

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.

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.

[45] 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.

Late autumn and early winter is the wettest time of the year, because sea temperatures are still relatively high and deep Atlantic depressions bring moist air across the South West.

[notes 2] A story from Cornwall suggests why these churches are rounded, for the villagers of Veryan built several circular houses so that the Devil had no corners in which to lie in wait for unsuspecting occupants and these buildings were therefore 'Devil-proof.

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.

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.

[52] The town's newest public building is the Pavilions Teignmouth, a community arts and enterprise centre on the Den,[53] opened in April 2016.

[55] 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.

It closely follows the route of George Templer's granite tramway, his father James's Stover Canal and finally the estuary to Teignmouth.

Charles Babbage (1791–1871), the mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer, who originated the idea of a programmable computer, also lived here for some years and was married in St Michael's church in the town.

The Canadian Second World War pilot Roy Sydney Baker-Falkner settled in the Teignmouth area in 1930, his brother and sister studying in Teignmough whilst he was a cadet at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth.

[71] The next year, on 31 October 1968, Donald Crowhurst, competing in the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, started his ill-fated attempt to sail round the world single-handed from the town.

The three members of rock band Muse (Matt Bellamy, Chris Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard) attended Teignmouth Community College in the early 1990s.

Singer-songwriter Patrick Wolf wrote a song called "Teignmouth" for his 2005 album Wind in the Wires, which focuses primarily on the view of the town and the River Teign when taking a train along the coastline.