River Teign
If you have visited Shaldon before you will be aware that it’s situated at the mouth of the River Teign. Across the River is Teignmouth which has a thriving port with coasters coming and going according to the tides.
Its main export is ball clay, which is mined locally at Kingsteignton. Imports include animal feed, fertilizer, timber, building materials, stone and coal. There are over 800 shipping movements a year handling more than 600 thousand tonnes of cargo.
Keeping the channel navigable is an ongoing challenge and usually it’s done by a small dredger The Manning on a daily basis. Teignmouth Harbour Commission have invested have spent £250,000 to hire the MODI R, a 62 metre, 1700 tonne Danish vessel, for two weeks.
The dredger is here to hoover up and any obsticles to the shipping channel with great pressision. This long term investment will hopefully boost the local economy by encouraging larger modern vessels into Teignmouth.
A guest in one of our holiday homes in Shaldon took this photo on a murky evening.
“ When I looked out last night a ghostly sight, in the mist, and presumably working "as the tide was right", ( to recognise the quote you need to go see Zebidiah Hook -the play performed on a Wednesday on the village green during August ).