Random Article Summary #97

Shaldon is a village and civil parish in the Teignbridge district of south Devon, England. It sits on the south bank of the River Teign estuary, opposite the town of Teignmouth, and is well known as a popular place to bathe. The village has Georgian-style buildings and a distinctive character. In the 2021 Census, Shaldon had a population of 1,716. The Teign estuary forms its northern boundary, while the English Channel lies to the east. Shaldon is also part of an electoral ward called Shaldon and Stokeinteignhead, which had a population of 2,451 in 2021. Shaldon was originally part of the hundred of Wonford, with early river settlement upstream in Ringmore, where farms and orchards were largely protected from the sea. Before the 20th century, Ringmore had working farms, cider and other orchards, watercress and withy beds, and also shipbuilding and repair yards along the waterfront. Shaldon is now built on reclaimed land, protected by a retaining wall from around 1800, and it was hit during the Blitz in 1941, 1942, and 1943. In 2012, a large beach hut in Shaldon went on sale for £245,000, said to be the most expensive in the UK at the time. Shaldon is within the Teignbridge local government district, which was set up in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. Before this, it was part of St Nicholas Parish, which included Shaldon and part of Ringmore, and later became part of Teignmouth Urban District in 1881. The Shaldon regatta is among the oldest in England, with records going back to at least 1817, possibly earlier. The modern event takes place for 9 days every August. Above Shaldon village, Maria “Laetitia” Kempe Homeyard created gardens on a hillside in the late 1920s, with Thomas Rider building them. They include an informal terraced arboretum and a level path at the top with views across the Teign estuary and the Jurassic Coast, plus a folly called Shaldon Castle. The gardens have been open to the public since 1955 and are looked after by Teignbridge District Council, with opening throughout the year.