Dawlish Directory is a site about Dawlish, Devon

Welcome to Dawlish Directory

Dawlish is a town on the south coast of Devon, England, 12 miles from the County town of Exeter, with a population of around 13,000 people. During the eighteenth century, it grew from a small fishing port to become a well-known seaside resort.

The old town is situated atop red cliffs, while the coast to the North East, known as Dawlish Warren, is sandy. Dawlish is also known for its black swans, introduced from Western Australia.

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A little Dawlish History

The people who first settled in Dawlish lived on the higher grounds. These were fishermen and salt makers who would venture down to the coast to net fish and gather salt. Salt was abundant in rock pools at the time but resources would have been limited. So eventually salterns were constructed to dry out brine and produce salt. The high-quality salt produced was stored in sheds or saltcellars. Dawlish produced less salt than its neighbour Teignmouth, most likely due to inhabitants being wary of Dawlish water and its unpredictability when it came to flooding.

The town of Dawlish took its name from a local stream with a Brythonic name, once spelt 'Deawlisc', meaning 'Devil Water' (the name came from heavy rains churning up the red cliffs, making the brook run red). An alternative meaning proposed is 'black stream', cognate with Welsh du (g)lais. Several other spellings and meanings are found later in the Domesday Book and in documents from Exeter Cathedral..

The arrival of the railway

Dawlish grew with the coming of the railway. In 1830, Isambard Kingdom Brunel designed a railway for the town, which operated on a pneumatic principle, using a 15" iron tube. The atmospheric railway opened on 30 May 1846 and ran between Exeter St. Davids and Newton Abbot. There were pumping stations at Exeter St. Davids, Countess Weir, The Turf, Starcross (where the old pump house can still be seen), Dawlish, Teignmouth, Bishopsteignton and Newton Abbot. The first passenger train ran in September 1847. The project was besieged with problems mainly with the leather sealing valve, which after 12 months use needed replacing at a cost of £25,000. South Devon Railway directors abandoned the project in favour of conventional trains, the last atmospheric train running in September 1848.

It is often noted as one of the most memorable stretches of track in Britain for its natural beauty, unfortunately this comes at a very high cost to Network Rail as it is one of the most expensive lines in the UK to maintain due to the continual battle with sea erosion.