About Dawlish

Dawlish was a small self-contained coastal town with an agricultural economy, until the arrival of the railway in 1846. Then, it was connected by the South Devon Railway (later, the Great Western Railway) to other centres of population in Devon, and beyond via Exeter to London, Bristol and the north. Dawlish grew to become a seaside resort with a population today of around 12,400.

Dawlish has a Town Council with a parish boundary contained by the sea on the east, the estuary of the River Exe, the parishes of Starcross and Ashcombe to the north and west, and reaching to the edge of Teignmouth to the south. It contains the communities of Dawlish Warren, Cockwood, Cofton and Holcombe.

The landscape is very rich and varied, being best known for the steep red sandstone cliffs through which the railway is tunnelled on its way west towards Plymouth and Penzance. The Exe estuary landscape is of gently rolling farmland with wooded hilltops, and running out at the sandy spit of Dawlish Warren, sheltering mudflats that provide landfall for migrating birds. This estuary site has the distinction of many nature conservation designations (RAMSAR, Site of Special Scientific Interest, National Nature Reserve, and more). Dawlish Warren is a favoured holiday destination with a range of accommodation supported by the fine sandy beaches that stretch to the mouth of the Exe and along the coast to Dawlish.

The area is protected from the west by the Haldon Hills which separate the estuaries of the Teign and the Exe. This high barrier forced Brunel to choose a coastal railway route. Much of the ridge of the Haldon Hills is forested and a series of walks and activity trails have been developed. Particularly fine views of the whole coastal and Exe estuary landscape can be had from the woodland walk at Mamhead Obelisk (OS map Explorer 110 'Torquay and Dawlish', 925807) at around 230 metres (750 feet) above sea level.

The town centre has been little altered from that of the late 19th century. Some large villas remain from those built by the first of the railway age visitors to the south Devon coast. These were mainly built on the higher parts of the east-west valley which carries the brook down through the middle of the town to discharge into the sea on the east-facing coast. The old town is small in scale and faces a series of parks along the line of the brook. It is possible to walk through the town from the sea's edge to farmland in less than a kilometre (5/8 mile), and mostly on footpaths, crossing just three roads. The centrepiece of Dawlish is the Lawn. It started life as a tidal inlet alongside which the first shops were built on the Strand (i.e. beach). In the 19th century the brook was channelled and the railway embankment ended the incursion of regular tidal rise and fall. The mudflats became a lawn and by the end of the 19th century it was a popular promenade sheltered by trees and planting. Today it offers a restful park for a range of uses, and is populated by an interesting collection of waterfowl which are cared for by the Town Council.

The built heritage of Dawlish has been recorded in two ways in recent times. Teignbridge District Council has prepared a Dawlish Conservation Area Character Appraisal, which provides a summary of the built features of the town and will be used to guide planning decisions. A photographic record of the Listed Buildings of Dawlish, and the surrounding area, is contained in the Images of England website. This is a valuable record of the built heritage of England and contains over 315,000 photographs taken by volunteer photographers.

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Dawlish Community Trust, Room 7, The Manor House, Old Town Street, Dawlish, Devon, EX7 9AP :: Telephone (01626) 866803