Moretonhampstead, in the county of Devon is, in the words of its Town Council, “a busy and picturesque town nestled in Dartmoor National Park, fifteen miles west of Exeter”. Today the commonest association with the name ‘Moretonhampstead’, or ‘Moreton’ as it is usually called, is the moor – Dartmoor – which rises to a height of 2,000ft within sight of the town.
The River Teign rises in two locations on Dartmoor National Park's north moor. It flows down to Chagford and then enters the Teign Gorge below the National Trust's Castle Drogo. It cuts through Fingle Woods to the village of Dunsford. From there, it arcs into the Teign Valley which is defined as the stretch of river between Dunsford and the Chudleigh area. From there, the River Teign flows to Kingsteignton and Newton Abbot before running into the Teign Estuary and meeting the sea by Teignmouth and Shaldon.
The valley of the River Teign has long been known for its mineral deposits, silverlead ore, barytes and manganese. Opening up these resources to market led to efforts to bring the railways to the valley.
Background
The South Devon Railway Company (SDR), forging its way to Plymouth, opened its broad gauge (7ft 0¼in, 2,140mm) line from Exeter, via Teignmouth, to what was then known as Newton on 30th December 1846. (The name was not changed to Newton Abbot until 1st March 1877.) The line was extended to Totnes, opening on 20th June 1847, and a branch to Torquay was opened on 18th December 1848.
Two other railway companies sought to bring lines into the more rural areas from connections with the SDR at Exeter and Newton Abbot – in the process creating an alternative route between these two places.
The schemes
Moretonhampstead: Building/Opening/ Operation
The Moretonhampstead & South Devon Railway was a railway, originally built to the broad gauge, which connected the South Devon Railway at Newton Abbot with Bovey (Bovey Tracey), Lustleigh and Moretonhampstead. Its origins can be traced to a meeting held in the Globe Hotel, Exeter, in 1861 where a decision was made to promote a railway and a company was
