Bridge At Teignbridge Crossing

The bridge at Teignbridge Crossing is a road bridge over the Stover Canal, dated 1798. It features coursed stone up to the impost level with rusticated stone jambs, and above this, there is buff-coloured brick in Flemish bond. The bridge has a segmental brick arch adorned with yellow terracotta keystones, which display a goats head mask on the north side and a bearded mask on the south side. A brick string course runs at road level, flanked by pilaster strips on the abutments. The brick parapets have rounded granite coping, although the parapet on the south side appears to have been rebuilt.

At the center of the north parapet, there is a tablet inscribed with: "Erected by order of Thomas Taylor Esq., Thomas Love Esq., Thomas Kitson and Rev. B.W. Wrey. Magistrates of this County 1798." Additionally, there are two pairs of cast iron circular moulded tie plates in the spandrels.

The Stover Canal was constructed by James Templer of Stover House between 1790 and 1792, with engineering by Thomas Gray of Exeter. It was later improved by George Templer in 1824 when the locks were rebuilt in granite. The canal, nearly 2 miles long, connected the River Teign at Jetty Marsh near Newton Abbot, allowing barges to navigate through the dredged Whitelake Channel to the estuary of the River Teign. This private venture was established to transport Haytor granite following the construction of the Haytor granite tramway in 1820. Reference: Charles Hadfield, The Canals of South West England, pp. 118 to 122.