Newton Abbot: The Flood: Our town was visited with a devastating inundation of Sunday last, and great damage was done. Some houses now in the course of building, in the Station Road, were undermined, and fell; and several shops were inundated. The water rose so rapidly, that the congregations coming out from morning service found the streets impassable. In Bridge Street, where the river Lemon crosses the road, and on to Pinsent’s brewery, especially by Mr. Vicary’s tan-yards, to the Leat, the water covered the road to the depth of two to three feet. The yards were inundated, and a vast amount of damage was done. Mr. Vicary is not yet able to estimate his loss, but it is rumoured to be some thousands of pounds. The tan was washed out of the pits, and the hides under process doubtlessly were much injured. Mr. Vicary’s damage appears to have been the consequence of stopping the wastewater course of the leat, by the owner of an adjoining property, who had built a closet over it, and boarded the course completely up. The water thus dammed back accumulated against Mr. Vicary’s year wall, which gave way. From the extraordinary height to which the Teign rose, the marshes were covered with water; some hundreds of tons of coal, belonging to Mr. Pinsent, were washed into the river. The timber in the marshes, and on the banks, the property of the timber merchants in the town, was washed away. All communication between Kingsteignton and Newton was cut off, the water covering the road for upwards of half a mile. On the 10th of November 1810, this town was inundated with water. The flood was much greater than last Sunday. It occurred on a Saturday, and persons living in some parts of town were obliged to be supplied with breakfast in their bedrooms. It is calculated by those who remember the circumstance, that the water rose from eighteen inches to two feet higher than on Sunday last. The state of the road by the Globe Hotel, and towards Bridge Hotel, is such as to require the attention of the County Surveyor.
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Referenced
GRO0518 Devonport: John Ball Pinsent: 1819 – 1901