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Founded in the early eighth century as the centre of a vast Saxon estate between Teignmouth and Manaton, Kingsteignton was a key settlement providing rich pickings for Danish raiders who came in 1001. Kingsteignton is situated at the head of the Teign estuary, the village is the long established centre of the clay industry and is widely claimed to be the largest village in England. Medieval prosperity funded the re-building of the parish church in the 15th Century, its 85 foot tower being constructed in the 1480s. From the medieval period to the mid-19th Century the parish church held an important position as the mother church of Highweek and Newton Bushell. The springs at Rydon were the only established water supply in the Middle Ages.
A drought in the Middle Ages is said to have given rise to the annual Ram Roasting fair. With insufficient water to baptise a child, a ram was sacrificed to the gods of the local spring. Water sprang forth and a ram has been roasted ever since at the fair, held each Whit Monday.
Twinned with Orbec, France
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