Kingsteignton, clay and football

Now, I’ll freely admit to being a Torquay boy who hasn’t lived in South Devon for donkeys years and one who mainly sees Kingsteignton as a place with a bloody enormous Tesco, a racecourse and loads of houses (some of which may have been inhabited by professional footballers over the years). As for the rest, I’ve been aware of the clay industry from the days when my sales rep father used the B road from Chudleigh as a speedy cut-through. Then, at senior school, Charlie Coon - the geography teacher rumoured to be a communist councillor on Ashburton parish council - marked our cards about the whole operation pretty much from the outset.

But, since then, I’ve rarely given the clay pits a second thought until a few weeks ago. That’s partly a result of a couple of Sunday walks in the area but also because my work has recently brought me into contact with Camborne School of Mines which caters for the wider extractive industry. Until then I’d never stopped to think just how long the industry has been there, how large an undertaking it has become and how it keeps the port of Teignmouth working. Put it in a wider context and it’s a slab of industrialisation tucked away behind the scenes in a generally non-industrialised part of the country. As a result, I guess it has created its own working-class micro-culture around the Kingsteignton area.

To find out more, take a look at the Ball Clay Heritage Society’s site at www.clayheritage.org/ There you’ll see the North Devon branch of the industry goes back to the 17th century and how, in South Devon, the Watts family gathered importance from the 1790s (linking with Blake and Bearne in 1861). There’s also the fascinating link between what once happened on our doorstep and the growth of the pottery industry around Stoke.

And what of the future? Looking at maps and aerial photographs of the area it is clear workings continue to be opened and closed. This produces an evolving landscape that could see new houses, shops, industries, sporting facilities or whatever. A new Clay Country Bowl for Torquay United maybe? (you heard it here first but – fear not – I’m not advocating it). Indeed, in my ignorance, I never knew of the recent “development plans” for abandoned workings until a small amount of research discovered the Kingsteignton Residents Environmental Awareness Group at kreag.org.uk This reports the loss of the lake at Newcross, plans for an “urban village” and sports facilities (mainly football) at the junction of Chudleigh Road and Old Exeter Road. Anyone been following this story?

And, where there’s industry and working class culture, there’s usually football. My first football memory of Kingsteignton is the supporters' coach stopping there en route way to away matches (was it where the Wallens got on?). I also recall seeing a schools’ match at Homers Lane around 1970 which, at the time, was probably the home of Watts Blake and Bearne FC. Furthermore, was it true that some of the Mini Stand’s finest – prototype Torquay hooligans almost – were WBB clayworkers? Or was that an urban myth?

I’m not wholly sure of the state of play at Homers Lane. The WBB FC site - wattsblakebearnefc.co.uk/aboutus.aspx - says the club moved from Homers Lane to Abbrook because WBB was going to excavate the land. But Buckland Athletic moved to Homers Lane in the early 1990s and continued to play there until four or five years ago.

Abbrook looks a tidy set-up as is Broadpark, home of Kingsteignton Athletic. The club’s history page - www.kingsteigntonathletic.com/history.html - mentions an earlier ground at Orange Farm as well as listing the club’s honours. These point to the club having great sides in the mid 1930s, 1950s and 1960s but not quite so much glory since. Had the present pyramid been established sooner I suppose there’s a chance Kingsteignton may have progressed beyond the SDL.

Finally, as an aside, can anyone throw light on the history of point-to-point at Ideford Arch? I hadn’t appreciated the extent of the course until I saw it up close on Sunday.