Category Archives: Town Centre

Paignton to Kingswear Steam Railway and the Round Robin

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Paignton to Kingswear Steam Railway and the Round Robin

There are any number of things that will make a great day out in South Devon, but in my opinion, one of the best has to be the ‘Round Robin’. It comprises different modes of transport linking Paignton, Dartmouth, and Totnes.

The Round Robin includes a steam train from Paignton to Kingswear, a ferry across the River Dart to Dartmouth, a boat trip up the river to Totnes, and an open-top bus back to Paignton. It can be done the other way round and you can start from Paignton, Dartmouth or Totnes.

Part of the attraction is to be able to explore the towns of Dartmouth and Totnes and so you would need to factor in the tide times of the Dart if you intend to do the whole journey in one day.

For expediency, in this post, I’m just going to describe the train journey between Paignton and Kingswear.

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Originally posted 2018-06-20 18:11:43.

Old Paignton

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Old Paignton

Paignton may have only really come to life when the railway arrived in 1859, but it’s actually much older than people think. There was a settlement here during Anglo-Saxon times and was even referred to as Peintone in the Domesday Book.

In those days, the area just inland from the beach was backed by sand dunes and marshland, which meant that the settlement grew up slightly inland where the land was drier.

The origins of Old Paignton village are located around Palace Avenue, Church St, and Winner St, the names of which give a clue as to what was here. Winner Street gets its name from Wynerde, (or vineyard), and reflects its association with the palace’s trade in wine.

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Originally posted 2018-06-05 17:31:04.