If you walk down Fore Street today, past the cottages that lean gently into one another, you might not realise how much life has unfolded behind those doors. Yet this short stretch – numbers 23 to 33A Fore Street – has been an interesting stage for more than two centuries of village history. At its heart stood the butcher’s shop at number 25, a place that fed Bishopsteignton in every sense of the word. Begin the story here in the first of three articles.

Investigations into the Ridgeway family of Bishopsteignton have continued to uncover many new branches, connections and stories that extend far beyond the village in which the family was rooted. What began as an exploration of the Ridgeway name and its place within the history of Bishopsteignton has now developed into a much wider search, tracing descendants and family connections across generations and, ultimately, across the world.

This article highlights the life of Mary Overill during her younger years, her incredible war activities durng WWII and then her married years before starting a family and eventually ending up in Bishopsteignton, where she lived from 2006 until her passing at almost the age of 104. This story was written by her daughters Diane and Linda forming the eulogy read by the minister at her funeral in 2026.

Captain John Hore was born in Bishopsteignton in 1806 to parents John Hore (born 1775) and Jane Gilbert (born 1781), and was baptised at the Parish Church.  He joined the British Merchant Service as a boy of 13, and by the age of 24 he was a Ship’s Captain.  His voyages are documented over several years from the 1830s to the 1850s, identified by his Merchant Navy number 10330. and later by his Master Mariner’s Certificate number 41,529.  He sailed to Newfoundland and Lisbon, Portugal in the North Atlantic triangular trade for cod, from the Ports of Teignmouth and Exeter, and was also involved in the coastal trade around the British Isles.

Now that I have some spare time on my hands, I thought it apt to extend from my previous articles ‘Rooted in the Land: The Cornish Family of Wolfsgrove and Beyond’ and ‘The Cornish Family Name’ by telling what I know of my Grandmother and the Ridgeway family’s presence in the village, who appeared rooted for generations in our lovely Devon village.

Between 1200-1600, Bishopsteignton was a bishop-controlled estate on the River Teign, closely linked to Teignmouth, as ‘West Teignmouth’ formed part of its parish. In 1200 this area along the estuary was called ‘Teynton’, from the Anglo-Saxon ‘Tain’ or ‘Taintona’ meaning ‘water’.