Cador Earl of Cornwall pursued Childric the Saxon Kaiser and his troops as they fled towards their ships, which were moored (apparently off Teignmouth Beach.
Cador overtook them on the banks of the Teign. The churls, armed with “bats” and pitchforks, slew a large number of the Saxons and “then saw Childric that it befell to them evilly; that all his mickle folk fell to the ground; now he saw there beside a hill exceeding great; the water floweth thereunder that is named Teine ; the hill is named Teinewic;
thitherward fled Childric with his four and twenty knights ... and Cador heaved up his sword and Childric he slew ... in the Teine water he perished.
” It seems very likely that the hill mentioned was the Ness, which was once known as Bryn Maur, or the great hill, and the battle probably took place on Shaldon sands.
The crossing from Shaldon to Teignmouth and the ferry dues were part of the perquisites of the Earl of Cornwall (who also called himself King of the Romans, a title dating from King Arthur’s day) in the 11th century a .d ., and it is probable that Cador gained these as part of the spoils of battle.
By the middle of the 7th century a .d ., the valleys of the lower Exe and the Creedy were occupied by Saxons, lived more or less amicably with them in the town of Exeter, but Devon was still predominantly Celtic and was ruled by a Celtic monarch.
At this time, Bishop Honorius of Canterbury settled the boundaries of the land and fixed parishes.
Taintona probably received official recognition. The parish of St. Nicholas was designated at Bryn Maur (Celtic for “Great Hill”) now corrupted into “Ringmore.
” Taintona was probably not called by that name in those days, as “ton” or “tun” is a Saxon word for a settlement, and means a fencible place .
It was, however, a fortified village.
In 682 ad Centwine, the Angle, “drove the Britons of the west as far as the sea, at the sword point”.
This seems to indicate a more determined Anglo-
Assuming the Exe to be in the hands of the Saxons, the sea mentioned is probably the natural boundary made by the river Teign.
It is probable that the Saxons took over Taintona and gave it a name in their own tongue, while the Celts moved across the river.
The old hillside lookout above the Teign now fulfilled another purpose; that of a Celtic spyhole against the Saxons.
In 800 ad Egbert made another attempt to extend the Saxon rule in Devon, but at this time the Saxons themselves were being harried.
Another race of marauders was sweeping down on Britain.
These were the Danes.
Now began a time of fear. The Saxon settlers complained that the sea, formerly their friend, was now
