The present East Teignmouth church of St Michael the Archangel was built in 1821, in Norman style, reflecting the former Saxon/Norman building it replaced; the earlier church was mentioned in a charter of 1044. A restored Norman arch is incorporated into the south doorway. The tower was added in 1887-9, and the south Lady Chapel in 1923.
The graffiti in the church consists mainly of names, initials, dates and a few examples of Roman numerals, scored into the bookrests of the 19th century seating. On the choir stalls are two sets of initials accompanied by the dates 1962-7, and a name with the dates 1964-69. Do these perhaps represent the five year school attendance dates for local secondary school children who sang in the choir?
In the tower clock chamber there are scored references to the points of the compass, which presumably help with identification of parts of the mechanism during clock maintenance.