Newton Abbot is located within Teignbridge local authority area. Historically it formed part of Haytor Hundred. It falls within Moretonhampstead 2 Deanery for ecclesiastical purposes. The Deaneries are used to arrange the typescript Church Notes of B.F.Cresswell which are held in the Westcountry Studies Library. The population was 2400 in 1801 12500 in 1901 22603 in 1991. Figures for other years are available on the local studies website. In the valuation of 1334 it was assessed at £02/00/04. The lay subsidy of 1524 valued the community at £19/10/09. In 1641/2 270 adult males signed the Protestation returns. It is recorded as a borough from 1246. A turnpike was established in 1765. A separate borough was established at Newton Bushel. A market is recorded from 14c.-1935.

A parish history file is held in Newton Abbot Library. You can look for other material on the community by using the place search on the main local studies database. Further historical information is also available on the Genuki website.

Maps: The image below is of the Newton Abbot area on Donn's one inch to the mile survey of 1765.

On the County Series Ordnance Survey mapping the area is to be found on 1:2,500 sheet 109/11,12,15,16 Six inch (1:10560) sheet 109SE
The National Grid reference for the centre of the area is SX860713. On the post 1945 National Grid Ordnance Survey mapping the sheets are: 1:10,000 (six inch to a mile: sheet SX87SW,SX87SE, 1:25,000 mapping: sheet Explorer 031, Landranger (1:50,000) mapping: sheet 202. Geological sheet 339 also covers the area.

Illustrations: The image below is of Newton Abbot as included in the Library's Etched on Devon's memory website. Other images can be searched for on the local studies catalogue.

Extract from Devon by W.G.Hoskins (1954),included by kind permission of the copyright holder:

NEWTON ABBOT at the head of the Teign estuary, is flourishing market town of some 17,000 people. A hundred years ago it had barely 4,000. During Queen Victoria's reign it trebled its numbers, and this growth has determined its architectural character to-day. It is, nevertheless, a town of considerable antiquity taking its rise in the early 13th century on the waste land along the valley of the river Lemon which enters the Teign just below the town.

In 1196 the manor of Wolborough was given by William Brewer to his foundation of Torre Abbey, and we hear of a Nova Villa, a small settlement, along the S. bank of the Lemon by about 1200. For a time this "new town" was called Shireborne Newton, but before the end of the 13th century the form Newton Abbot established itself. Meanwhile, the lord of the manor of Teignwick or Highweek, Sir Theobald de Englishville, obtained a market and fair for his "new town" on the N. side of the Lemon and established a borough here in 1246, (D.A. 18 (1886), 223-4) which became known as Newton Bushel after the later manorial lords. In the course of time the two small boroughs coalesced and the name Newton Abbot is now applied to both.

When the South Devon Railway reached Newton Abbot in 1846, it had about 4,000 people. Because of its geographical position, at the head of an estuary, at the meeting place of several valleys, and with the moorland behind, the town soon became a focus for railways, and is now an important railway junction. From 1846 onwards considerable building took place, largely under the direction of the Courtenays, who owned most of the site. Courtenay Park was laid out with detached and semi-detached villas, mostly Italianate in style, with wide roads and open spaces; Devon Square is of the same date and style. To some degree Newton Abbot is a "railway town," but not noticeably so, for it has retained and improved its old character as a good market and shopping town. The older buildings may be found in East Street, Highweek Street, and Wolborough Street. St. Leonard's Tower is all that is left of a 14th to 15th century church, demolished in 1836. The churches of the town are all modern, that of St. Mary (in Abbotsbury, NW. of the centre) being by E. H. Sedding (1904-6).

Wolborough parish contains two interesting buildings. The parish church (St. Mary) is of 15th to early 16th century date, standing on a hill commanding a view of the Teign estuary. It has a remarkable series of screens: a very good rood-screen of early 16th century date, N. and S. parclose screens, and small screens fencing two chantries or chapels. The whole of the screen work is richly coloured, with 66 panel paintings that call for detailed study. In the chancel is some 17th century furniture; and there is a large monument (1633) to Sir Richard Reynell of Ford, Kt., and Lucy his wife. The church also contains a good pulpit and modern glass, a pre-Reformation bell in the nave (made by John Bird, 1390), a restored Norman font; a medieval brass lectern (15th century) and some 15th century glass.

Ford House, on the E. edge of the town, is a good example of a Jacobean mansion, built in 1610 by Sir Richard Reynell, who had just bought the old Torre abbey manor of Wolborough from the Crown. Here he entertained Charles I and the Duke of Buckingham in September 1625. In November 1688 the Prince of Orange stayed here for a short time, after landing at Brixham, and before advancing on Exeter. Ford was bought from the Earl of Devon in 1936 by the Newton Abbot V.D.C. It still retains seven remarkable plaster ceilings of early 17th century date, some of the best in Devon.

Highweek parish also has a remarkable house-Bradley Manor, to the SW. of the town in the Lemon valley. It is a good example of a 15th century manor house, of the small West Country type, containing a great hall, screens, passage, buttery, solar and chapel. It was probably built by Richard Yarde immediately after marrying the heiress in 1419, and remodelled about 1495, the date of the present E. front. The chapel is dated about 1428. The house a now belongs to the National Trust, and is open at certain times to the public.

The parish church (All Saints) mainly 15th century, with a 14th century W. tower, and granite arcades. It has been heavily Victorianised and is of no great interest, but the views from the churchyard are worth seeing.