Newton Abbot is a market town and civil parish on the River Teign in the Teignbridge District of Devon, England. Its 2011 population of 24,029 was estimated to reach 26,655 in 2019. It grew rapidly in the Victorian era as the home of the South Devon Railway locomotive works. This later became a major steam engine shed, retained to service British Railways diesel locomotives until 1981. It now houses the Brunel industrial estate. The town has a race course nearby, the most westerly in England, and a country park, Decoy. It is twinned with Besigheim in Germany and Ay in France.
Traces of Neolithic inhabitants have been found at Berry's Wood Hill Fort near Bradley Manor. This was a contour hill fort that enclosed about . Milber Down camp was built before the 1st century BC and later occupied briefly by the Romans, whose coins have been found there.
Highweek Hill has the remains of a Norman motte-and-bailey castle, known as Castle Dyke. A village grew up around the castle, first called Teignwick, and later Highweek, implying a village on the high ground. Another settlement developed on the low ground around the River Lemon and would become part of Wolborough Manor.
There has been a thriving market in Newton Abbot for over 750 years – the first market charter was granted in 1220.
The New Town of the Abbots (of Torre Abbey) was given the right some time between 1247 and 1251 to hold a weekly market on Wednesdays. By 1300 the two settlements were renamed as Newton Abbot (taking the low ground) and Newton Bushel (taking the high ground). On the strength of the market, it quickly became a successful thriving town and a good source of income for the Abbots.
Over the river, on the Highweek side another weekly market was created. This one ran on Tuesdays and because the Bushel family were the landowners this community became known as Newton Bushel. Over the next 200 years Newton Bushel ran more annual fairs, a number of mills were set up and the leather and wool trades started. Newton Bushel was also a convenient place for travellers to stay.
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Paignton (ˈpeɪntən ) is a seaside town on the coast of Tor Bay in Devon, England. Together with Torquay and Brixham it forms the borough of Torbay which was created in 1968. The Torbay area is a holiday destination known as the English Riviera. Paignton has origins as a Celtic settlement and was first mentioned in 1086. It grew as a small fishing village and a new harbour was built in 1847. A railway line was opened to passengers in 1859 creating links to Torquay and London.
Exeter (ˈɛksɪtər) is a cathedral city and the county town of Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal command of Vespasian. Exeter became a religious centre in the Middle Ages. Exeter Cathedral, founded in the mid 11th century, became Anglican in the 16th-century English Reformation. Exeter became an affluent centre for the wool trade, although by the First World War the city was in decline.
Dawlish ˈdɔːlɪʃ is an English seaside resort town and civil parish in Teignbridge on the south coast of Devon; it is located from the county town of Exeter and from the larger resort of Torquay. Its 2011 population of 11,312 was estimated to have risen to 13,355 by 2019. It is to grow further as several housing estates are under construction, mainly in the north and east of the town. It had grown in the 18th century from a small fishing port into a well-known seaside resort, as had its near neighbour, Teignmouth, in the 19th century.