Newton is a town that is located within the Central Area of the Central Region of Singapore. The planning area is bounded by the following planning areas -

Orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit- or nut-producing trees which are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of larg ...

and

Museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

to the south,

Tanglin Tanglin is a planning area located within the Central Region of Singapore. Tanglin is located west of Newton, Orchard, River Valley and Singapore River, south of Novena, east of Bukit Timah, northeast of Queenstown and north of Bukit Merah. ...

to the west,

Novena A novena (from Latin: ''novem'', "nine") is an ancient tradition of devotional praying in Christianity, consisting of private or public prayers repeated for nine successive days or weeks. The nine days between the Feast of the Ascension and Pen ...

to the north,

Kallang Kallang is a planning area and residential town located in the Central Region of Singapore. Development of the town is centered around the Kallang River, the longest river in Singapore. Kallang Planning Area is bounded by Toa Payoh in the no ...

to the northeast and

Rochor Rochor is a Planning Areas of Singapore, planning area located within the Central Area, Singapore, Central Area of the Central Region, Singapore, Central Region of Singapore. Rochor shares boundaries with the following planning areas – Kallan ...

to the east. Newton's namesake Newton Road, however, is located within Novena Planning Area, and starts at Newton Circus in the south and ends at the junction with Thomson Road in the north. Occupying an area north of the renowned

Orchard Road Orchard Road, often known colloquially as simply Orchard, is a major –long road in the Central Area of Singapore. Known as a famous tourist attraction, it is an upscale shopping area of Singapore, with numerous internationally renowned depa ...

shopping belt, the territory of Newton Planning Area includes the grounds of

The Istana The Istana ( eng, The Palace) is the official residence and office of the president of Singapore. The palace is open to the public and is where the president receives and entertains state guests. The Istana is also the office of the prime mi ...

, the official residence and office of the

President of Singapore The president of Singapore is the head of state of the Singapore, Republic of Singapore. The role of the president is to safeguard the Reserves of the Government of Singapore, reserves and the integrity of the Singapore Civil Service, public serv ...

Etymology and history

Originally Syed Ali Road, Newton Road was renamed in 1914 after Alfred Howard Vincent Newton (died 1897), the Assistant

Municipal A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

in late nineteenth century Singapore in order to avoid confusion with Syed Alwi Road. In 1933, Newton Circus, a wide circular

carriageway A carriageway (British English) or roadway (North American English) consists of a width of road on which a vehicle is not restricted by any physical barriers or separation to move laterally. A carriageway generally consists of a number of tra ...

, was constructed for

gyratory A roundabout is a type of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junction.''The New Shorter Oxford En ...

traffic Traffic comprises pedestrians, vehicles, ridden or herded animals, trains, and other conveyances that use public ways (roads) for travel and transportation. Traffic laws govern and regulate traffic, while rules of the road include traffic ...

according to a

Singapore Improvement Trust The Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT) is a former government organisation that was responsible for urban planning and urban renewal in Singapore. Formally established in 1927 under the Singapore Improvement Ordinance, it was modelled after sim ...

layout at the

focus Focus, or its plural form foci may refer to: Arts * Focus or Focus Festival, former name of the Adelaide Fringe arts festival in South Australia Film *''Focus'', a 1962 TV film starring James Whitmore * ''Focus'' (2001 film), a 2001 film based ...

of a number of converging roads, including Bukit Timah Road,

Dunearn Road Bukit Timah Road (; ms, Jalan Bukit Timah; ta, புக்கித் திமா சாலை) is a major road in Singapore extending from the city centre to Woodlands Road on the way to Johor Bahru in Malaysia. The road has a length of 25 ...

, Newton Road, Keng Lee Road, Kampong Java Road, Bukit Timah Road, Clemenceau Avenue and Scotts Road. As eight roads converge on the Circus, the

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

s used to call Newton ''ethumuchandi'', or "the eight

junction Junction may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Junction'' (film), a 2012 American film * Jjunction, a 2002 Indian film * Junction (album), a 1976 album by Andrew Cyrille * Junction (EP), by Basement Jaxx, 2002 * Junction (manga), or ''Hot ...

place". Newton Circus has become the site of a major

hawker centre A hawker centre or cooked food centre is an open-air complex commonly found in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. They were built to provide a more sanitary alternative to mobile hawker carts and contain many stalls that sell different variet ...

, Newton Food Centre.

References

*Victor R Savage, Brenda S A Yeoh (2003), ''Toponymics - A Study of Singapore Street Names'', Eastern Universities Press, Newton Road, Aug 06

Places in Singapore Novena, Singapore {{Singapore-geo-stub

Etymology and history

See also

References