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Newton St Petrock is an ecclesiastical and
civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...
in the Torridge district of
Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...
in England, occupying approximately . The parish had a population in 2001 of 163. A mile to the east of the village are the earthwork remains of Durpley Castle, a medieval
motte-and-bailey castle A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy t ...
. The parish's landmark is an ancient oak. Its map profile is, appropriately, that of an acorn. Its western border follows the
River Torridge The River Torridge is a river in Devon in England; it rises near Meddon. The river describes a long loop through Devon farming country where its tributaries the Lew and Okement join before meeting the Taw at Appledore and flowing into the Bristo ...
. It is contiguous with the parishes of
Abbots Bickington Abbots Bickington is a village and civil parish in the English county of Devon, located north-northeast of Holsworthy and near the River Torridge. Etymology The name Bickington is derived from an "estate associated with a man named Beacca" p ...
, Bulkworthy, Shebbear and
Milton Damerel Milton Damerel is a village, parish and former manor in north Devon, England. Situated in the political division of Torridge, on the river Waldon, it covers . It contains many tiny hamlets including Whitebeare, Strawberry Bank, East Wonford an ...
.
King Athelstan King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the ti ...
, in the 10th century, granted the lands of "Niwantun" to the priests of St Petroc's minster at Bodmin. The boundaries of St Petroc's Niwantun remain the same today except for some expansion to the ecclesiastical and civil parish on its north side to include part of what was called Cleave in the Middle Ages, and what was once a detached part of the parish of Frithelstock in the 19th century. The population of this rural parish has remained stable over the last two centuries. In 1801, the population was 201 and this had fallen to 163 by 2001. In the late 17th century Newton St Petrock was the home of England's first female physician, Prudence Abbott Potter. A 19th-century rector, John Lemprière, wrote a ''Classical Dictionary'' used for generations in schools throughout the English-speaking world. A Baptist chapel was opened at Bullator on 19 January 1830 on the property of Mr Frank Thorne, the local blacksmith, who might be considered the first pastor although the cause began twelve years earlier when the Rev. John Gould retired from Croyde and settled in the parish.''Newton St. Petrock Baptist Church Ter-Jubilee'', R.A.W. Quance, 1980 Like many North Devon parishes, Newton St Petrock's numerous sons and daughters emigrated to urban centres, to industrial sites in South Wales, to Canada and elsewhere in the second half of the 19th century.


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Villages in Devon Torridge District {{Devon-geo-stub