Ashburton is a town on the south-southeastern edge of Dartmoor in

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, England, adjacent to the A38. The town is 20 miles (32 km) northeast of

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

and 17 miles (27 km) southwest of

Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

. It was formerly important as a

stannary A stannary was an administrative division established under stannary law in the English counties of Cornwall and Devon to manage the collection of tin coinage, which was the duty payable on the metal tin smelted from cassiterite ore Mining in Co ...

town (a centre for the administration of tin mining), and remains the largest town within the national park. Ashburton has two pubs within the centre of town and six restaurants/cafés. The town is also part of the electoral ward named ''Ashburton and Buckfastleigh'', the population of which at the 2011 census was 7,718.

History

The town's name derives from the

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

''æsc-burna-tun'' meaning 'farm/settlement with a stream frequented by ash trees'. The name is recorded in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

(1086) as ''Essebretone''. Ashburton was then the main town of the Parish of Ashburton, in Teignbridge Hundred. During the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

, Ashburton was a temporary refuge for Royalist troops fleeing after their defeat by General Fairfax at nearby Bovey Tracey. The town was the terminus of the Buckfastleigh, Totnes and South Devon Railway that opened on 1 May 1872. Ashburton railway station closed to passengers in November 1958 although goods traffic on the line continued until 7 September 1962. Links to Buckfastleigh and Totnes are maintained by Country Bus route 88 which also serves

Newton Abbot Newton Abbot is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the River Teign in the Teignbridge, Teignbridge District of Devon, England. Its population was 24,029 in 2011, and was estimated at 26,655 in 2019. It grew rapidly in ...

. Ashburton used to be famous for a beverage known as Ashburton Pop, possibly a type of champagne, the recipe of which was lost with the brewer in 1765. Ashburton Carnival is one of the oldest, possibly the oldest, surviving in Devon. Written records date it back to 1891, but it is believed to have been started in the mid-1880s to raise funds for a new hospital. Ashburton Golf Club (now defunct) was founded in 1910. The club continued into the 1920s. Ashmoor Hockey Club was formed in 2003 and plays at South Dartmoor Community College. Ashburton Cookery School & Chefs Academy, located to the north of the town, was founded in 1992.

Politics

Ashburton was the first place to elect a candidate of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party to public office. The candidate was Alan Hope, a local publican, who was elected unopposed to Ashburton Town Council in 1989. He subsequently became deputy mayor and later

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

of Ashburton. The town is one of a few to still annually appoint a portreeve or 'port warden'. Others are

Laugharne Laugharne () is a town on the south coast of Carmarthenshire, Wales, lying on the estuary of the River Tâf. The Ancient borough#Charters, ancient borough of Laugharne Township () with its #Laugharne Corporation, Corporation and Charter is a ...

, Beccles, Callington (where the name is given to the council chairman), and

Yeovil Yeovil () is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Somerset, England. It is close to Somerset's southern border with Dorset, west of London, south of Bristol, west of Sherborne and east of Taunton. The population of the bui ...

Education

South Dartmoor Community College, a large secondary school for pupils aged 11-18, is located in Ashburton.

Sites of interest

The parish church of St Andrew is a Grade One Building and a fine building of the 15th century with a tall tower and two aisles. The 15th-century church tower includes sculptures by Herbert Edmund Read (1885–1951), who also carved the oak

reredos A reredos ( , , ) is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a Church (building), church. It often includes religious images. The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular a ...

; this is not the art historian

Herbert Read Sir Herbert Edward Read, (; 4 December 1893 – 12 June 1968) was an English art historian, poet, literary critic and philosopher, best known for numerous books on art, which included influential volumes on the role of art in education. Read wa ...

. One window has stained glass designed by C. E. Kempe. The porch is partly Norman. St Lawrence Chapel is a Grade II* Listed Building in St Lawrence Lane in the centre of the town. Originally a

chantry chapel A chantry is an ecclesiastical term that may have either of two related meanings: # a chantry service, a set of Church service, Christian liturgical celebrations for the dead (made up of the Requiem Mass and the Office of the Dead), or # a chantr ...

and then a grammar school for over 600 years, St Lawrence Chapel is now an important heritage, cultural and community centre, managed by the Guild of St Lawrence. The town's old Methodist Church (Grade II listed) at 15 West St was built in 1835. In 2015 the Methodist congregation moved to the nearby St Andrew's Church Hall. Their previous building was sold by public auction on 19 July 2017, when it was bought by Ashburton Arts Ltd (a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee) using funds donated or loaned by members of the community. The building now houses Ashburton Arts Centre. St Gudula's Well and Cross in Old Totnes Road is probably named after St Gulval, also honoured at the village of Gulval in Cornwall. Ashburton Town Hall was originally built as a market hall in 1850.

Climate

Notable people

* William Howard Allen (1790–1822), United States naval officer, interned for 18 months in Ashburton * Alexander Baring, 1st Baron Ashburton (1774–1848), politician and financier * William Bickford (1774–1834), inventor of the safety fuse used in the mining industry * Sir Henry Carew, 7th Baronet (1779–1830), Member of Parliament for Ashburton * Richard Carlile (1790–1843), political agitator * Athel Cornish-Bowden (born 1943), biochemist, born in Ashburton * Edward Dowson (cricketer, born 1880), died in Ashburton in 1933 * John Dunning, 1st Baron Ashburton (1731–1783), lawyer and politician, born in Ashburton * Sir Harry Eve (1856–1940), barrister, judge and politician, represented Ashburton in Parliament * Cecil Mallaby Firth (1878–1931), Egyptologist, baptised in Ashburton * William Gifford (1756–1826), critic, editor and poet * Christopher Hutton (1893–1965) soldier, airman, journalist and inventor, retired to Ashburton * John Ireland (Anglican priest) (1761–1842), born in Ashburton and taught in the grammar school * Charles Eamer Kempe (1837–1907), designer of the stained glass windows in St. Andrew's Church * Barrie Matthews (born 1943), cricketer, born in Ashburton * Jim McNichol (born 1958) professional footballer, operated the Exeter Inn in Ashburton * Sir Robert Palk, 1st Baronet (1717–1798), born in Ashburton, MP for Ashburton * Richard Preston (MP) (1768–1850), legal author and politician, born in Ashburton and member of parliament for Ashburton * Stevie Smith (1902–1971), poet and novelist, died in Ashburton *

Laurence Sulivan Laurence Sulivan (1713–1786) was an Anglo-Irish politician, Member of Parliament first for Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England. It is a market town and has a Minster (church), minster church. Its population i ...

(1713–1786), Member of Parliament for Ashburton * John Swete (1752–1821), clergyman, landowner, artist, antiquary, historian and topographer, born in Ashburton * Thomas Glanville Taylor (1804–1848), astronomer, born and educated in Ashburton * Sir Robert Richard Torrens (1812–1884), parliamentarian, writer and land reformer, lived in Ashburton * Sir Charles Tucker (British Army officer) (1838–1935), born in Ashburton * Ollie Watkins (born 1995) is an England International professional footballer and he was educated at South Dartmoor Community College * William John Wills (1834–1861), explorer, attended St Andrew's Grammar School in Ashburton

References

External links

Devon Local Studies - Ashburton community page
* * {{authority control Towns in Devon Dartmoor Market towns in Devon Teignbridge