Newtown is an area 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 ...

between

St Sidwells St Sidwell's is an area east of Exeter city centre in the ward of Newtown, Exeter, Newtown. Formerly a village in its own right, St Sidwell's grew in importance along with Exeter thanks to its location on the main cart track between Exeter and t ...

and

Heavitree Heavitree is a historic village and former civil parish situated formerly outside the walls of the City of Exeter in Devon, England, and is today an eastern district of that city. It was formerly the first significant village outside the city o ...

and was traditionally an area for the poor since

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

times. A workhouse was built in 1671 on a site currently used as a car park, but Newtown remained largely rural up until the 19th century. Around 1700 a new workhouse was built on what is now the site of Heavitree Hospital. Brick and tile making were carried on in Exeter by the

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

from clay workings within the city wall. By the 16th century, the rich red clay of Newtown was exploited for brick making, the main brickworks being sited in the location of what is currently the dry ski-slope and golf driving range. Due to the Cholera epidemics of the 1830s the open sewer that ran along the bottom of the hill was covered over, to create Clifton Road. In the mid-19th century four streets of small terraced houses were built to house manual workers, labourers and their families. In the 1880s St Matthews Church was built. In May 1942 Exeter was heavily bombed in the

Baedeker raids The Baedeker Blitz or Baedeker raids was a series of bombing raids by the ''Luftwaffe'' on the United Kingdom during World War II in April and May 1942. Towns and cities in England were targeted for their cultural value as part of a demoralisa ...

of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Newtown was badly affected with many buildings destroyed, including the lower section of Newtown School. Post war development saw the creation of the Inner By-pass (Western Way) which cut through the northern part of Newtown, while regeneration work in the late 1960s saw new developments of blocks of flats, some of which were placed to 'disrupt' the uniform Victorian street pattern.

External links

Belmont ParkThe Newtown Community Association
Areas of Exeter {{Devon-geo-stub