View source for Ashburton, Devon

{{Short description|Town in Devon, England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox UK place 
|static_image_name=West Street , Ashburton.jpg
|static_image_caption=West Street, Ashburton
|country= England
|region= South West England
|shire_county= [[Devon]]
|shire_district= [[Teignbridge]]
|civil_parish= Ashburton
|official_name= Ashburton
| population = 4,170
 |os_grid_reference= SX756698
|coordinates = {{coord|50|30|55|N|3|45|18|W|display=inline,title}}
|post_town= NEWTON ABBOT
|postcode_area= TQ
|postcode_district= TQ13
|dial_code= 01364
|constituency_westminster= [[Central Devon (UK Parliament constituency)|Central Devon]]
}}
'''Ashburton''' is a town on the [[Cardinal direction|south-southeastern]] edge of [[Dartmoor]] in [[Devon]], England, adjacent to the [[A38 road|A38]]. The town is 20 miles (32&nbsp;km) northeast of [[Plymouth]] and 17 miles (27&nbsp;km) southwest of [[Exeter]].

It was formerly important as a [[stannary]] 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 United Kingdom census|2011 census]] was 7,718.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ukcensusdata.com/ashburton-and-buckfastleigh-e05003591#sthash.oirUwhoL.dpbs|title=Ward population 2011|access-date=17 February 2015|archive-date=17 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150217221408/http://www.ukcensusdata.com/ashburton-and-buckfastleigh-e05003591#sthash.oirUwhoL.dpbs|url-status=live}}</ref>

== History ==
The town's name derives from the [[Old English]] ''æsc-burna-tun'' meaning 'farm/settlement with a stream frequented by ash trees'.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Devon/Ashburton|title=Key to English Place-names|website=kepn.nottingham.ac.uk|access-date=19 July 2021|archive-date=1 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210701004338/http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Devon/Ashburton|url-status=live}}</ref>

The name is recorded in the [[Domesday Book]] (1086) as ''Essebretone''. Ashburton was then the main town of the Parish of Ashburton, in [[Teignbridge Hundred]]. During the [[English Civil War]], Ashburton was a temporary refuge for Royalist troops fleeing after their defeat by [[Thomas Fairfax|General Fairfax]] at nearby [[Bovey Tracey]].

The population in the 1841 census was 3,841 inhabitants.<ref>{{cite book |title=The National Cyclopaedia of Useful Knowledge |date=1848 |publisher=Charles Knight |location=London |page=377 | volume=V |edition=First}}</ref>

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]].

Ashburton used to be famous for a beverage known as Ashburton Pop, possibly a [[Methode Champenoise|type of champagne]], the recipe of which was lost with the brewer in 1765.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=El5e-gNDT5cC&pg=RA12-PA356&dq=%22ashburton+pop%22 "The Noted John Cooke of Exeter"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161223234512/https://books.google.com/books?id=El5e-gNDT5cC&pg=RA12-PA356&dq=%22ashburton+pop%22 |date=23 December 2016 }}, ''The Every-day Book and Table Book; or, Everlasting Calendar of Popular Amusements, Sports, Pastimes, Ceremonies, Manners, Customs, and Events, Each of the Three Hundred and Sixty-Five Days, in Past and Present Times; Forming a Complete History of the Year, Months, and Seasons, and a Perpetual Key to the Almanac, Including Accounts of the Weather, Rules for Health and Conduct, Remarkable and Important Anecdotes, Facts, and Notices, in Chronology, Antiquities, Topography, Biography, Natural History, Art, Science and General Literature; Derived from the Most Authentic Sources, and Valuable Original Communication, with Poetical Elucidations, for Daily Use and Diversion. Vol III.'', ed. William Hone, (London: 1838) p 356. Retrieved on 2008-11-21</ref><ref>[https://archive.today/20120719032107/http://nq.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/172/3/50-a "''Ashburton Pop'' corks"], ''Notes and Queries'' 1937 172: 50</ref>

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.<ref>[http://www.golfsmissinglinks.co.uk/index.php/england/south-west/devon/979-dev-ashburton-golf-club-devon “Ashburton Golf Club”] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906042824/http://www.golfsmissinglinks.co.uk/index.php/england/south-west/devon/979-dev-ashburton-golf-club-devon |date=6 September 2015 }}, "Golf’s Missing Links".</ref>

[[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 [[Howling Laud Hope|Alan Hope]], a local publican, who was elected unopposed to Ashburton Town Council in 1989. He subsequently became deputy mayor and later [[mayor]] of Ashburton.

The town is one of a few to still annually appoint a [[portreeve]] or 'port warden'. Others are [[Laugharne]], [[Beccles]], [[Callington, Cornwall|Callington]] (where the name is given to the council chairman), and [[Yeovil]].

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

[[Sands School]], England's second [[democratic school]], is located in Ashburton.

== Sites of interest ==
[[File:Ashburton Town Hall - geograph.org.uk - 1073214.jpg|left|thumb|[[Ashburton Town Hall]]]]
The [[St Andrew's Church, Ashburton|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]]; this is not the art historian [[Herbert Read]]. One window has stained glass designed by [[Charles Eamer Kempe|C. E. Kempe]]. The porch is partly [[Norman architecture|Norman]].<ref>Pevsner, N. (1952) ''South Devon'', Penguin Books; pp. 38&ndash;39</ref>

St Lawrence Chapel is a Grade II* Listed Building in St Lawrence Lane in the centre of the town. Originally a [[chantry chapel]] 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.<ref>{{NHLE|desc=Chapel of St Lawrence|num=1207789|access-date=27 December 2021}}</ref>

The town's old Methodist Church (Grade II listed) at 15 West St was built in 1835.<ref>{{NHLE|desc=Ashburton Methodist Church|num=1282869|access-date=27 December 2021}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ashburtonarts.org.uk/|title=Welcome to Ashburton Arts|access-date=27 December 2021}}</ref>

St Gudula's Well and Cross in Old Totnes Road is probably named after St [[Gudwal|Gulval]], also honoured at the village of [[Gulval]] in Cornwall.<ref>{{NHLE|desc= St Gudula's Well, including steps and retaining wall|num=1201014 |access-date=27 December 2021}}</ref>

[[Ashburton Town Hall]] was originally built as a market hall in 1850.<ref>{{NHLE|desc=Town Hall, North Street|num=1201012 |access-date=27 December 2021}}</ref>

==Climate==
{{Weather box
| location = Ashburton, 1981–2010 normals
| collapsed =
| metric first = y
| single line = y
| Jan high C = 9
| Feb high C = 9
| Mar high C = 11
| Apr high C = 13
| May high C = 16
| Jun high C = 19
| Jul high C = 21
| Aug high C = 21
| Sep high C = 18
| Oct high C = 15
| Nov high C = 12
| Dec high C = 10
| year high C = 
| Jan low C = 4
| Feb low C = 4
| Mar low C = 5
| Apr low C = 6
| May low C = 8
| Jun low C = 11
| Jul low C = 13
| Aug low C = 13
| Sep low C = 11
| Oct low C = 9
| Nov low C = 6
| Dec low C = 5
| year low C = 
| precipitation colour = green
| Jan precipitation mm = 126.4
| Feb precipitation mm = 96.2
| Mar precipitation mm = 93.0
| Apr precipitation mm = 73.5
| May precipitation mm = 75.7
| Jun precipitation mm = 65.0
| Jul precipitation mm = 68.0
| Aug precipitation mm = 72.2
| Sep precipitation mm = 80.7
| Oct precipitation mm = 123.0
| Nov precipitation mm = 121.4
| Dec precipitation mm = 139.7
| year precipitation mm = 

| source 1 = [[Chelsa Climate]]<ref name="Chelsa Climate Diagrams">{{cite web |url=https://chelsa-climate.org/climate-diagrams/ |title=Climate diagrams – Chelsa Climate |access-date=2024-12-18}}</ref>
}}


==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)|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]] (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 ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
{{commons category|Ashburton, Devon|Ashburton}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080522125218/http://www.devon.gov.uk/localstudies/100047/1.html Devon Local Studies - Ashburton community page]
* {{OpenDomesday|SX7679|ashburton|Ashburton}}
* {{wikivoyage inline|Ashburton}}

{{Devon}}
{{Settlements of Dartmoor}}
{{Devon parishes}}
{{authority control}}

[[Category:Ashburton, Devon| ]]
[[Category:Towns in Devon]]
[[Category:Dartmoor]]
[[Category:Market towns in Devon]]
[[Category:Teignbridge]]