Ashburton
Map ref SX7570

Ashburton, nestling quietly in a valley, on the southern slopes of Dartmoor is the largest town to lie fully within the boundary of the Dartmoor National Park. Ashburton is the ideal location for exploring both the National Park, and the nearby Riviera resort towns of Torquay and Paignton. There are a wide range of outdoor pursuits available in the area, including walking, fishing, cycling. The proximity to the moor makes it a good base for walking and pony trekking breaks, whilst the short distance to the River Dart enables you to utilise the town as a centre for canoeing and fishing.

The town has easy access from the motorway network via Exeter, Newton Abbot railway station just 7 miles away and the Exeter and Plymouth Airports are just half an hours drive.

The town's unique character has a lot of appeal for the tourist, with a historic past that lead to a wealth of interesting buildings being built in the historic core of the town, complete with several historic Devon styled gabled and slate hung buildings and a 15th century church, built on the profits of the local tin industry. The town is rapidly gaining a reputation as a centre for antiques.

Dating back to Saxon times the town has developed along the banks of the river Ashburn, (Ashburton - the settlement by the Ashburn stream), The town first appeared in the Doomsday book as Essebretone, recorded as having 34 villagers and 16 small holders.

The town's past rise prosperity was based on two local industries, the mining of tin and subsequent designation as a Stannary Town and the supply of wool.

Stannary Town

Ashburton had a history of tin extraction from the local moorland, that stretched back as far as the Roman times, and probably for many centuries before that. The town was designated as one of Devon's four Stannary Towns, as early as 1285.

A Stannary Town was of great economic importance, controlling the quality and distribution of tin produced from the local landscape. Two to four times each year, the local tin would be brought down to Ashburton, by pack horse or cart, to be weighed and stamped before being taken away for smelting into ingots. By the Tudor period Ashburton had become a major economic site within the county with nearly 40% of Devon's tin being sold through the town in 1515. By the early 1700s the tin trade had gone into complete decline as seams ran out, though small-scale extraction took place until very recently.

Global Wool Trade

The areas woollen industry steadily developed from its early roots in medieval England, to a peak during the 19th century- with local wool being used by the East India Company for trade in China. The river provided two important ingredients in this success, soft water - essential for washing the fleeces and power - driving the numerous mills that lined its banks. During the 19th century Ashburton lost its monopoly on the market, when the East India Company began to purchase serge from the newly developed wool towns of the north; causing the complete collapse of the industry locally.

During the English Civil War, the Royalist forces fled to Ashburton following their defeat by the New Model Army under Fairfax, at Bovey Tracey. General Fairfax subsequently took the town from the Royalist's in January 1646, setting up his head quarters in the Mermaid Inn on North Street, now the ironmongers.

During the Napoleonic Wars Ashburton was a Parole Town, one of several in Devon, where captured French Officers were housed with local people. The officers were free to roam Ashburton and surrounding countryside, within an area designated by milestones set along the main routes in and out of the town.

The Parish Church of St Andrew

The Church was first built at the end of the twelfth century and entirely re-built in the fifteenth. The building is architecturally interesting with an impressive exterior complete with a magnificent 92 feet high tower and excellent -interior and exterior - proportions Noteworthy is the long wagon roof, the arches and piers of the nave (one pier is a monolith), the memorial to Lord Dunning, the first Lord of Ashburton. John Dunning was the first Barron Ashburton, in the South Transept.

Near the base of the tower you will find the grave of a French Officer (Prisoner-of-War on parole in the town) who died just one month after the Battle of Waterloo.

Ashburton Museum

Ashburton has a local museum in the centre of the town, with displays of the local history and the internationally famous North American Indian collection - items gifted by an Ashburtonian who emigrated to North America. The collection was originally started in a private house, it moved to the tower of St Lawrence Chapel and, when it outgrew that, in 1962 to the old blacksmith's shop behind the chapel (part of the old grammar school site).

By 1968 it moved again to its present site in the centre of Ashburton (next door to Lloyds Bank). It houses a unique collection, which, in addition to items of local interest, includes a large collection of North American Indian artefacts. As with the Chapel, it is open to the public from May to September. Admission is free and it is funded by voluntary contributions and is supported entirely by voluntary effort.

River Dart Country Park

One of the main attraction in the area is the privately run River Dart Country Park. The park features family orientated adventure activities set in beautiful parkland along side the River Dart.