Newton Abbot is a market town and civil parish on the River Teign in the Teignbridge District of Devon, England.

[5] Over the next 200 years Newton Bushel ran more annual fairs, a number of mills were set up, and the leather and wool trades started.

Torre Abbey was dissolved in 1539 and ownership of Wolborough was granted to John Gaverock, who built himself a new house at Forde.

Many towns had their own wool and cloth industries and Newton Abbot had woollen mills, fullers, dyers, spinners, weavers and tailors.

In 1724 Daniel Defoe wrote that Newton Abbot had a thriving serge industry that sent goods to Holland via Exeter.

Just 2 miles (3.2 km) north-west of Newton Abbot lie the large ball clay workings of the Bovey Basin.

The main workings are on the eastern outcrop of the deposits at Kingsteignton, which can lay claim to being the centre of Britain's ball-clay industry.

The bulky clay was transported by packhorse to Hackney Quay at Kingsteignton, then loaded onto barges for shipment down the Teign Estuary, where it was transferred to small ships bound for Liverpool and other ports.

[14] The South Devon railway reached Newton Abbot in 1846[5] and changed it from simply a market town with associated trades (leather and wool) into an industrial base.

The experiment failed, but the remains of Brunel's pumping house survive at Starcross and the old Dairy Crest milk processing factory in Totnes.

The remaining platforms were shortened on the southern side and the number of tracks reduced to make way for a new station car park.

Many other industries were set up beside the railway station, including a timber yard, iron and brass foundries, and an engineering works.

Two Royal Navy personnel from Newton Abbot were among the first British casualties in World War I, being killed after their ship was torpedoed by a German U-boat.

There was a severe flood on 27 December 1979, the latest in a long series, when the River Lemon burst its banks after prolonged rain.

Tucked into a corner of the racecourse, Newton Abbot's stock-car track flourished for nearly 30 years and attracted fans and drivers from all over the South of England.

A new community hospital to replace the one in East Street was built at the end of Jetty Marsh Road and opened on 12 January 2009.

Henry Cole, of Newton Abbot Town Council, stated that the "green represents the moors, black for the granite and white for the clay" of the surrounding area.

The arm of the cross represent the routes to Exeter and London, Bovey Tracey and the moors, Totnes and Plymouth, and Torquay and Brixham.

[33] South Devon UTC is a university technical college in Kingsteignton Road, established on 1 September 2015 for pupils aged 14 to 19.

Other areas and suburbs include Abbotsbury, Aller Park, Broadlands, Buckland, Knowles Hill, Milber, Mile End and Newtake.

[36] Adjacent to the tower is a plaque marking where the first declaration of the newly arrived William III, Prince of Orange was read in 1688: The first declaration of William III, Prince of Orange, the glorious defender of the Protestant religion and the liberties of England, was read on this pedestal by the Rev.

[citation needed] At the opposite end of Newton Abbot is a National Trust property, Bradley Manor.

This 15th-century (c. 1420) manor house in a secluded woodland setting has a notable great hall emblazoned with the royal coat of arms of Elizabeth I.

The Great Western Railway named a 7800 class steam locomotive after the manor, but the engine was never based in Newton Abbot (shed code: 83A) and was withdrawn from mainline service in the 1965.

The 1834 Poor Law Act required changes and incorporation that led, in 1839, to a new workhouse being built in East Street for paupers from surrounding areas.

Its interior and simple wooden furniture remain relatively unchanged, but some old bar customs, such as limiting women and holidaymakers to half-pint measures and covering the floor with sawdust, have ceased.

The main line service to/from London Paddington is operated by Great Western Railway and runs at least hourly for much of the day.

CrossCountry services operate through Birmingham to Manchester, the north-east of England (Leeds & Newcastle) and Scotland (Glasgow Central, Dundee & Aberdeen).

The main bus operator is Stagecoach South West who run a network of regular services from Newton Abbot to places such as Exeter, Torquay, Paignton and Teignmouth.

The town has a long-standing rugby union club, Newton Abbot RFC (established 1873), which plays home games at Rackerhayes in nearby Kingsteignton.