Ashburton, Devon
Ashburton, Devon
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2305132

Ashburton, Devon

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2305132

Ashburton, Devon

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Ashburton, Devon

Ashburton is a town on the south-southeastern edge of Dartmoor in Devon, England, adjacent to the A38. The town is 20 miles (32 km) northeast of Plymouth and 17 miles (27 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 census was 7,718.

The town's name derives from the Old English æsc-burna-tun meaning 'farm/settlement with a stream frequented by ash trees'.

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 General Fairfax at nearby Bovey Tracey.

The population in the 1841 census was 3,841 inhabitants.

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 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.

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