Newton Abbot
Newton Abbot photos (170 available)
Newton Abbot maps (2 available)
Map of Devon
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
Personalised maps
Create an historic map centred directly on any postcode!
Newton Abbot books (12 available)
- 81 photos on Newton Abbot appear in 3 Frith books - View photos of Newton Abbot
- Read extracts and see photos from these books on Newton Abbot and Devon
Newton Abbot memories
Read and share memories of Newton Abbot and Devon inspired by Frith photos
Police constable Henry Baker
My great grandfather lived at 49 Chapel Hill, Highweek, Newton Abbot. He was 39 then and he had a wife called Susan and 6 children. He was a policeman in Highweek and I am trying to find out more about him and his mother and father, his children were Mary Ann, Susan Ann, William, Samuel, Elizabeth M and John Henry who was my grandfather, he I know joined the 1st Life Guards in Windsor but I am trying to find where he is laid to rest, I have a photo of the grave and in the photo you can see a church and I'm sure it's in Newton Abbot. I am now stuck, all I know is that he was born ...read more here
Contributed by PATRICIA Baker
Stilings Pharmacy Courtenay Street
I have just bought a print of Frith's postcard of Courtney Street in 1955 and am delighted to see the premises named "Stilings Pharmacy" on the right of the picture. My father ran this business for the Misses Stiling who inherited it from their father and he was there during the 1930's and 1940's. The shop is now part of Austins department store. It must have been a difficult building to incorporate, because the entrance featured steps up into the shop, whereas the building next door was at ground level. The Misses Stiling all lived in Kingsteinton I believe. I did meet a doctor who remembered them as private patients - ironical that although their business delivered NHS prescriptions they maintained ...read more here
Contributed by Philip Richards
family ties
I am at present looking into my family history and have discovered today that my maternal grandmother Mrs Beatrice Maud White was married in this church on the 3rd July 1920.
I have not been to the church before but on my next visit to Newton Abbot I shall certainly give it a visit.
Elizabeth Brown Plymouth.
Contributed by elizabeth brown
Newton Abbot, Haccombe House 1890
My mother lived at Haccombe House and worked for Lord & Lady Carew from the age of 13yrs. in 1914 until about 1930. The Carew family had other residences in London, Highcliffe (Bournemouth), and South Brent. Their staff (servants) moved around with them during the different seasons.
Haccombe House was owned by the Carew family for many years, there is still a Lord Carew in the House of Lords.
Probably the reason why in the 1881 census there were only 4 people entered is that the family were residing at one of their other residences at that time.
My mother and all the servants were required to attend two services at the estate church every Sunday. In the 1950s the Rev. ...read more here
Contributed by Margaret Hawkins
Whyte family
I am researching family history and have established that the wife of my 2nd Great-Grand Uncle lived at Haccombe House in 1881. His name was James Richard Whyte, he married Janet Bogle in 1874. she was his second wife, his first wife died in 1870. He was aged 71 when he died in 1880. On the 1881 census there are only 4 people shown as having lived there at the time, Janet Whyte (nee Bogle), a cook, a servant and a coachman. I understand he was a Vicar when he lived in Cornwall, which is shown on the 1871 census. Please contact me via this site if anyone has any information on this family and house.
...read more here
Contributed by N Farrar
Wolborough Church
My paternal grandparents, William Harris and Millie Bray were married here 30th July 1921
No idea why they chose this church, although beautiful, they were living in Garston Avenue at the time and there are several churches closer than Wolborough
Contributed by Joan Coughlin
Heather and Gorse dance outside Austins in Newton Abbot
I had never been to Newton Abbot until today but the excuse for my visit this afternoon was an invitation to bring my accordian and play some music for the lovely Heather and Gorse clog morris dancers.
First we tucked into a healthy lunch and coffee at the nearby veggie restaurant called Country Tables and then having packed away some calories we put on an hour long display of vigorous dancing on the pedestrian precinct outside Austins department store - right opposite the former Globe Hotel in this 1906 street view.
People stopped to watch, take photographs and ask questions which we were pleased to answer as a way of attracting new dancers and musicians. The ...read more here
Contributed by John Howard Norfolk
Extracts From Newton Abbot & Devon books
This view was taken from the building at the very end of Morton Crescent. To the immediate left is the Imperial Hotel,
seen in its original architectural design, changed now after the fire in the 1970s.
An extract from from"Exmouth Photographic Memories".
By the middle of the 20th
century we see something
resembling the modern
scene. There is the more
familiar red telephone
box on the traffic island,
a modern post box, and
Belisha beacons to aid
pedestrians wishing to
cross the road. In the
centre of the photograph
is the white tower of the
Pavilion Theatre. Much of
the street furniture was
removed by the start of
the 21st century, leaving
a more traffic-dominated Esplanade.
An extract from from"Exmouth Photographic Memories".
The construction of a substantial
sea wall, seen here in section to the
right, led to Exmouth’s prosperity
as a seaside resort. Before the
wall was built, much of the sea
front was marshland and sand
dunes, and subjected to constant
flooding. The first section of the
wall was completed in 1842, paid
for by the local landowner John
Rolle. It was 1,900 feet long and
constructed from Devon limestone.
The designer was John Smeaton, a
veteran engineer and the designer
of London Bridge.
An extract from from"Exmouth Photographic Memories".
This fine view looks across the
clock tower and Morton Crescent
to the estuary of the River Exe, with
Starcross and the Haldon Hills in
the distance.
An extract from from"Exmouth Photographic Memories".
The wall was designed to deflect the waves that so often come up the English Channel from the south-west on stormy days.
This scene has changed little in fifty years, though now a shelter from the wind stands on the position of the nearest bench
in the photograph. It was donated by local resident William Frederick Stokes in 1964.
An extract from from"Exmouth Photographic Memories".