NEWTON

See also:

• ABBOT (from the Hebrew ab, a father, through the Syriac abba, Lat. abbas, gen. abbatis, O.E. abbad, fr. late Lat. form abbad-em changed in 13th century under influence of the Lat. form to abbat, used alternatively till the end of the 17th century; Ger. Ab
• ABBOT, EZRA (1819-1884)
• ABBOT, GEORGE (1603-1648)
• ABBOT, ROBERT (1588?–1662?)
• ABBOT, WILLIAM (1798-1843)

ABBOT  , a market town and seaport in the Ashburton parliamentary division of Devonshire, England, 20 M . S. by W. of Exeter by the Great Western railway . Pop. of urban district (1901) 12,517 . Beautifully situated at the head of the Teign estuary, the town grew rapidly in the 19th century . The two parish churches, St Mary's in Wolborough, and All Saints' in Highweek, are Perpendicular in style . St Mary's contains a Norman font, an ancient brass lectern, buried during the Civil Wars, and some interesting heraldic ornaments which date from the 15th century . Of the 14th century chapel of St Leonard, only a tower survives . A large nunnery, called St Augustine's Priory, was erected near the town in 1861; while eastward is the Jacobean Forde House, belonging to the earl of Devon, and visited by Charles I. and William of Orange,who first read his declaration to the people of England at Newton Abbot market-cross . The establishment of large engine works by the Great Western railway has aided the development of local industries, and there is a considerable shipping trade, fine china clay and pipeclay being worked near the towns and exported to the Potteries . Large fairs are held for the sale of agricultural produce and livestock . The portion of Newton Abbot in the parish of Highweek was formerly a separate town, known as Newton Bushel . Probably both Newton Abbot and Newton Bushel were originally included under the name of Newton .

Newton Abbot was given to the abbot of Tor by William

Lord Brewer, founder of the monastery (1196) . Newton Bushel was so called from Robert Bussell or Bushel, foster-child and kinsman of Theobald de Englishville, who was made lord of the manor by Henry III. in 1246 . NEWTON-IN-MAKERFIELD, or .NEWTON-LE-WILLOWS, an urban district in the Newton parliamentary division of Lancashire, England, I5z m . W. of Manchester by the London & North-Western railway . Pop . (1891) 12,861; (1901) 16,699 . At a short distance from the town is a moated Elizabethan half-timbered house, and also an ancient barrow of great extent . The Liverpool farm reformatory school is in the neighbourhood . The industrial establishments include foundries, printing and stationery works, paper mills, glass works and sugar refineries . Coal abounds in the neighbourhood . The township of Newton-in-Makerfield, gave its name in Saxon times and in the reign of William the Conqueror to one of the hundreds of Lancashire . The barony was held by the Banastres from the conquest to 1286 and passed successively to the Langtons, Fleetwoods and Leghs .

It does not seem that the barons were ever summoned to

parliament, and the title, like all parliamentary titles, has fallen into disuse since the abolition of feudal tenures . The courts-baron and courts-leet are held twice annually . The township returned two members to parliament from 1559 to 1831, but was disfranchised by the Reform Act of 1832 . There was a market here at least as early as 1558 which is now discontinued . Near the town a party of Highlanders were taken prisoners in 1648 by Cromwell's troops, and hanged in an adjoining wood, still called Gallow's Cross .