Ashburton, Devon Genealogy

England Devon Devon Parishes

Parish History
ASHBURTON (St. Andrew), a borough, markettown, and parish, in the union of Newton-Abbott, hundred of Teignbridge, Teignbridge and S. divisions of Devon, 19 miles (S. W.) from Exeter, and 192 (W. by S.) from London, on the road to Plymouth. This town, anciently called Aisbertone, in the time of Edward the Confessor belonged to Brietric, and at the Conquest to Judael de Totnais. It seems by Domesday book to have then been part of the demesne of the crown, being therein described as "Terra Regis." The place was subsequently annexed to the see of Exeter: in 1310, Bishop Stapylton obtained for it a grant of a market and four fairs; and in 1672, another market, chiefly for wool and yarn spun in Cornwall, was procured by Mr. John Ford, which has long been discontinued. It was made a stannary town by charter of Edward III., in 1328, being then noted for the mines of tin and copper which abounded in the neighbourhood. Henry IV., in the third year of his reign, granted a charter, declaring that "the men of the manor of Aisbertone, which is ancient demesne of our Crown," should be free from paying toll throughout the kingdom. It also appears that Ashburton belonged to the crown in the time of Charles I., as that king bestowed the manor upon his son Charles, when he created him Prince of Wales. How it was alienated by the crown is unknown; but in the reign of Charles II. it was the property of Sir Robert Parkhurst, and Lord Sondes, Earl of Feversham, the former of whom sold his moiety to Sir John Stawell, of Parke, in South Bovey, by whose executors it was sold to Roger Tuckfield, Esq., from whom Lord Clinton, the present proprietor of one moiety of the borough, claims. The other moiety was, about the same time, purchased by Richard Duke, Esq., and is now vested in Sir L. V. Palk, Bart. In the parliamentary war, Ashburton, having been previously occupied by the royal troops under Lord Wentworth, was taken by Sir Thomas Fairfax, on his march westward, in January 1646.

Civil Registration
Births, marriages and deaths were kept by the government from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Church records
Overview, Include information for parish registers and Bishop's Transcripts, Contact information for the office holding the original records, Links to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection.

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to [county] Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Maps and Gazetteers
There are many maps and gazetteers showing English places. Valuable web sites are:


 * 1851 Jurisdiction Maps
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites
Add here any relevant sites that aren't mentioned above.