Newport, Devon

Newport was a borough^[3] founded in the late 13th century by a Bishop of Exeter within his manor and parish of Bishop's Tawton, to serve as a rival to the river port of Barnstaple,^[4] a short distance downstream. A deed dated 1425 seen by Tristram Risdon (d.1640) evidences the existence of a mayor of the borough, but the borough status subsequently lapsed.^[5] Newport was brought within the municipal borough boundaries of Barnstaple in 1836,^[6][7] and was transferred from the parish of Bishop's Tawton to the parish of Barnstaple in 1885.^[8]

A chapel dedicated to St John was in ruins as mentioned by Risdon.^[9] A chapel of ease (administered by the parish church of Bishops Tawton about one mile to the south) was built in 1820, replaced by the surviving parish church of St John the Baptist in South Street, built in 1883.^[10]