Clawton Street

Several pioneer families came to New Plymouth from the parish of Clawton. This small area in West Devon is part of the local government district of Torridge.

Less than 10 years after the pioneers left for this side of the world, White's Devonshire Dictionary (1850) described it as: "A village and parish on the small river Claw, 4 miles S. by E. of Holsworthy, has 639 souls, and 5358 acres of land, mostly the property of Sir Wm. Molesworth, the lord of the manor of Affaland, formerly held by the Arscotts".

Molesworth himself was also to be immortalised in a street name in New Plymouth, but that's another story.

At the heart of the parish is the church of St Leonard's. Its present form dates mainly from the 14th and 15th Centuries, although some of its features date from Norman times. The parish records are of course useful to some Taranaki families tracing their genealogy.

The 1850 White's Devonshire Dictionary also records that the incumbent vicar was Rev Thomas Melhuis of Ashwater who was paid a curacy of £75 per annum and was also impropriator of the tithes. There were also Wesleyan and Bible Christian chapels there and a manor house called Blagdon; another name that has made its way to New Plymouth.

The poor, however, had to make do on 28 shillings a year from a number of benefactors. In the census of 2001 the population had dropped to 326, which suggests the area has not seen any growth in well over a century.

Perhaps, then, the early settlers, who chose to emigrate from there to New Plymouth, made a wise choice. Either way they brought a series of names that are now a familiar part of our landscape.

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.