IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Ilsington, NEWTON ABBOT, TQ13 9RF

Ilsington lost its post office a couple of years ago but on 16 March 2009 the service returned in a corner of the village hall. The sub-postmaster from nearby Liverton operates the post office five mornings a week.

This postbox stands outside the village hall, which also houses Image It is emptied finally at 4:30pm on weekdays and at 12:20pm on Saturdays.

A joint community venture incorporating the Post Office. Image The village hall is linked to this building. The tower of St Michael's church is just visible

A community enterprise attached to the Village Hall.

A modern development on the eastern edge of the village

A modern cul-de-sac off Old Town Hill on the east side of the village. On the horizon is Dartmoor, with patches of snow.

Linked to the village shop and Post Office. Image

The date in the gable end is 1790, but the building is thought to have been a farmhouse before becoming a public house around 1816. The name probably reflects the self-contained nature of the community with a whole selection of different types of artisans living and working in the parish. The old Ordnance Survey map of 1889 shows the name of the building to be "Carpenters' Arms". The 1881 Census shows the following occupants:- George TARR, head of the household, married, age 41, born Bickington, Devon, occupation blacksmith employing 1 man Sarah TARR, his wife, married, aged 40, born Ilsington, Devon Anna J TARR, their daughter, aged 14, born Ilsington, Devon Bessie TARR, their daughter, aged 10, born Ilsington, Devon, scholar Tom TARR, their son, aged 9, born Ilsington, Devon, scholar Ruth TARR, their daughter, aged 6, born Ilsington, Devon, scholar Ellen TARR, their daughter, aged 4, born Ilsington, Devon, scholar Susan FORD, mother (of Sarah Tarr?), widow aged 78, born Buckland, Devon, pauper William H WILLIAMS, a lodger, unmarried, aged 25, born Briage, Cornwall, occupation iron miner Richard H SYMONS, a lodger, unmarried, aged 22, born Briage, Cornwall, occupation iron miner Henry TRUDGEON, a lodger, married, aged 50, born Madern, Cornwall, occupation iron miner Henry PHILIPPS, a lodger, married, aged 36, born Ludgeveen, Cornwall, occupation iron miner Two observations can be made about this. Firstly the head of the household described himself as a blacksmith and not a publican so the running of the public house was not his main occupation, and secondly the presence of the four Cornishmen who were working locally as iron miners, reflecting the existence of mining in the area, and the fact that these men were economic migrants.