15th century. Burton Hall is a mid-Victorian villa which was brought from Norway. Cottles Barton is an Elizabethan manor house one mile south of the town. Newland Mill on the outside of the village used to be a former mill house; it was built circa 1814, contemporary with the mill, with mid-C19 additions. It was refurbished into living accommodations with the original watermill and wheelhouse incorporated. Modern-day The town has become something of a centre for light industry. There are three significant employers in the town: the haulier Gregory Distribution, which grew from a local concern founded in the 1920s and now employs 300 locally, the Taw Valley Creamery—a cheese factory originally built by Express Dairies in 1974, employing over 100, and the pet products wholesaler Vital Pet Products, employing around 40 people. The population currently stands at around 2,026. This is small for a "town", but as a former market town North Tawton has retained this title, and is designated a Post Town by the Royal Mail. There are a number of bus services: 5B – Barnstaple to Exeter 5A – Okehampton / Hatherleigh to Exeter 318 – Okehampton Notable people William Budd The doctor William Budd (1811–1880) was born in the town, son of Samuel Budd, the local surgeon. His researches into the incidence of typhoid during an epidemic in the town led to him establishing that typhoid fever was spread contagiously, and in particular that the infection was excreted and could be contracted by drinking contaminated water. This discovery contributed to national improvements in public health through improved sanitation. Ted Hughes / Sylvia Plath / Assia Wevill The poet Ted Hughes (1930–1998) bought a house, Court Green, in North Tawton in 1961 with his then-wife Sylvia Plath (1932–1963), who lived there briefly with him until their separation in December 1962. After Plath's suicide, Ted Hughes moved his partner Assia Wevill into Court Green where Assia helped care for Hughes' and Plath's two children, Frieda and Nicholas. In due course Hughes made North Tawton his permanent home, until his fatal myocardial infarction in a Southwark, London, hospital on 28 October 1998, while undergoing treatment for colon cancer. "Jam and Jerusalem" / Clatterford In 2005, North Tawton was used as the location for the filming of Jennifer Saunders' BBC television series Jam & Jerusalem. The town represented the fictional Clatterford St Mary. St Peter's Church and North Tawton Town