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7 unusual facts about Ashburton


Ashburton, Baltimore

It is located near Liberty Heights Avenue and Hilton Street and home to many prominent African-Americans including Baltimore's former mayor Kurt L. Schmoke, State Senator Lisa Gladden, State Senator Catherine E. Pugh, State Delegate Shawn Z. Tarrant, childhood home of Current Baltimore mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Clerk of the Court Frank Conaway, Attorney Dwight Pettit, and many more.

Ashburton, Devon

Others are Laugharne, Beccles, Callington (where the name is given to the council chairman), Cheevel, and Yeovil.

Saint Gudula Well and Cross in Old Totnes Road is probably named after St Gulval, also honoured at Gulval in Cornwall.

Ashburton, New Zealand

The Ashburton, Rakaia, and Rangitata Rivers offer good fishing, the Rakaia in particular is renowned worldwide for its salmon fishing.

Ashburton was named by the surveyor Captain Joseph Thomas of the New Zealand Land Association, after Francis Baring, 3rd Baron Ashburton, who was a member of the Canterbury Association.

Buckfastleigh, Totnes and South Devon Railway

The Buckfastleigh, Totnes and South Devon Railway built the broad gauge railway line from Totnes to Buckfastleigh and Ashburton in Devon, England.

Kosmos 482

At 1 am on April 3, 1972, four red-hot 13.6 kg titanium alloy balls landed within a 16 km radius of each other just outside Ashburton, New Zealand.


Adriaen van Ostade

Two of his latest dated works, the Village Street and the Skittle Players, noteworthy items in the Ashburton and Ellesmere collections, were executed in 1676 without any sign of declining powers.

Ann Louisa Baring

Ann Louisa Bingham Baring (born 1782) was the wife of Alexander Baring, Lord Ashburton and first child of William Bingham and Anne (Willing) Bingham.

Bingham Baring, 2nd Baron Ashburton

The Ashburton River in New Zealand and the town of the same name located on the river were named by the chief surveyor of the Canterbury Association, Joseph Thomas, after Lord Ashburton.

Lady Ashburton subsequently had an intimate relationship with the sculptor Harriet Hosmer.

Chartwell Dutiro

He used to play in Ashburton's Methodist Church Hall every Tuesday night where he led a Shona choir made up of local people, from farmers and teachers to business people, not to mention the landlady of the local B&B.

CLARITY – Employment for Blind People

In 2002, the charity needed to move premises again as Ashburton Grove was the site for Arsenal F.C.'s Emirates Stadium.

Danny Fiszman

Daniel David Fiszman (9 January 1945 – 13 April 2011) was a diamond dealer, best known as a shareholder in and director of Arsenal Football Club, and played a leading role in the club's move from Highbury to Ashburton Grove, now known as Emirates Stadium.

Edward McKenna

He joined the New Zealand Railways as a clerk and soon rose to be Station Master at Kaiapoi, Ashburton, Invercargill, Gore, Greatford, Halcombe and in the early 1880s Palmerston North.

Hartwell railway station

Hartwell was originally part of the Deepdene Dasher service that connected Ashburton with Deepdene.

John Rollin Tilton

The American statesman Hamilton Fish bought his Vallata Chamounix, and the American businessman W. B. Astor, his Lago di Thun; Louise, lady Ashburton, Dendur in Egypt and Paestum; the Boston mayor Martin Brimmer, his Lago di Como and Venice, and Count Palfy, his Vedute of Orvieto.

Lawrence Ministry

Of the former Dowding ministry, 15 of the 17 ministers retained office—Peter Dowding and Julian Grill were not reappointed, and backbenchers Pam Buchanan (Ashburton) and Dr Geoff Gallop (Victoria Park) took their place.

New Zealand State Highway 77

State Highway 77 is a State Highway in New Zealand going through the inland parts of Central and Mid Canterbury between the towns of Ashburton and Darfield via the Rakaia Gorge.

Rangitata Island

Rangitata Island is a long lens-shaped island in the delta of the braided Rangitata River in Canterbury, New Zealand, approximately halfway between Timaru and Ashburton, New Zealand.

Safety fuse

In 1831 William Bickford, an English merchant and a Methodist, originally from Ashburton, Devon, moved to the heart of the Cornish mining district near Camborne; where at Tuckingmill he developed the first practical and reliable means for igniting gunpowder when mining, the "Safety Fuze".

Sida clementii

The species was first formally described by Czech botanist Karel Domin in 1930 in Bibliotheca Botanica, from plant material collected by Emile Clement between the Ashburton and Yule Rivers.

Talley's Group

The Vegetable Division began operations in 1978 at Motueka, but has since been relocated to Blenheim and Ashburton.

Tephrosia clementii

The species was first formally described by S.A.Skan in 1903 in Icones Plantarum, from a collection by Emile Clement between the Ashburton and Yule Rivers.

Triumfetta clementii

The taxon was first formally described by Czech botanist Karel Domin in 1930 in Bibliotheca Botanica, based on a collection by Emile Clement between the Ashburton and De Grey Rivers.

Willowby, New Zealand

It covers a catchment between the Ashburton and Hinds rivers and was founded to serve the local farming community, especially during dry summers.


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