Paignton, United Kingdom

In late Saxon times the manor was owned by Leofric, the Bishop of Exeter. Later bishops built the Bishop's Palace adjoining the parish church, some remains of which, including the Coverdale Tower, are still standing. Winner Street owes its name to a corruption of the word Wynerde, referring to vineyards or at least to traders in wine in the medieval period. The bishops secured a charter from Edward I in 1294 giving the right to hold a weekly market and an annual fair, making Paignton a market town. The market declined following the English Reformation in the 16th century.

Paignton then remained a small fishing and farming village (noted for grapes, cabbages and cider) until the 19th century, when in 1837 the Paington Harbour Act led to the construction of a new harbour. Around the same time the modern spelling, Paignton, first appeared. The historic part of Paignton is centred on Church Street, Winner Street and Palace Avenue, which contain fine examples of Victorian architecture. Kirkham House is a late medieval stone house, which is open to the public at certain times of the year. The Coverdale Tower adjacent to Paignton Parish Church is named after Bishop Miles Coverdale, who published an English translation of the Bible in 1536. Coverdale was Bishop of Exeter between 1551 and 1553 and is reputed to have lived in the tower, although this is doubted by modern historians.

The railway line to Paignton was built by the Dartmouth and Torbay Railway and opened to passengers on 2 August 1859, providing Torquay and Paignton with a link to London.

The Paignton Pudding, first made in the 13th century, is the origin of the nickname pudden eaters for the people of Paignton. The puddings were made infrequently and were of great size. When thousands turned up hoping to obtain a piece of a huge pudding that had been baked to celebrate the arrival of the railway in 1859 chaos occurred and the event became notorious. A Paignton Pudding was baked in 1995 to celebrate the 700th anniversary of the town's market charter and another in 2006 to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of the engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

Oldway Mansion is a large house with gardens constructed in the 1870s for Isaac Merritt Singer, who had amassed a considerable fortune with his improvements to the sewing machine. The building was occupied by Torbay Council until an agreement was signed in September 2012 to develop the site into a hotel and retirement apartments. Other Singer legacies in Paignton include the Palace Hotel and the Inn on the Green, which were built as homes for Singer's sons Washington and Mortimer.

Torquay Tramways were extended into Paignton in 1911 but the network was closed in 1934.