Ugborough
Wraganton History

Wrangaton is an area of sparse development, described by Dartmoor National Park Authority as a “habitation” as there is no core to even describe as a hamlet.    It is situated 1.5 miles to the north-east of Ugborough village and it skirts the southern edge of Dartmoor.  There is a thriving Post Office and Stores on the old A38, now the B3213 and there are industrial units next to the railway and previously served by a siding, which were built as a Royal Navy Supply Depot and used until 1996.  There are a couple of B & B establishments and an 18-hole golf course, established in 1895; comprising 9 holes of moorland and 9 nine holes of parkland.  

History
Wrangaton in the parish of Ugborough, was part of the Domesday manor of Langafords (Langford Lestre) but was separated from that manor and granted by the King Henry ll in 1160 to the Prior and Convent of Plympton.   The Priory was dissolved in 1538 and in 1543 the Grant of the Manor of Wrangaton was made under the great seal of Henry VIII to John Swyngson. 

Wrangaton (along with Bittaford) has long been the part of the parish dissected by main communication routes.  The main road from Exeter to Plymouth is now on it’s third alignment.  The original route was past Wrangaton Manor, although it was hardly a main thoroughfare as we know it, the route west of Ashburton being described by Celia Fiennes in 1698 as barely wide enough for two packhorses to pass.  In the early 19th. Century, during the era of turnpike building, a new road was built further south, which was later designated the A38.  In 1974 the main route to Plymouth again moved even further south with the opening of the A38 Devon Expressway and the old road was renumbered as the B3213.  There are access roads to and from the dual carriageway in the direction of Exeter in the vicinity of the Post Office.

On 5th April 1848 Wrangaton Station was opened on the Great Western Railway adjacent to the new main route to Plymouth.  The name was changed the following year to Kingsbridge Road Station, to reflect the fact that travellers to the Kingsbridge area alighted here to catch the stagecoach for their onward journey.  New dwellings were built near the station area to house railway workers and also an inn for travellers.  The inn was known by various names: Kingsbridge Road Hotel, Wounded Soldier, Coach House Inn.  In 1895 following the opening of a branch line from South Brent to Kingsbridge through the Avon Valley, the station reverted to it’s original name.   Wrangaton Station closed to passenger traffic in March 1959 but continued serving goods traffic until September 1963.  The inn closed in 2005 and has since been converted into flats.

In 1928 a Police House was built near the station and the constable was moved there from Ugborough as it was felt that this was where he was more needed.  It closed in 1969.

During WWII, fields in the Wrangaton area were used as a US Army supply depot for troops training for the D-Day  landings.  A legacy from this period is three Nissan huts, one used in farming and two in commerce.