The Manor of Northam dates back to the Norman invasion and is well recorded in the Doomsday Book, being part of lands owned by a Saxon Lord called Bristric, and this appears to be the first recorded evidence of what was in the area. There is evidence of pre-historic settlements and much evidence during the Saxon era, when Vikings raided the area. The Village of Northam was probably the main settlement in ancient times, with a smaller one at Appledore and the Village of Westward Ho!, not being formed until the19th Century and is simply described White's History, Gazetteer and Directory of Devon (1850)] As a large and well-built village, pleasantly seated on the peninsula between Barnstaple Bay and the river Torridge, from 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 miles N. of Bideford. Its parish contains 3578 inhabitants, and about 2700 acres of land, including the pretty little seaport of Appledore; Northam Ridge hamlet; many neat villas and scattered houses, and a large plain of turf common, called Northam Burrows, on which the inhabitants have common right."

The District now has some 12,500 residents in about 5,800 homes