town, East Devon district, administrative and historic county of Devon, England, on the east side of the mouth of the River Exe on the English Channel. Its fort, commanding the estuary to the north, was captured by the Parliamentarians in 1646 during the English Civil Wars. The older fishing and shipbuilding settlement has grown as a seaside resort and residential town and is much frequented as a yachting centre. Pop. (2001) 32,972.