The Saxon manor of Newton, held by Aluric in the time of King Edward the Confessor, was given to the bishop of Coutances by William the Conqueror. At the time of Domesday the bishop was Geoffrey de Montbray also known from his see as Geoffrey of Coutances, a Norman nobleman, trusted adviser of William and a great secular prelate, warrior and administrator. Newton St Loe takes its additional name from the family of St. Lo, who drew their name from Saint-Lô in Normandy; the family, Latinized in documents as "de Sancto Laudo", held the manor in the time of Richard I. Ultimately, the town's name references the 6th-century bishop Saint Laud of Coutances.