Newton is a city in the Rural District in theWestern Area of Sierra Leone. The city lies approximately twenty miles east of Freetown. Newton had an estimated population of 35,300. Newton is the third most populous city in the Western Area, after Freetown and Waterloo. The city population is ethnically and religiously diverse, as it is home to a large population of both Muslims and Christians. Newton is named after British abolitionist John Newton. Today there is a philanthropic link between John Newton's town of Olney in Buckinghamshire and Newton in the Western Area in Sierra Leone.