Bishopsteignton

from

A Topographical Dictionary of England

by

 Samuel Lewis (1831)

Transcript copyright Mel Lockie (Sep 2016)

TEIGNTON (BISHOP'S), a parish in the hundred of EXMINSTER, county of DEVON, 1¾ mile (W. by N.) from West Teignmouth, containing 946 inhabitants. The living is a discharged vicarage, in the peculiar jurisdiction of the Bishop of Exeter, rated in the king's books at £25. 8. 10., and in the patronage of the Rev. John Comyns. The church, dedicated to St. John the baptist, is principally in the Norman style of architecture with an enriched western doorway, and a low massive tower between the nave and the chancel. The river Teign forms a boundary of the parish, in which are extensive quarries of limestone, affording also compact blocks of various-coloured marble. There is a charity school, with a house for the master, founded in 1729 and endowed by Christopher Coleman and others, the money having been vested in the purchase of an estate in Bovey-Tracey, yielding £40 per annum, for teaching and clothing twenty poor children. Near the church are the remains of a palace and chapel of Bishop Grandison and an hospital founded by that prelate for poor decayed clerks, the ruins of which are highly picturesque. There was formerly a chapel at Venn, in this parish.