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Kingsbridge

from

A Topographical Dictionary of England

by

 Samuel Lewis (1831)

Transcript copyright Mel Lockie (Sep 2016)

KINGSBRIDGE, a market-town and parish, in thehundred of STANBOROUGH,county of DEVON, 34 miles(S. S. W.) from Exeter, and207 (W. S.W.) from London,containing 1430 inhabitants.This place is pleasantly situatedat the head of the bay,or haven, of Salcombe, onthe summit and declivity ofa hill, surrounded by othersof greater elevation; and consists chiefly of a longstreet, in which are some good houses. The town, whichis partially paved but not lighted, is bounded on theeast by a brook, which separates it from the town ofDodbrook. A mechanics institute has been established.Races are held in the neighbourhood, generally oncea year, but at no fixed period. The woollen manufacturewas formerly carried on here very extensively,but it is now inconsiderable; the principal branches oftrade at present are in malt and leather, especially theformer, a considerable quantity of malt and grain beingannually sent from this place. Various articles ofcommerce are brought coastwise, chiefly in vessels offrom fifty to sixty tons burden, though the haven isnavigable for ships of a larger size: about thirty ofthese vessels belong to Kingsbridge and Salcombe. Themarket is on Saturday; and there is a fair on the 20thof July, unless that day falls later in the week thanThursday, when the fair is postponed to the followingTuesday, and continued for three successive days, forthe sale of woollen cloth, toys, &c. The town is underthe jurisdiction of the county magistrates, but a portreeve,or chief officer, is appointed annually at Michaelmas,at which period a, court leet is held by the lordof the manor.
The living is a discharged vicarage, with that ofChurchstow, in the archdeaconry of Totness, and dioceseof Exeter, endowed with £200 private benefaction, and£200 royal bounty, and in the patronage of the Crown.The church, originally founded about 1330, was considerablyenlarged and improved in 1827, when it receivedan addition of two hundred and eighty-six sittings,of which, one hundred and sixty-five are free, the IncorporatedSociety for the enlargement of churches andchapels having granted £160 towards defraying theexpense. There are places of worship for Baptists, theSociety of Friends, Independents, and Wesleyan Methodists.A free grammar school was founded pursuantto the will of Thomas Crispin, who, in 1689, bequeathedto trustees an estate for its endowment,and also made provision for teaching gratuitously, inaddition to the classics, reading, writing, and arithmetic;the number of boys in the grammar schoolis restricted to fifteen, and, if so many are not to befound in the town, the trustees may complete the numberfrom any other place. William Buncombe, in 1691,gave by will property now producing about £350 perannum, for the support of four exhibitioners fromthis school to Oxford or Cambridge, for apprenticingboys educated in the school, and for the salary of alecturer at the parish church; by order of the court ofChancery, in 1819, the stipends of the exhibitioners wereextended from £10 to £50 per annum. Almshousesfor four poor persons were founded by Robert Mydwynter,in the reign of Elizabeth; and a considerableincome for the repair of the church, &c., arising fromthe rents of the town-lands, is vested in trustees.