DODBROKE, a market-town and parish in the
hundred of COLERIDGE, county of DEVON, | a mile (E.)
from Kingsbridge, containing 885 inhabitants. This
place derives its name from the Dod, a small stream by
which .it is separated from the town of Kingsbridge;
it is a place of some antiquity, and in the time
of Edward the Confessor was the property of Brietrie,
sheriff for the county. It obtained, in the reign
of Henry III., the grant of a weekly market, and an
annual fair for two days on the festival of St. Mary
Magdalene. The town, situated on the declivity of a
hill, is indifferently built, but well supplied with water:
it is noted for its white ale, a beverage peculiar to this
part of Devonshire, which is ready for use on the day
after it is brewed, and in this parish is subject to tithe,
in lieu of which, the rector receives a commutation of
ten-pence from each inn-keeper. The market, formerly
held regularly, is now held only on the third Wednesday
in every month; there is a cattle fair on the Wednesday
before Palm-Sunday. The living is a discharged rectory,
in the archdeaconry of Totness, and diocese of
Exeter, rated in the king's books at £8. 11. 4., and in
the patronage of the Rev. Dr. Owen. The church, dedicated
to St. Thomas a Becket, is built on rising ground,
at the extremity of the town; it is an ancient structure,
strengthened with buttresses, and embattled, and contains
an ancient stone font in the early English style,
and a wooden screen finely carved. Dr. Wolcott, the
satirical poet, more generally known by the assumed
name of Peter Pindar, was a native of this place.