KINGSBRIDGE, a market-town and parish, in the
hundred of STANBOROUGH,
county of DEVON, 34 miles
(S. S. W.) from Exeter, and
20? (W. S.W.) from London,
containing 1430 inhabitants.
This place is pleasantly situated
at the head of the bay,
or haven, of Salcombe, on
the summit and declivity of
a hill, surrounded by others Corporate Seal.
of greater elevation; and consists chiefly of a long
street, in which are some good houses. The town, which
is partially paved but not lighted, is bounded on the
east by a brook, which separates it from the town of
Dodbrook. A mechanics institute has been established.
Races are held in the neighbourhood, generally once
a year, but at no fixed period. The woollen manufacture
was formerly carried on here very extensively,
but it is now inconsiderable; the principal branches of
trade at present are in malt and leather, especially the
former, a considerable quantity of malt and grain being
annually sent from this place. Various articles of
commerce are brought coastwise, chiefly in vessels or
from fifty to sixty tons burden, though the haven is
navigable for ships of a larger size: about thirty of
these vessels belong to Kingsbridge and Salcombe. The
market is on Saturday; and there is a fair on the 20th
of July, unless that day falls later in the week than
Thursday, when the fair is postponed to the following
Tuesday, and continued for three successive days, for
the sale of woollen cloth, toys, &c. The town is under
the 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 lord
of the manor.
The living is a discharged vicarage, with that of
Churchstow, in the archdeaconry of Totness, and diocese
of Exeter, endowed with £200 private benefaction, and
£200 royal bounty, and in the patronage of the Crown.
The church, originally founded about 1330, was considerably
enlarged and improved in 1827, when it received
an addition of two hundred and eighty-six sittings,
of which, one hundred and sixty-five are free, the Incorporated
Society for the enlargement of churches and
chapels having granted £160 towards defraying the
expense. There are places of worship for Baptists, the
Society of Friends, Independents, a and Wesleyan Methodists.
A free grammar school was founded pursuant
to the will of Thomas Crispin, who, in 1689, bequeathed
to trustees an estate for its endowment,
and also made provision for teaching gratuitously, in
addition to the classics, reading, writing, and arithmetic;
the number of boys in the grammar school
is restricted to fifteen, and, if so many are not to be
found in the town, the trustees may complete the number
from any other place. William Buncombe, in 1691,
gave by will property now producing about £350 per
annum, for the support of four exhibitioners from
this school to Oxford or Cambridge, for apprenticing
boys educated in the school, and for the salary of a
lecturer at the parish church; by order of the court of
Chancery, in 1819, the stipends of the exhibitioners were
extended from £10 to £50 per annum. Almshouses
for four poor persons were founded by Robert Mydwynter,
in the reign of Elizabeth; and a considerable
income for the repair of the church, &c., arising from
the rents of the town-lands, is vested in trustees.