MAKER, a parish partly in the southern division
of EAST hundred, county of CORNWALL, and partly
in the hundred of ROBOROUGH, county of DEVON, 2
miles (S. by W.) from Devonport, containing, with the
town of Milbrook, and the tything of Vaultershome, 3018
inhabitants. The living is a discharged vicarage, in the
archdeaconry of Cornwall, and diocese of Exeter, rated
in the king's books at £23. 11. 0., and in the patronage
of the Crown. The church, dedicated to St. Macra,
is in Devonshire, and, occupying a commanding site
on a hill between Mount Edgcumbe and Ramhead,
its steeple serves as a land-mark, and in time of war
is used as a signal-house. There are some interesting
monuments to the Edgcumbe family, whose
title of Earl is derived from their noble domain in this
parish, which exhibits the grandest and most beautiful
scenery, and from which there is an extensive prospect
southward, over Cawsand bay and the channel; Eddystone
lighthouse, distant twelve miles, being also conspicuous.
The commander of the Spanish Armada was
so captivated by the appearance of the mansion and
grounds of Mount-Edgcumbe from the sea, that he determined
on appropriating them to himself, as a reward
for the victory which he anticipated. Mount-Edgcumbe
house, built in the reign of Mary, was the last garrison
but one (Salcombe) which held out for Charles I. The
parish is bounded on the south-east by Plymouth sound,
for the defence of which there is a formidable battery on
the heights above the village of Maker. There is a place
of worship for Wesleyan Methodists. At the populous
village of Inceworth, which was formerly a market-town,
is a fair for cattle on May 1st; and another at Milbrook,-
also an ancient market-town, on September 2Qth, when
courts leet and baron are held for that ancient borough
and the manor of Inceworth, at which a portreeve, constables,
and other officers, are chosen.