TOPSHAM, (Devon) 3 m. from Exeter, of which it is the port, 139 cm. 175 mm. from London. 'Tis almost encompassed with the Clift and the Ex, and has a Mt. on Th. and a Fair on St. Margaret's, and the days before and after, procured in the R. of Hen. VIII. by one of the Courtneys Es. of Devon, who were Lds. of the manor, and made it a flourising T. for a long time, by stopping the navigation of the r. Ex with wears; so that all goods used to be carried from the ships to Exeter by land; but about 40 years ago the citizens, by the aid of an act of Pt. finished a work they had begun above 100 years before, and cut such a channel through the dams, that, by the contrivance of sluices and gates, vessels of 150 tons now go up to their key.