Kingsbridge (St. Edmund)

KINGSBRIDGE (St. Edmund), a market-town and parish, and the head of a union, in the hundred of Stanborough, Stanborough and Coleridge, and S. divisions of Devon, 36 miles (S. S. W.) from Exeter, and 209 (W. S. W.) from London; containing 1564 inhabitants. This place is pleasantly situated at the head of the estuary, or haven, of Salcombe, on the summit and declivities of a hill, surrounded by other hills of great elevation. The parish is nearly in the form of a boat, keel upwards, in the midst of a valley: the main street forms the keel, running from north to south; and at the rear of the houses at each side, are gardens, which slope down into the valley east and west. The parochial limits are exceedingly small, comprising not more than 30 acres, chiefly laid out as gardens and orchards to the several houses. The town, which is separated from Dodbrook on the east by a small rivulet, consists principally of one long street, of which the centre is macadamized and the footpaths are paved; the houses are generally well built, and many of them are of handsome appearance. A reading-room is supported. The trade is mostly in corn, malt, leather, cider, and slate. A manufactory for blankets and inferior woollen-cloths, affords employment to about 60 persons. Various articles of commerce are brought coastwise, chiefly in vessels of from 50 to 100 tons' burthen, though the haven is navigable for ships of a large size: about 30 of these vessels belong to Kingsbridge and Salcombe. The market is on Saturday; and there is a fair on July 20th, unless that day fall later in the week than Thursday, when the fair is postponed to the following Tuesday: it is continued for three days, the first of which is for cattle. The town is under the jurisdiction of the county magistrates, but a portreeve, or chief officer, is appointed at Michaelmas, when a court leet is held by the lord of the manor. The powers of the county debt-court of Kingsbridge, established in 1847, extend over the registration-district of Kingsbridge. The living is a vicarage, annexed to that of Churchstow. The church, originally founded about 1330, has been enlarged of late years. There are places of worship for Baptists, the Society of Friends, Independents, and Wesleyans. A free grammar school was founded pursuant to the will of Thomas Crispin, who, in 1689, bequeathed an estate for its endowment. William Duncombe, in 1691, gave by will property now producing about £350 per annum, for the support of three or more exhibitioners from the school to Oxford or Cambridge; for apprenticing boys educated in the school; and for the salary of a lecturer at the parish church. Almshouses for four persons were founded by Robert Mydwynter, in the reign of Elizabeth. The poor-law union of Kingsbridge comprises 26 parishes or places, and contains a population of 21,537.

Town Seal.

King's-Bromley, county of Stafford.—See Bromley, King's.

KINGS-BROMLEY, county of Stafford.—See Bromley, King's.—And all places having a similar distinguishing prefix will be found under the proper name.

Kingsbury (St. Andrew)

KINGSBURY (St. Andrew), a parish, in the union of Hendon, hundred of Gore, county of Middlesex, 7½ miles (W. N. W.) from London; containing, with the ville of Hyde, 536 inhabitants. The living is a vicarage; net income, £46; patrons and appropriators, the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's, London, whose tithes have been commuted for £500, and whose glebe comprises 2 acres. The church is principally later English.

Kingsbury (St. Peter and St. Paul)

KINGSBURY (St. Peter and St. Paul), a parish, in the union of Tamworth, Tamworth division of the hundred of Hemlingford, N. division of Warwickshire, 4 miles (S. by E.) from Fazeley; containing 1322 inhabitants. This parish, which is intersected by the river Tame, comprises about 8000 acres, whereof twothirds are arable, and the remainder meadow and pasture. The surface is generally flat, with the exception of the eminences on which the village and the hamlet of Hurley are situated; the soil around Kingsbury is fertile, but in the vicinity of Hurley of inferior quality. Kingsbury Hall, now a farmhouse, is of great antiquity, and appears to have been originally of very considerable extent, and to have been defended by fortifications, of which some vestiges may still be traced. The Birmingham and Fazeley canal, and the Birmingham and Derby railway, pass through the parish, in which the latter has a station. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £8. 10., and in the patronage of the Crown; net income, £120, with a glebe-house erected in 1835; impropriators, the landholders. The church, erected in 1603, is a neat structure with a square embattled tower, and contains an elegant monument to the Earl of Carhampton. There is a chapel at Dosthill, in the parish of Tamworth, dependent on the vicarage; and a school is endowed with a house and land valued at £33 per annum.

Kingsbury-Episcopi (St. Martin)

KINGSBURY-EPISCOPI (St. Martin), a parish, in the union of Langport, E. division of the hundred of Kingsbury, W. division of Somerset, 4¾ miles (S. by E.) from Langport; containing 1779 inhabitants. The parish anciently belonged to the bishops of Wells, whence the adjunct to its name. Within its limits are the tythings of Burrow, Lake, East, West, and Middle Lambrook, Southay, Stembridge, and Thorney; it is situated on the river Parret, and facilities of communication are afforded by several roads in the vicinity. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £17. 18. 1½.; net income, £209; patron, the Chancellor of the Cathedral of Wells. The church is a stately structure, with an elegant tower ornamented with eleven statues of kings, and crowned by twenty open-worked pinnacles. At East Lambrook is a separate incumbency. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans.

King's-Caple (St. John the Baptist)

KING'S-CAPLE (St. John the Baptist), a parish, in the union of Ross, Upper division of the hundred of Wormelow, county of Hereford, 5¼ miles (N. W. by N.) from Ross; containing 299 inhabitants. It is bounded on all sides, except the east, by the Wye; and consists of 1697 acres of a productive soil. The living is annexed to the vicarage of Sellack: the appropriate tithes, which belong to the Dean and Chapter of Hereford, have been commuted for £330, and the vicarial for £172. 10.; the appropriate glebe is valued at £19, and the vicarial at £3. 10., per annum.

Kingsclere (St. Mary)

KINGSCLERE (St. Mary), a market-town and parish, and the head of a union, partly in the hundred of Kingsclere, and partly in that of Evingar, Kingsclere and N. divisions of the county of Southampton; containing 3238 inhabitants, of whom 2732 are in the town, 7 miles (S. by E.) from Newbury, 21 (N.) from Winchester, and 55 (W. by S.) from London. This place, as the name implies, was anciently a seat of the West Saxon kings; and at Freemantle Park, a short distance to the south, was a mansion, said to have been a royal residence in the reigns of John and of Elizabeth. The town is situated on the edge of the downs, near the northern extremity of the county; the inhabitants are well supplied with water. A small spring near the town turns four flour-mills within a mile and a half from its source. The market has nearly fallen into disuse, and the place scarcely retains any semblance of a market-town; the fairs, also, which were held on the first Tuesday after Easter, and the first Tuesday after October 10th, are now become extinct. Kingsclere is within the jurisdiction of the Cheyney Court, held at Winchester every Thursday, for the recovery of debts to any amount; and petty-sessions for the division are held the last Friday in every month.

The parish comprises by recent measurement 12,920 acres, of which 1617 are common, once let to numerous small tenants at six shillings per acre, but now inclosed under an act passed in 1842. The soil is various, but generally fertile; barley of good quality is produced, and formerly the malting-trade appears to have been carried on to a very great extent. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £17. 19. 7.; patron, and impropriator. Lord Bolton. The rectorial tithes have been commuted for £1850, and the vicarial for £440; the vicarial glebe comprises 1½ acre. The church is a very ancient cruciform structure, in the Norman style, with a massive square tower rising from the centre. There are chapels of ease at Ecchinswell and Sydmonton; a district chapel at Woodlands, dedicated to St. Paul, and in the Vicar's gift; also a place of worship for Wesleyans, and at Ecchinswell one for Independents. A school, supposed to be of ancient foundation, was endowed by Sir James Lancaster, in 1681, with £20 per annum; and a bequest of about £80 per annum from Robert Higham, in 1722, is appropriated towards the maintenance and education of four boys. The poor-law union of Kingsclere comprises 15 parishes or places, containing a population of 8463. On the adjacent hills are the remains of two Roman encampments; near which the fragments of two or three human skeletons, and several Roman copper coins, were lately discovered.

Kingscote (St. John the Baptist)

KINGSCOTE (St. John the Baptist), a parish, in the union of Tetbury, Upper division of the hundred of Berkeley, W. division of the county of Gloucester, 8 miles (S. S. W.) from Stroud; containing 295 inhabitants. The parish is situated near the extremity of a branch of the Cotswold hills, and comprises 1810a. 3r. 23p., of which 665 acres are arable, 760 pasture, and about 385 woodland. Its soil is principally a light stone brash; the surface is indented with deep valleys, whose acclivities are clothed with beech-trees of luxuriant growth. There are some quarries of stone called clayrag, which is full of embedded petrifactions, and when polished resembles the Derbyshire marble. A stream, tributary to the river Frome, has its source in the parish. The living is annexed to the rectory of Beverstone; the tithes have been commuted for £159. 18., and the glebe comprises one acre. The church is a small edifice, consisting of a nave, with a low embattled tower; and contains the cenotaph of the Kingscote family, proprietors of the manor since the Conquest, when it was given to their ancestor Nigel de Kingscote. Fragments of tessellated pavement, coins, and other relics of antiquity, have been discovered.

Kingsdon (All Saints)

KINGSDON (All Saints), a parish, in the union of Langport, hundred of Somerton, W. division of Somerset, 2¼ miles (S. E. by E.) from Somerton; containing 553 inhabitants. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £27. 3. 1½., and in the gift of University College, Oxford: the tithes have been commuted for £330, and the glebe comprises 61½ acres. There is a place of worship for Independents. The old Roman Fosseway forms the south-eastern boundary of the parish.

Kingsdown (St. Edmund)

KINGSDOWN (St. Edmund), a parish, in the union of Dartford, partly in the hundred of Codsheath, but chiefly in that of Axton, Dartford, and Wilmington, lathe of Sutton-at-Hone, W. division of Kent, 9 miles (S. by E.) from Dartford; containing 466 inhabitants. This place was anciently a chapelry in the parish of Sutton-at-Hone, and appropriated to the priory of St. Andrew, in Rochester. The parish comprises 2780 acres, of which 800 are coppice wood, 300 pasture, and the remainder arable; the surface is pleasingly diversified. The living is a rectory, with that of Maplescombe annexed, valued in the king's books at £9. 1. 8.; net income, £382; patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Rochester. The church is a small building, romantically situated in the bosom of a wood about 100 acres in extent.

Kingsdown (St. Catherine)

KINGSDOWN (St. Catherine), a parish, in the union and hundred of Milton, Upper division of the lathe of Scray, E. division of Kent, 3½ miles (S.) from Sittingbourne; containing 104 inhabitants, and consisting of 695a. 1r. 13p., of which 328 acres are in wood. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at £5. 9. 2.; patron and incumbent, the Rev. T. Pennington, D.D. The tithes have been commuted for £194. 10., and the glebe comprises 15a. 3r. 7p. The church is a neat building, in the early English style, containing a very ancient monument to the memory of an earl of Aylesford.

Kingsdown

KINGSDOWN, a hamlet, in the parish of Ringswould, hundred of Cornilo, lathe of St. Augustine, E. division of Kent; containing 254 inhabitants.

Kingsey (St. Nicholas)

KINGSEY (St. Nicholas), a parish, in the union of Thame, partly in the hundred of Lewknor, county of Oxford, but chiefly in that of Ashendon, county of Buckingham, 2 miles (E. by N.) from Thame; containing 237 inhabitants. It comprises by measurement 1400 acres, of which 1000 are arable, 350 pasture, and 50 woodland. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £8. 10. 5.; net income, £245; patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Rochester.

Kingsford

KINGSFORD, a hamlet, in the parish of Wolverley, union of Kidderminster, Lower division of the hundred of Halfshire, Kidderminster and W. divisions of the county of Worcester, 4½ miles (N. by W.) from Kidderminster. The hamlet lies on the borders of Staffordshire.

Kingsgate

KINGSGATE, a hamlet, in the parish of St. Peter, union of Isle of Thanet, hundred of Ringslow, or Isle of Thanet, lathe of St. Augustine, E. division of Kent, 3 miles (W. S.W.) from Margate, upon the coast road to Broadstairs. On the shore is an opening in the cliff, formerly called Bartholomew's Gate, through which Charles II., accompanied by the Duke of York, passed, when he landed here in 1683: this was afterwards called Kingsgate, and the event was recorded by a Latin inscription, in letters of brass, but the whole has been washed away by the sea within these few years. The second lord Holland erected a villa here, on the model of that of Cicero at Baix, with numerous curious buildings which adorned the grounds. The mansion has been converted into five respectable houses, and the ornamental erections which remain, are, the convent, the mews, a small castle in imitation of those built by Henry VIII. for the protection of the coast, Harley Tower, Whitfield Tower, erected on the highest spot in the Isle, and Countess Fort; the convent and mews have been converted into handsome residences.

Kingsholme

KINGSHOLME, a hamlet, in the parishes of St. Catherine and St. Mary-de-Lode, union of Gloucester, Middle division of the hundred of Dudstone and King's Barton, E. division of the county of Gloucester; containing 1022 inhabitants, of whom 803 are in St. Mary's. It comprises 222 acres.

Kingsland (St. Michael)

KINGSLAND (St. Michael), a parish, in the union of Leominster, hundred of Stretford, county of Hereford, 4 miles (N. W. by W.) from Leominster; containing 1088 inhabitants. Tradition relates that near the parsonage-house is the site of an ancient castle, the burial-place of King Merwald. During the reign of Edward I., the widow of Edward, Lord Mortimer, obtained a grant for a market and a fair, the former of which has been long discontinued, but the latter is still held on Oct. 11th, for horses, cattle, hops, cheese, &c. In West Field is a pedestal, erected in 1799 by the neighbouring gentry, commemorative of the celebrated battle of Mortimer's Cross, fought in 1461, in which the Earl of Pembroke was defeated by the Duke of York, afterwards Edward IV., with the loss of about 4000 men; the earl escaped, but his father, Sir Owen Tudor, was taken prisoner and immediately beheaded. Kingsland constituted part of the dower of Catherine, queen of Charles II. The parish comprises 4581 acres by measurement, and is intersected by the rivers Lug, Pinsley, and Arrow, and the roads from Leominster to Presteign and Kington. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £31. 3. 6½., and in the gift of the Rev. Richard Davies Evans, the present rector: the tithes have been commuted for £785 payable to the rector, and £55 payable to the grammar school of Eardisland: the glebe comprises 66 acres of excellent land. The church is a handsome and massive edifice, built in the reign of Edward I., by Lord Mortimer; it is in the early English style, and has a curious chamber, called "Volka's Chamber," which, according to tradition, was erected by the builder for his own interment. A school endowed with £10 per annum, by Thomas Woodhouse, is conducted on the national plan: a school-house has lately been built.

Kingsland

KINGSLAND, a chapelry, partly in the parish of Islington, Finsbury division, and partly in the parish and union of Hackney, Tower division, of the hundred of Ossulstone, county of Middlesex, 1 mile (N. E.) from London. This place consists of continuous ranges of buildings, extending a considerable distance along the road from London to Tottenham and Edmonton, and of several streets of recent erection branching off from the main road on both sides. Part of the ground is occupied by nurserymen and market-gardeners. Previously to the middle of the fifteenth century, here was an hospital, or house for lepers, which, after the Reformation, became annexed to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, and was used as a kind of out ward to that institution; but in 1761, the patients were removed from Kingsland, and the site of the establishment was let on a building lease, with the exception of the chapel, which was not removed till the year 1846. Here are places of worship for Independents.

Kingsley

KINGSLEY, a township, in the parish of Frodsham, union of Runcorn, hundred of Eddisbury, S. division of the county of Chester, 3¾ miles (S. E.) from Frodsham; containing 1007 inhabitants. It comprises 2451 acres, of a clayey and a sandy soil. Courts leet are held here. A chapel has been built for this township and Norley, containing 314 sittings, of which 164 are free. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans; and a school is endowed with four acres and a half of land.

Kingsley (St. Nicholas)

KINGSLEY (St. Nicholas), a parish, in the hundred of Alton, Alton and N. divisions of the county of Southampton, 3½ miles (E. S. E.) from Alton; containing 359 inhabitants. The parish is situated on the road from London to Portsmouth, and comprises 1503 acres, of which 180 are common or waste. The living is a vicarage not in charge, annexed, with the livings of Binsted and Holybourne, to the vicarage of Alton; appropriators, the Dean and Chapter of Winchester.

Kingsley (St. Werburgh)

KINGSLEY (St. Werburgh), a parish, in the union of Cheadle, partly in the N., but chiefly in the S., division of the hundred of Totmonslow, N. division of the county of Stafford, 2¾ miles (N. by E.) from Cheadle; containing, with the township of Whiston, 1554 inhabitants, of whom 873 are in the township of Kingsley. The parish comprises by measurement 4925 acres; the soil is generally a strong clay alternated with light sand, and near the village consists of rich meadow and pasture land. The surface is diversified with hills commanding much beautifully varied and richly-wooded scenery, and the lower grounds are watered by the river Churnet. The substratum is chiefly coal, of which several mines are in operation; and copper-ore is found, for the smelting of which there is a furnace. The Uttoxeter canal passes through the parish, in a direction parallel with the river. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £16. 15., and in the gift of James Beech, Esq.: the tithes have been commuted for £200, and the glebe comprises 106 acres. The church, with the exception of the tower, was rebuilt in 1821. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans. A school, now conducted on the national plan, was founded in 1703, by John Stubbs, who endowed it with houses and land producing £54 per annum.

Kingsmarsh

KINGSMARSH, an extra-parochial liberty, in the union of Great Boughton, Higher division of the hundred of Broxton, S. division of the county of Chester, 5½ miles (N. W.) from Malpas; containing 72 inhabitants. It comprises 759 acres of land, of a clayey soil: the Dee river lies on the west.

Kingsnorth (St. Michael)

KINGSNORTH (St. Michael), a parish, in the union of West Ashford, hundred of Chart and Longbridge, lathe of Shepway, E. division of Kent, 2¾ miles (S.) from Ashford; containing 416 inhabitants. It comprises 3244a. 3r. 20p., of which 1777 acres are pasture, 1200 arable, and 183 woodland. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £11. 9. 9½., and in the gift of John Alliston, Esq.: the tithes have been commuted for £630, and the glebe comprises 21 acres. The church contains, on the north side of the chancel, a handsome monument to Humphrey Clarke.

King's Norton.—See Norton, King's.

KING'S NORTON.—See Norton, King's.

Kingsthorpe (St. John the Baptist)

KINGSTHORPE (St. John the Baptist), a parish, in the union of Northampton, hundred of Spelhoe, S. division of the county of Northampton, 2 miles (N. by W.) from the town of Northampton; containing 1467 inhabitants. This was anciently a royal demesne, governed by a bailiff who had a common seal; and among the privileges possessed by the inhabitants, was exemption from toll. At present, a certain number of freeholders under the payment of a fixed annual rent to the grantee, hold the manor in trust for the town, and all manorial business is transacted in a small building called the Town-house, erected by Lady Prichard. On the west, the parish is bounded by the river Nene; and the roads from Northampton to Leicester and MarketHarborough branch off from the town or village, which is of considerable extent, and is situated close to the left bank of the river: the parish consists of 1830 acres. Here are extensive quarries of white freestone. The living is annexed, with that of Upton, to the rectory of St. Peter's, Northampton: the tithes were commuted for land in 1766. The church is partly Norman, and partly in the later English style. There is a place of worship for Baptists. Elizabeth Cooke and Margaret Freemaux, in 1753, assigned a small estate for the support of a school.