10 KINGSBRIDGE 



got rid of." # On the Manorial Court days, the Portreeve and 

 officials, and other gentlemen invited, make a perambulation 

 of the manorial property, and afterwards dine together. A 

 few years ago, a robe and cocked hat, as appropriate for a 

 Portreeve on state occasions, were purchased, and presented 

 to Mr. Parkhouse. 



Hawkins thus describes the town of Kingsbridge. "The 

 principal street, Fore Street, which is full 60 feet broad, runs 

 nearly the length of the parish from, south to north, and, 

 rising from the estuary like the crest of a helmet, commands 

 a delightful view of the water and its verdant shores, almost 

 to the harbour of Salcombe, being obstructed only by the 

 creek's suddenly turning from south to south-west, and 

 leaving the prospect to be terminated by the parish church 

 and green hills of Portlemouth. Behind the several houses 

 are gardens and orchards ; and as this street is on the brow 

 of a hill, these grounds decline to the east and west, at the 

 extremities of which, on each side of the town, run two 

 brooks, which form a junction of the best portion of their 

 waters near the bottom of the hill on the west side, and 

 there become of sufficient force to turn the Town Mills. 

 # * * Nearly at the lower end, Fore Street is crossed at 

 right angles by Mill Street and Duc'c [now called Duke] 

 Street, the former on the west side, leading to West Alvington 

 and Salcombe; the latter on the east, in the direction of 

 Totnes and Dartmouth, and uniting the towns of Kingsbridge 

 and Dodbrooke by a very small bridge.! These, with a 



* Ale Tasters were also appointed formerly at Dartmouth. In White's 

 "Devonshire" we find the following :—" The Ale Taster is an officer 

 appointed by the Corporation ; and formerly he tasted every brewing of the 

 publicans, and proclaimed at their doors, with a loud voice and ' uplifted leg 

 and arm,' whether the ale was good or not ! " 



f Alvington Road (now Mill Street) was once the aristocratic end of the 

 town : here lived the Crockers and the Holdyches. 



