AND ITS SURROUNDINGS. 3 



" Stanborough Hundred is a long, narrow district, ex- 

 tending more than twenty-two miles southward from the 

 river Dart, in Dartmoor Forest, to the English Channel, 

 between Bolt Head and Bolt Tail, and the mouths of 

 Salcombe Creek and the Avon, but averaging only about five 

 miles in breadth. It stretches into the hilly region of 

 Dartmoor on the north-west, and is bounded by the river 

 Dart as low as Totnes, where it is crossed by the South 

 Devon Railway. It is traversed southward by the Avon, 

 which receives several smaller streams; and the haven and 

 creeks from Kingsbridge to the sea form its south-western 

 boundary."* 



A fine navigable estuary runs inland about five miles, 

 from Salcombe to Kingsbridge. Fifty years ago few 

 vessels were seen here but sloops ; now, however, the 

 sloops are few in comparison with vessels of larger class 

 and tonnage. This estuary has also several navigable 

 creeks, branching from either side, and affording the 

 adjacent parishes the means of importing lime, sand, 

 and other manures; and of exporting their produce. 



Frazer, in his Survey, in 1794, spoke of the district about 

 Kingsbridge, Dartmouth, and Modbury, as remarkable for 

 the produce of barley ; and observed that it was exported 

 from Salcombe in quantities scarcely to be credited: and 

 Kingsbridge is mentioned by White as one of the chief 

 corn markets in the county — the others being Exeter, 

 Tavistock, Totnes, Plymouth, and Barnstaple. The cider 

 of the South Hams is considered superior to any other, 

 and it is largely exported from hence. 



"The most uniformly fertile soils are in the red sand- 



;; White's History of Devonshire, published in 1850. 



