Kingskerswell

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Kingskerswell
Devon

Kingskerswell
Location
Grid reference: SX881679
Location: 50°30’1"N, 3°34’44"W
Data
Post town: Newton Abbot
Postcode: TQ12
Dialling code: 01803
Local Government
Council: Teignbridge
Parliamentary
constituency: 		Newton Abbot

Kingskerswell (formerly Kings Carswell) is a village in the south-east of Devon.

The village grew up where an ancient track took the narrowest point across a marshy valley and it is of ancient foundation, being mentioned in the Domesday Book. It has a church dating back to the 14th century and the ruins of a manor house of similar date. The coming of the railway in the 1840s had a large effect on the village, starting its conversion into a commuter town.

The village is on what was the main road from Torquay to Newton Abbot: the A380 has bypassed the town since 2015.

Name

The first written record of Kingskerswell is in the Domesday Book where it is called Carsewelle.[1] Before the Norman Conquest it was held by the King as part of the royal demesne; afterwards it continued in royal ownership under William the Conqueror and his successors, hence the name ‘King’s Kerswell’ in distinction to the nearby village of Abbotskerswell, which was owned by Horton Abbey in Dorset.

The element carse probably means watercress, a plant that still grows freely in the local streams, while "well" most likely refers to the wells and springs in the vicinity.

Churches

St Mary’s, Kingskerswell

There are six churches in the village:

  • Church of England: St Mary’s[2]
  • Evangelical / independent:
    • Community church
    • Gospel Hall
  • Methodist: Kingskerswell Methodist Church
  • United Reformed Church: Kingskerswell URC
  • Roman Catholic: St Gregory's

St Mary’s was built in the late 15th century of early 16th, but containing some fabric from the 14th century.[3]

A church is mentioned in the Domesday entry for Kingskerswell: "Also to the church of this manor belongs half a virgate of land",[4] though this does not necessarily imply the existence of a building; it may just represent a group of Christians under some form of rectorship or similar administration.[5] By 1159 there was a chaplain named William here,[6] and in 1301 the chapel was visited by the Dean and Chapter of Exeter. They made several notes on the condition of the chapel, including the fact that it had three bells, but it was generally in poor repair—for instance the chancel roof was in a bad condition and its windows had no glass.[7]

The church today is later mediæval. It possibly contains some 14th centry fabric but has an early 15th century nave and south aisle, a late 15th and early 16th century north aisle and an early 16th century north porch. A restoration was carried out in about 1856 by John West Hugall and it underwent a maor restoration in 1874/1875 by J. W. Rowell.[8] The pulpit comes from Bradford on Avon and was presented in 1889.

The church is mostly bult of rendered sandstone and limestone, with some Bathstone, granite, limestone and volcanic stone dressings. The apparent 14th century work is found in the south transept and the stone effigies there.

The church has a heavy, oaken, studded door. The old village stocks are kept in the porch, though not used for their original purpose.

Effigy of Sir John Dinham

The church was a chapel under the administration of the parish of St Marychurch until the 1530s when the present building was started.[9] It was extended in the 15th century by converting the transepts into aisles.[10]

Within the church are some rare suurvivals n the form of mediæval windows, including an uncommon image of Saint Apollonia, the patron saint of toothache sufferers.[11] It also contains three poorly preserved effigies of the Dinhams who held the manor in the 14th and 15th centuries. They probably represent Sir John Dinham (1359–1428)[12] and two of his three wives.[13]

The church is Grade II* listed.[3]

History

Early sites

There are several prehistoric sites on the high ground surrounding Kingskerswell, such as the Iron Age sites of Milber Down, Berry's Wood and Dainton.[14]

Kerswell Down, just to the west of the village, is the site of a late Bronze Age/early Iron Age field system,[15] and a hoard of over 2,000 (small copper or brass)[16] Roman coins was found here, near the church, some time between 1838 and 1840.[17] The exact details of how and where the coins were found is not known, and their present whereabouts is unknown too,[14] but in 1878 they were said to bear inscriptions of the Emperors Gallienus, Tacitus, Probus and others.[18] In 1992 during survey work for a bypass, evidence of a Roman settlement was found at Aller Cross, just north of the village. It may have an early military origin, and if it does it "would be of regional importance".[19]

The early village

The Aller Brook and its tributaries lie in a shallow, wide and marshy valley that drains roughly north-westerly from the outskirts of Torquay to the estuary of the River Teign at Newton Abbot. There is one point in this valley where two spurs of land form a narrow crossing point, and it was here that an ancient track from St Marychurch and Coffinswell crossed the valley on its way west towards Ipplepen and Totnes. A bridge, known as Dacca Bridge or Daccabridge, was constructed here and this is where the village developed, on the western bank.[14] It is a Grade II listed structure.[20]

The first written record of Kingskerswell is in the Domesday Book where it is called Carsewelle. During the Middle Ages the manor was granted to several lords, but always escheated to the king due to the lack of any heirs. The manor was given to Nicholas de Moels in 1230.[21] In 1268 his son, Roger de Molis, was granted the right to hold a weekly market on Tuesdays and an annual fair on 1 September.[22] The manor remained in the de Molis family until some time between 1349 and 1362 when it passed to the Courtenays for a short time until 1369 when it again escheated to the king because the next heir, John Dinham (1359–1428), was aged only eleven.

John Dinham (or "Dynham") eventually gained his inheritance in 1381. He died in 1428 but the manor remained in his family until 1501.[23] On the death of John Dynham, 1st Baron Dynham in that year, his lands were divided between his four sisters and the portion that included Kingskerswell passed to his eldest sister, Margery, and eventually to Henry Compton, 1st Baron Compton. By 1710 the manor was owned by Sir Henry Langford who passed it to Thomas Brown; in 1972 the lord of the manor was T.H. Langford Brown of Littlehempston.[24]

Stained glass image of Saint Apollonia in St Mary's Church

The manor house

Just to the north-west of the church are the ruins of a manor house, probably built by the same Sir John Dinham – a document of 1387 confirms that he had a manor house and chapel here in that year. It is not known when the manor house fell into disrepair, but a mention in a lease suggests that it was probably still in good condition in 1681.[13] The ruins were listed (as grade II) in 1955 and were for many years obscured by trees and vegetation. There are several walls, the base of a tower with features in dressed granite and part of an arch.[25] Since 2000 some clearance and conservation work has been undertaken at the site with the assistance of the South West England Environmental Trust,[26] and it is now a scheduled monument.[27]

Since 1800

In the 1830s lord of the manor Henry Langford Brown built Barton Hall on a site about a mile and a half south-east of the church. Barton Hall was requisitioned during Second World War and left afterwards in a poor state. It was sold to a group of businessmen in 1947 and ten years later sold on to Fred Pontin who turned it into one of the flagships of Pontin's, his holiday empire. The hall and surrounding lands then passed through several owners, and as of 2010 are being run by PGL Travel Ltd. as a centre for schools and youth activity courses, English as a Foreign Language groups and Family Adventure breaks.[28] The arrival of the Newton Abbot to Kingswear railway line in the late 1840s had a dramatic effect as it was driven through the centre of the village. It caused extensive changes to the original road layout, including severing the ancient route over Daccabridge; as well as the demolition of several properties and disturbance to the natural drainage pattern of the local springs and streams. Between 1853 and 1964 the village had its own railway station on this line.[29] The Rosehill Viaduct consisting of seven brick arches on limestone piers over the railway was built by Brunel in 1846–8 as was the nearby similar Dobbin Arch. They are both now grade II listed structures,[30] and are just two of the 41 listed buildings in the village.[31]

The coming of the railway also caused the replacement of much of the local straw thatch that had traditionally been used for roofing with Welsh slate that could be transported at little cost.[32] It also prompted wealthy businessmen from the neighbouring towns of Torquay and Newton Abbot to build many large villas here, making it an early example of a commuter town.[9]

“ We would point out to parents and children that the school will commence at 1.30 instead of 2.00 for the next few months, so that there will be ample time for blackberry picking after school hours. ”

—Kingskerswell Parish Magazine,
after the opening of a new infants' school in September 1894.[33]

The Aller Vale Pottery was set up on the north side of the village in 1865, originally producing earthenware goods.[34] It started producing art pottery in 1881 and continued (in name at least) until 1962. In 1886 the pottery was visited by Princess Louise, daughter of Queen Victoria, after she had bought some of its wares. This was the start of a long period of patronage and led to the pottery being renamed as the Royal Aller Vale Pottery. Other members of the Royal family also became customers, including Princess Alexandra.[35] At the end of the 19th century Aller Vale Art Pottery was stocked by Liberty & Co in London.[36]

In the 19th century the village was well known for the production of cider and much of the land to the east of the main road now occupied by housing estates was once covered by apple orchards. In a commercial directory of 1870 Richard Codner is shown as a cider merchant.[37]

From the 1930s to the 1960s there was greyhound racing at a track opposite the Hare and Hounds pub.[38]

Today

A bridge in the old part of Kingskerswell

From various points in the village there are views towards Dartmoor. To the west is the woodland of Kerswell Downs, the eastern half of which (some 30 acres of woodland and grassland) was made a gift to the parish by Thomas Hercules Langford Brown, descendant of Henry Langford Brown who built Barton Hall, for the Millennium year 2000;[15] beyond this is the large limestone quarry at Stoneycombe, and north of that lies the village of Abbotskerswell. On the east are walking trails to the neighbouring village of Coffinswell. There are also country walks from here towards the estuary of the River Teign and Maidencombe on the coast.

Outside links

 ("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Kingskerswell)

References

  1. ↑ Open Domesday Online: Kingskerswell, accessed July 2017
  2. ↑ Kingskerswell Parish Church with Coffinswell Parish Church and Abbotskerswell Parish Church
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 National Heritage List 1334161: Church of St Mary
  4. ↑ Rowe, J. B. R. (1884–1892). The Devonshire Domesday and Geld Inquest: Extensions, Translations and Indices. 1. Plymouth: W. Brendon & Son. p. 18.  Available online here
  5. ↑ Reichel, Oswald J. (1898), "The Devonshire Domesday. IV. The "Domesday" Churches of Devon", Report and Transactions of the Devonshire Association 30: 276  Available online here
  6. ↑ Walker (1972), p. 205
  7. ↑ Walker (1972), pp. 205, 213–214
  8. ↑ Nikolaus Pevsner: The Buildings of England: Devon, 1952; 1989 Penguin Books ISBN 978-0-300-09596-8
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Teignbridge District Conservation Area Character Appraisals—Kingskerswell, p. 5
  10. ↑ Hoskins, W. G. (1972). A New Survey of England: Devon (New ed.). London: Collins. p. 420. ISBN 0-7153-5577-5.  Text online here
  11. ↑ "Kingskerswell – from Some Old Devon Churches (J. Stabb)". GENUKI/Devon. http://genuki.cs.ncl.ac.uk/DEV/Kingskerswell/Stabb-Kingskerswell.html. Retrieved 2 July 2010. 
  12. ↑ Chope, R. Pearse, The Book of Hartland, Torquay, 1940, Chapter V, pp.26–37, The Dynham Family, p.30
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Walker (1972), p. 207
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Walker (1972), p. 195
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 "Proposed South Devon Link Road – Proof of evidence submitted ... on behalf of Kingskerswell Parish Council". Devon County Council. http://www.devon.gov.uk/kkbp-objkpcp1.pdf. Retrieved 7 July 2010. 
  16. ↑ Shortt, William Taylor Peter (1841). Sylva antiqua Iscana. Exeter. pp. vi, xviv (unpaginated). 
  17. ↑ "Kingskerswell – Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)". GENUKI – UK and Ireland Genealogy. http://genuki.cs.ncl.ac.uk/DEV/Kingskerswell/Gaz1868.html. Retrieved 23 June 2010. 
  18. ↑ Walker (1972), p. 195 quoting J. T. White (1878) Directory of Devon, p. 562
  19. ↑ "A380 Kingskerswell Bypass Environmental Statement – Volume 2". Devon County Council and Torbay Council. pp. 7.4.13, 7.5.8 and 7.8.28. http://www.devon.gov.uk/a380chapter7-2.pdf. Retrieved 23 June 2010. 
  20. ↑ National Heritage List 1097294: Dacca Bridge
  21. ↑ Henry Summerson, 'Moels , Sir Nicholas de (d. 1268/9)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004. Online here (subscription required). Retrieved 23 June 2010.
  22. ↑ Letters, Samantha. "Online Gazetteer of Markets and Fairs in England & Wales to 1516: Devon". Centre for Metropolitan History. http://www.history.ac.uk/cmh/gaz/devon.html#K. Retrieved 4 July 2010. 
  23. ↑ Walker (1972), pp. 200–203
  24. ↑ Walker (1972), pp. 204–205
  25. ↑ "Ruins of Manor House Circa 40 Metres West-north-west of Church of St Mary – Kingskerswell". British Listed Buildings. http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-84871-ruins-of-manor-house-circa-40-metres-west. Retrieved 31 December 2010. 
  26. ↑ "Projects (Category E)". The South West England Environmental Trust (SWEET). http://www.sweet-uk.com/sweet/sweetprojects.html. Retrieved 31 December 2010. 
  27. ↑ Teignbridge District Conservation Area Character Appraisals—Kingskerswell, p. 10
  28. ↑ "Secondary School Study Courses at Barton Hall, Devon". PGL. http://www.pgl.co.uk/PGLWeb/Schools/Secondary-schools/adventure-study/centres/bartonhall.htm. Retrieved 24 June 2010. 
  29. ↑ Potts, C R (1998). The Newton Abbot to Kingswear Railway (1844–1988). Oxford: Oakwood Press. ISBN 0-85361-387-7. 
  30. ↑ Goodge, Mark "Viaduct over Railway Line – Kingskerswell – Devon – England" and "Dobbin Arch – Kingskerswell – Devon – England" British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 23 June 2010
  31. ↑ "Listed Buildings List". Teignbridge District Council. pp. 32–33. http://www.teignbridge.gov.uk/media/pdf/8/d/Listed_Buildings_List.pdf. Retrieved 23 June 2010. 
  32. ↑ Teignbridge District Conservation Area Character Appraisals—Kingskerswell, p. 8
  33. ↑ Carsewella (2003) p. 61
  34. ↑ "Aller Vale Pottery". The Pottery Studio. http://www.studiopottery.com/cgi-bin/mp.cgi?item=53. Retrieved 3 July 2010. 
  35. ↑ Carsewella (2003) p. 65
  36. ↑ Directory of Liberty Manufacturers Retrieved 7 February 2007
  37. ↑ "Kingskerswell, transcribed from Morris and Co.'s Commercial Directory and Gazetteer. 1870". rootsweb. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/%7Evalhender/dirtrans/mor1870/kingskerwell.htm. Retrieved 5 July 2010. 
  38. ↑ Carsewella (2003) p. 23
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