Kingskerswell
Encyclopedia
Kingskerswell is a village
and civil parish in the south of the county of Devon
, England
. 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
.
Today it is situated on a busy main road, part of the A380
, between Torquay
and Newton Abbot
. There had been proposals to reroute this road to relieve the traffic bottleneck
since 1951.
, Berry's Wood
and Dainton. Kerswell Down, just to the west of the village, is the site of a late Bronze Age/early Iron Age field system, and a hoard of over 2,000 (small copper or brass) Roman coins was found here, near the church, some time between 1838 and 1840. The exact details of how and where the coins were found is not known, and their present whereabouts is unknown too, but in 1878 they were said to bear inscriptions of Gallienus
, Tacitus
, Probus and others. 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".
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.
The first written record of Kingskerswell is in the Domesday Book
where it is called Carsewelle. Before the Norman Conquest
it was held by Edward the Confessor
as part of the royal demesne; afterwards it continued in royal ownership under William the Conqueror and his descendants (in contrast to the nearby village of Abbotskerswell
). The first part of the village's name represents this royal ownership. The Saxon word carse probably means watercress, a plant that still grows freely in the local streams; and the last part of the name most likely refers to the wells and springs in the vicinity, though an alternative theory proposes that it derives from the Latin villa, indicating a Roman origin.
After being granted to several lords, but always escheat
ing to the king due to the lack of any heirs, the manor was given to Nicholas de Moels
in 1230. 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. 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, 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. 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
.
of land", 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. By 1159 there was a chaplain
named William here, 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.
The church (dedicated to St Mary) may have parts dating to the 14th century—the west tower may be of this date. It was extended in the 15th century by converting the transept
s into aisles. It was restored
c.1856 by John West Hugall
and again in 1875 by J. W. Rowell. The church is grade II* listed, and has an uncommon image of Saint Apollonia
, the patron saint of toothache sufferers, in the form of ancient stained glass in one of the south windows. It also contains three poorly preserved effigies of the Dinhams who held the manor in the 14th and 15th centuries. They probably represent the first Sir John Dinham (referred to above) and two of his three wives.
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. 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. Since 2000 some clearance and conservation work has been undertaken at the site with the assistance of the South West England Environmental Trust, and it is now a scheduled monument.
, as well as building and supporting a school for 60 children. He also built himself a new vicarage in 1836.
In the 1830s lord of the manor Henry Langford Brown built Barton Hall on a site about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) south east of the church, now on the borders of Torquay
. Barton Hall was requisitioned during World War II 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 school activity courses and summer camps for children.
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. 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, and are just two of the 41 listed buildings in the village. 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. 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
.
The Aller Vale Pottery
was set up on the north side of the village in 1865, originally producing earthenware
goods. 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
. At the end of the 19th century Aller Vale Art Pottery was stocked by Liberty & Co
in London.
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.
From the 1930s to the 1960s there was greyhound racing at a track opposite the Hare and Hounds pub.
; and a library which survived a threat of closure in 2006. There is also a modern primary school, a number of pre-school playgroups and a Scout group with their headquarters on Dobbin Arch Since 1989, Kingskerswell has been twinned with the German town of Lonsee
.
There are six churches in the village: Anglican, Catholic, Community, Gospel Hall, Methodist and United Reformed.
From various points in the village there are views towards Dartmoor National Park. To the west is the woodland of Kerswell Downs, the eastern half of which (some 30 acres (120,000 m2) of woodland and grassland) was gifted to the parish by a local landowner for the Millennium year 2000; 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 picturesque village of Coffinswell
. There are many country walks from here towards the estuary of the River Teign
and Maidencombe on the coast.
The local council (Teignbridge
) considers that parts of the village have great character and may have considerable archaeological interest. Consequently it has designated a conservation area of 3.5 hectares around the ruins of the manor house on the west side of the valley within which further development must be severely restricted.
from Newton Abbot to Torquay was formerly a turnpike road. Since 1951 Devon County Council had planned to alleviate traffic on this road that runs through the village. After being postponed, cancelled and reinstated in the following years, planning permission for a bypass was granted in August 2005 with the main construction work due to start in Summer 2010 for completion in 2013. However, in June 2010 the Government's Transport Minister, Norman Baker
said that in light of a tough spending review funding could not be guaranteed, and in October 2010 it was confirmed that the bypass was not one of the 24 schemes that had been approved. However in November 2011 the government awarded £74.6 million towards the cost of the bypass, and the county council hopes that construction will start in October 2012 with completion in December 2015.
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
and civil parish in the south of the county of Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. 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
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
. 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
Commuter town
A commuter town is an urban community that is primarily residential, from which most of the workforce commutes out to earn their livelihood. Many commuter towns act as suburbs of a nearby metropolis that workers travel to daily, and many suburbs are commuter towns...
.
Today it is situated on a busy main road, part of the A380
A380 road
The A380 is a road in South West England, connecting the Torbay area to the A38, and hence to the rest of Great Britain's main road network.-Route:...
, between Torquay
Torquay
Torquay is a town in the unitary authority area of Torbay and ceremonial county of Devon, England. It lies south of Exeter along the A380 on the north of Torbay, north-east of Plymouth and adjoins the neighbouring town of Paignton on the west of the bay. Torquay’s population of 63,998 during the...
and Newton Abbot
Newton Abbot
Newton Abbot is a market town and civil parish in the Teignbridge District of Devon, England on the River Teign, with a population of 23,580....
. There had been proposals to reroute this road to relieve the traffic bottleneck
Traffic bottleneck
A traffic bottleneck is a localized disruption of vehicular traffic on a street, road or highway. As opposed to a traffic jam, a bottleneck is a result of a specific, often temporary, physical condition.- Causes :...
since 1951.
Early history
There are several prehistoric sites on the high ground surrounding Kingskerswell, such as the Iron Age sites of Milber DownMilber Down
Milber Down is an Iron Age hill fort on the hill above the suburb of Milber, Newton Abbot in Devon, England. The fort is situated on the north-western slope of Milber Down at about 110 metres above sea level, and is bisected by the minor ridge road that leads to Barton, Torquay. One Iron Age...
, Berry's Wood
Berry's Wood
Berry's Wood is an Iron Age hill fort situated close to Newton Abbot in Devon, England. The fort is situated at about 75 metres above sea level on a commanding promontory above the River Lemon with views down the Teign Estuary....
and Dainton. Kerswell Down, just to the west of the village, is the site of a late Bronze Age/early Iron Age field system, and a hoard of over 2,000 (small copper or brass) Roman coins was found here, near the church, some time between 1838 and 1840. The exact details of how and where the coins were found is not known, and their present whereabouts is unknown too, but in 1878 they were said to bear inscriptions of Gallienus
Gallienus
Gallienus was Roman Emperor with his father Valerian from 253 to 260, and alone from 260 to 268. He took control of the Empire at a time when it was undergoing great crisis...
, Tacitus
Marcus Claudius Tacitus
Tacitus , was Roman Emperor from 275 to 276. During his short reign he campaigned against the Goths and the Heruli, for which he received the title Gothicus Maximus.-Biography:Tacitus was born in Interamna , in Italia...
, Probus and others. 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".
The Aller Brook and its tributaries lie in a shallow, wide and marshy valley that drains roughly north-westerly from the outskirts of Torquay
Torquay
Torquay is a town in the unitary authority area of Torbay and ceremonial county of Devon, England. It lies south of Exeter along the A380 on the north of Torbay, north-east of Plymouth and adjoins the neighbouring town of Paignton on the west of the bay. Torquay’s population of 63,998 during the...
to the estuary of the River Teign
River Teign
The River Teign is a river in the county of Devon, England.Like many Devon rivers, the Teign rises on Dartmoor, near Cranmere Pool. Its course on the moor is crossed by a clapper bridge near Teigncombe, just below the prehistoric Kestor Settlement. It leaves the moor at its eastern side, flowing...
at Newton Abbot
Newton Abbot
Newton Abbot is a market town and civil parish in the Teignbridge District of Devon, England on the River Teign, with a population of 23,580....
. 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
St Marychurch
St. Marychurch in Devon, England, is one of the oldest settlements in South Devon. Its earliest documentary record dates from around 1050 AD.It is a former English urban district, abolished in 1900 when it was incorporated into the neighbouring borough of Torquay...
and Coffinswell
Coffinswell
Coffinswell is a small village in South Devon, England, just off the A380, the busy Newton Abbot to Torquay road. It lies within Teignbridge District Council.Coffinswell has a church dedicated to Saint Bartholomew with a Norman font...
crossed the valley on its way west towards Ipplepen
Ipplepen
Ipplepen is a small village located within the county of Devon in south-west England. A priory was located there.-Location:Ipplepen is situated about to the west of the market town of Newton Abbot. Ipplepen is also located just from the southern edge of Dartmoor and about to the north-west of...
and Totnes
Totnes
Totnes is a market town and civil parish at the head of the estuary of the River Dart in Devon, England within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...
. A bridge, known as Dacca Bridge or Daccabridge, was constructed here and this is where the village developed, on the western bank.
The first written record of Kingskerswell is in the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
where it is called Carsewelle. Before the Norman Conquest
Norman conquest of England
The Norman conquest of England began on 28 September 1066 with the invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy. William became known as William the Conqueror after his victory at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, defeating King Harold II of England...
it was held by Edward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor also known as St. Edward the Confessor , son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy, was one of the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England and is usually regarded as the last king of the House of Wessex, ruling from 1042 to 1066....
as part of the royal demesne; afterwards it continued in royal ownership under William the Conqueror and his descendants (in contrast to the nearby village of Abbotskerswell
Abbotskerswell
Abbotskerswell is a village and civil parish in the English county of Devon. The village is in the north part of the parish and is located two miles south of the town of Newton Abbot, from the seaside resort of Torquay and from the city of Plymouth...
). The first part of the village's name represents this royal ownership. The Saxon word carse probably means watercress, a plant that still grows freely in the local streams; and the last part of the name most likely refers to the wells and springs in the vicinity, though an alternative theory proposes that it derives from the Latin villa, indicating a Roman origin.
After being granted to several lords, but always escheat
Escheat
Escheat is a common law doctrine which transfers the property of a person who dies without heirs to the crown or state. It serves to ensure that property is not left in limbo without recognised ownership...
ing to the king due to the lack of any heirs, the manor was given to Nicholas de Moels
Nicholas de Moels
Nicholas de Moels was a medieval Norman administrator in Somerset.He was born about 1195. He married, as her 2nd. husband, Hawise de Newmarch, younger daughter & co-heiress of James de Newmarch feudal baron of North Cadbury, Somerset, in about 1224...
in 1230. 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. 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, 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. On the death of John Dynham, 1st Baron Dynham
John Dynham, 1st Baron Dynham
John Dynham, 1st Baron Dynham was an English peer and politician. He was the Lord High Treasurer of England, Lord Chancellor of Ireland and Baron Dynham. He was the owner of Souldern...
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
Henry Compton, 1st Baron Compton
Henry Compton, 1st Baron Compton was an English peer.Compton was the son of Peter Compton and his wife Anne, daughter of George Talbot, 4th Earl of Shrewsbury, and a relative of Sir William Compton. In 1572 he was summoned to the House of Lords as Baron Compton, of Compton in the County of Warwick...
. 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
Littlehempston
Littlehempston is a village and civil parish in the South Hams District of Devon in England. It has a population of 207.The village has many old fashioned cottages and buildings. Its church is on the hill within the village and is near to where a footpath begins, taking walkers through two miles...
.
The church and manor house
A church is mentioned in the Domesday entry for Kingskerswell: "Also to the church of this manor belongs half a virgateVirgate
The virgate or yardland was a unit of land area measurement used in medieval England, typically outside the Danelaw, and was held to be the amount of land that a team of two oxen could plough in a single annual season. It was equivalent to a quarter of a hide, so was nominally thirty acres...
of land", 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. By 1159 there was a chaplain
Chaplain
Traditionally, a chaplain is a minister in a specialized setting such as a priest, pastor, rabbi, or imam or lay representative of a religion attached to a secular institution such as a hospital, prison, military unit, police department, university, or private chapel...
named William here, 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.
The church (dedicated to St Mary) may have parts dating to the 14th century—the west tower may be of this date. It was extended in the 15th century by converting the transept
Transept
For the periodical go to The Transept.A transept is a transverse section, of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In Christian churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform building in Romanesque and Gothic Christian church architecture...
s into aisles. It was restored
Victorian restoration
Victorian restoration is the term commonly used to refer to the widespread and extensive refurbishment and rebuilding of Church of England churches and cathedrals that took place in England and Wales during the 19th-century reign of Queen Victoria...
c.1856 by John West Hugall
John West Hugall
John West Hugall, FRIBA, was a British Gothic Revival architect. His dates of birth and death are unknown.-Career:Hugall's works span the period 1848-78. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1871....
and again in 1875 by J. W. Rowell. The church is grade II* listed, and has an uncommon image of Saint Apollonia
Saint Apollonia
Saint Apollonia was one of a group of virgin martyrs who suffered in Alexandria during a local uprising against the Christians prior to the persecution of Decius. According to legend, her torture included having all of her teeth violently pulled out or shattered...
, the patron saint of toothache sufferers, in the form of ancient stained glass in one of the south windows. It also contains three poorly preserved effigies of the Dinhams who held the manor in the 14th and 15th centuries. They probably represent the first Sir John Dinham (referred to above) and two of his three wives.
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. 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. Since 2000 some clearance and conservation work has been undertaken at the site with the assistance of the South West England Environmental Trust, and it is now a scheduled monument.
Since 1800
Kingskerswell was made an independent parish, separated for the first time from St Marychurch, in 1828 and the first incumbent was Aaron Neck (born 1769). In his later life he was very generous to the parish, helping to provide new pews, an organ and an altar-piece for the church and increasing its glebe-landsGlebe
Glebe Glebe Glebe (also known as Church furlong or parson's closes is an area of land within a manor and parish used to support a parish priest.-Medieval origins:...
, as well as building and supporting a school for 60 children. He also built himself a new vicarage in 1836.
In the 1830s lord of the manor Henry Langford Brown built Barton Hall on a site about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) south east of the church, now on the borders of Torquay
Torquay
Torquay is a town in the unitary authority area of Torbay and ceremonial county of Devon, England. It lies south of Exeter along the A380 on the north of Torbay, north-east of Plymouth and adjoins the neighbouring town of Paignton on the west of the bay. Torquay’s population of 63,998 during the...
. Barton Hall was requisitioned during World War II 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
Fred Pontin
Sir Frederick William Pontin was born in Walthamstow, the son of Frederick William Pontin and Elizabeth Marian Tilyard and was knighted in 1976. He died in Blackpool aged 93. He had a successful career in the city's Stock Exchange. He attended Sir George Monoux Grammar School in Walthamstow...
who turned it into one of the flagships of Pontin's
Pontin's
Pontins is a British holiday business which was originally founded in 1946 by Fred Pontin. It specialises in offering half-board and self-catering holidays with regular entertainment on offer. Accommodation is usually in the form of chalets. The company once grew to be a major operator of...
, his holiday empire. The hall and surrounding lands then passed through several owners, and as of 2010 are being run by PGL Travel Ltd.
PGL (company)
PGL Travel Ltd. is a company established in 1957 by Peter Gordon Lawrence and is a provider of school activity courses and summer camps for children in the United Kingdom. It is a part of the Holidaybreak group.- Overview :...
as a centre for school activity courses and summer camps for children.
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. 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, and are just two of the 41 listed buildings in the village. The coming of the railway also caused the replacement of much of the local straw thatch
Thatching
Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge , rushes, or heather, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. It is a very old roofing method and has been used in both tropical and temperate climates...
that had traditionally been used for roofing with Welsh slate that could be transported at little cost. 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
Commuter town
A commuter town is an urban community that is primarily residential, from which most of the workforce commutes out to earn their livelihood. Many commuter towns act as suburbs of a nearby metropolis that workers travel to daily, and many suburbs are commuter towns...
.
The Aller Vale Pottery
Aller Vale Pottery
The Aller Vale Pottery was formed in 1865 on the northern edge of the village of Kingskerswell in South Devon, England on the likely site of a medieval pottery. It became well known for the creation of art pottery at the end of the 19th century and gained Royal patronage, but declined thereafter,...
was set up on the north side of the village in 1865, originally producing earthenware
Earthenware
Earthenware is a common ceramic material, which is used extensively for pottery tableware and decorative objects.-Types of earthenware:Although body formulations vary between countries and even between individual makers, a generic composition is 25% ball clay, 28% kaolin, 32% quartz, and 15%...
goods. It started producing art pottery in 1881 and continued (in name at least) until 1962. In 1886 the pottery was visited by Princess Louise
Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll
The Princess Louise was a member of the British Royal Family, the sixth child and fourth daughter of Queen Victoria and her husband, Albert, Prince Consort.Louise's early life was spent moving between the various royal residences in the...
, 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
Alexandra of Denmark
Alexandra of Denmark was the wife of Edward VII of the United Kingdom...
. At the end of the 19th century Aller Vale Art Pottery was stocked by Liberty & Co
Liberty (department store)
Liberty is a long-established department store in Regent Street in Central London, England, in the West End shopping district.-Early years:...
in London.
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.
From the 1930s to the 1960s there was greyhound racing at a track opposite the Hare and Hounds pub.
Today
In the 2001 census the population of Kingskerswell was 4799. The village has a health centre, a variety of small shops including a chemist, a post office and a co-opThe Co-operative brand
The Co-operative is a common branding used by a variety of co-operatives based in the United Kingdom.Many in the UK mistakenly consider the Co-op to be a single national business, however each Co-operative is actually a franchise selling branded goods produced by the Co-operative Group The...
; and a library which survived a threat of closure in 2006. There is also a modern primary school, a number of pre-school playgroups and a Scout group with their headquarters on Dobbin Arch Since 1989, Kingskerswell has been twinned with the German town of Lonsee
Lonsee
Lonsee is a town in the Alb-Donau district in Baden-Württemberg in Germany.The population of Lonsee in 2008 is 4.758; the town consists of 7 villages - Ettlenschiess, Halzhausen, Sinabronn, Lonsee, Luizhausen and Urspring...
.
From various points in the village there are views towards Dartmoor National Park. To the west is the woodland of Kerswell Downs, the eastern half of which (some 30 acres (120,000 m2) of woodland and grassland) was gifted to the parish by a local landowner for the Millennium year 2000; beyond this is the large limestone quarry at Stoneycombe, and north of that lies the village of Abbotskerswell
Abbotskerswell
Abbotskerswell is a village and civil parish in the English county of Devon. The village is in the north part of the parish and is located two miles south of the town of Newton Abbot, from the seaside resort of Torquay and from the city of Plymouth...
. On the east are walking trails to the neighbouring picturesque village of Coffinswell
Coffinswell
Coffinswell is a small village in South Devon, England, just off the A380, the busy Newton Abbot to Torquay road. It lies within Teignbridge District Council.Coffinswell has a church dedicated to Saint Bartholomew with a Norman font...
. There are many country walks from here towards the estuary of the River Teign
River Teign
The River Teign is a river in the county of Devon, England.Like many Devon rivers, the Teign rises on Dartmoor, near Cranmere Pool. Its course on the moor is crossed by a clapper bridge near Teigncombe, just below the prehistoric Kestor Settlement. It leaves the moor at its eastern side, flowing...
and Maidencombe on the coast.
The local council (Teignbridge
Teignbridge
Teignbridge is a local government district in Devon, England. Its council is based in Newton Abbot.Other towns in the district include Ashburton, Dawlish and Teignmouth...
) considers that parts of the village have great character and may have considerable archaeological interest. Consequently it has designated a conservation area of 3.5 hectares around the ruins of the manor house on the west side of the valley within which further development must be severely restricted.
The Kingskerswell Bypass
The A380 roadA380 road
The A380 is a road in South West England, connecting the Torbay area to the A38, and hence to the rest of Great Britain's main road network.-Route:...
from Newton Abbot to Torquay was formerly a turnpike road. Since 1951 Devon County Council had planned to alleviate traffic on this road that runs through the village. After being postponed, cancelled and reinstated in the following years, planning permission for a bypass was granted in August 2005 with the main construction work due to start in Summer 2010 for completion in 2013. However, in June 2010 the Government's Transport Minister, Norman Baker
Norman Baker
Norman John Baker is a British Liberal Democrat politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Lewes in East Sussex since 1997. Since May 2010 he has been Parliamentary Under Secretary for the Department for Transport....
said that in light of a tough spending review funding could not be guaranteed, and in October 2010 it was confirmed that the bypass was not one of the 24 schemes that had been approved. However in November 2011 the government awarded £74.6 million towards the cost of the bypass, and the county council hopes that construction will start in October 2012 with completion in December 2015.
Notable people
- Nicholas de MoelsNicholas de MoelsNicholas de Moels was a medieval Norman administrator in Somerset.He was born about 1195. He married, as her 2nd. husband, Hawise de Newmarch, younger daughter & co-heiress of James de Newmarch feudal baron of North Cadbury, Somerset, in about 1224...
held the manor from 1230. - Samuel Codner, baptised here in 1776, and part of a local family with long-standing links to the Newfoundland cod-fishing industryCod fishing in NewfoundlandCod fishing in Newfoundland was carried out at a subsistence level for centuries, but large scale fishing began shortly after the European discovery of the North American continent in 1492, with the waters being found to be preternaturally plentiful, and ended after intense overfishing with the...
, set up the Newfoundland School SocietyNewfoundland School SocietyThe Newfoundland School Society was established on June 30, 1823 by a merchant named Samuel Codner. Codner first came to Newfoundland in 1788 and periodically traveled back to England were he was influenced by the Evangelical Revival occurring there during this time. He was inspired to help...
in 1823. - Edward SteereEdward SteereThe Rt Rev Edward Steere was a Colonial Bishop in the second half of the 19th century. He was born in 1828, educated at London University and ordained in 1850. After curacies in Devon and Lincolnshire he joined Bishop Tozer 7 years later. He was created Bishop of Nyasaland in 1874 and died on 26...
, who became the Bishop of Nyasaland in 1874, had his first curacyCurateA curate is a person who is invested with the care or cure of souls of a parish. In this sense "curate" correctly means a parish priest but in English-speaking countries a curate is an assistant to the parish priest...
at St Mary's church. He married Mary Beatrice Brown of Barton Hall in 1858. - Mike SangsterMike SangsterMike Sangster was one of the leading British tennis players of the 1960s.- Birth and Early Life :Mike Sangster was born in Kingskerswell, Devon on 11 September 1940. He attended Torquay Boys' Grammar School...
, one of the leading British tennis players of the 1960s, was born here in 1940.