Kingswear from the Norman Conquest to the end of the 15th century.

Kingswear

After the conquest Kingston passed into the de Vasci family and the first documentary mention of Kingswear was around 1170 when William de Vinci gave half the land at Kingswear to the incumbent of the local church which was a chapel of ease to the parish church at Brixham and came under the jurisdiction of Totnes Priory.  The name Kingswear may be associated with a tidal mill at the head of the creek with its system of weirs.

Why Dartmouth, on the opposite side of the river Dart, developed instead of Kingswear with its better communications to Exeter and London is unknown but it may be due to the attitude of the local lords of the manor and their ability to resist the demands of Totnes.  Overseas pilgrims preferred Kingswear as a landing place on their way to the tomb of Thomas à Beckett in Canterbury and this probably gave rise to the dedication of the parish church to St Thomas of Canterbury.  The church was rebuilt in 1847.

A ferry to Dartmouth operated from at least 1365 from Kittery Point, the western most tip of Kingswear and nearest to Dartmouth.  Kittery was an area of the village south of the point now remembered in the house Kittery Court on the site of the former Kittery Quay.

Totnes: Ancient Royal Borough and Market Town by John Risdon

John Risdon, on 26 February, took us with an array of splendid photographs up the Dart to our neighbour, Totnes, at the navigable head of the river and its lowest fordable point. The town dates
back 1300 years to its establishment as a fortified Saxon ‘burh’, one of several at strategic points in
the Kingdom of Wessex to protect against Viking raids. There is no doubt, however, that Phoenician
merchants were making their way up the river in much earlier times to trade for tin from Dartmoor.

Following the Norman invasion, William gave control of Totnes and surrounding manors to Judhael, one of his commanders in the campaign in the South West. He quickly set about the construction of a ‘motte’, a defensive mound, with a courtyard or ‘bailey’ at its foot protected by timber defences. He also founded the church of St Mary which became the Priory of Totnes until the Reformation. Though now a Norman town, trade grew steadily throughout the medieval period providing important markets for the local area. These gradually became specialised and eventually developed into markets such as the Butter Walk and the Poultry Walk. Three wells believed to have medicinal properties – ‘the leach wells’ – also helped attract visitors as well as local users.

By the mid 1500s, Totnes was four times wealthier than Dartmouth, thanks mainly to its trade in woollen cloth and tin and to rapid growth in a variety of local industries. During this long period of prosperity, wealthy merchants rebuilt many of their town houses in the attractive styles as they still appear today. Ownership of the Priory land was passed after the Reformation to the Town Council and was used to construct the Guildhall. By the early 1600s, however, the ‘good times’ began to give way to a decline in trade and the ‘Merchants town’ gradually changed to a ‘Gentlemen’s town’, although it The merchant warehouses now luxury remained the main market centre for this part of South Devon. apartments

Little now remains of the six former shipbuilding yards on the banks of the river and the recent closing of the Baltic Wharf has brought to an end the long history of commercial trade on the Dart. However, the High Street, the main street through the centre of the town since Saxon times and now in the shadow of the castle, still reflects the continuing busy life of Totnes.

Diary of events at Kingston

10C Inhabitation at Kingston

12C  Facy or Vasci family living at Kingston

1250 Ralph de Punchardon at Kingston

1292 Assize Rolls describe Kyngeston Facy juxta Dertemouth

1302 Assize Rolls mention Kyngeston juxta Brikesham

1306 Hugh de Ferres holds Manor of Kingston

1503 Richard Ferrers inherits Kingston Facy  

Title and Author	Time Perion	Link
Kingston Cottages – Kingswear Historians	10th t0 20th c	Link