19-588: Thurlestone is a village located 5 miles (8.0 km) west of Kingsbridge in the South Hams district in south Devon , England. There is an electoral ward in the same name. The population at the 2011 census was 1,886. The village takes its name from Thurlestone Rock, the so-called "thirled stone", an arch-shaped rock formation just offshore in Thurlestone Bay. Thurl, or Thirl being an Anglo-Saxon word meaning hole. The village's All Saints church
38-518: A bridge which was built in or before the 10th century between the royal estates of Alvington , to the west, and Chillington , to the east, hence giving it the name of Kyngysbrygge ("King's bridge"). In 1219 the Abbot of Buckfast was granted the right to hold a market there, and by 1238 the settlement had become a borough . The manor remained in possession of the abbot until the Dissolution of
57-488: A form of silk twill produced in the early renaissance in or around Florence, used for clerical cassocks . A reference can be found in Don Quixote : I am more pleased to have found it than anyone had given me a Cassock of the best Florentine serge From early Saxon times, most English wool ("staples") was exported. In the early 16th century it went mainly to a Royal monopoly at Calais (then an English possession) and
76-560: A large monthly cattle market. The chief exports were cider, corn, malt, and slate. Kingsbridge was used by Anthony Trollope as the setting for his novel Rachel Ray (1863) and by Rachel Joyce as the setting for her 2012 novel The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry . In October 2021 Embankment Films started filming in Kingsbridge for the big screen version of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry , starring Jim Broadbent, Penelope Wilton, Monika Gossmann and Bethan Cullinane. The film
95-620: A large secondary school, Kingsbridge Community College , which has over 1,000 pupils and serves the surrounding area. Kingsbridge was home to "the only nightclub in the South Hams", Coast (which has since closed), with the next nearest club being in Torquay . The town is linked to Plymouth and Dartmouth by the A379 road , and to Salcombe and Totnes by the A381 . For seventy years it had
114-594: A railway station until the branch line , via South Brent , was closed in 1963 as part of the Beeching cuts . An industrial estate now occupies the site of the former station yard, but a railway bridge and a short section of overgrown embankment can still be seen. Kingsbridge has its own Parish Council with an elected Town Mayor . A twinning arrangement with Isigny-sur-Mer in Normandy , France, ended in 2019 after 58 years. A song titled "Farewell to Kingsbridge"
133-429: A small beach just to the southwest of the village. The site consists of a number of reed-fringed pools. Tourism is supported by self-catering houses and a hotel in the village. About 60% of houses in the village are rented out at some time in the year. In 2002, a 30-year-old female pygmy sperm whale was washed up on Thurlestone Beach. 2005 saw two significant ornithological events (Devon Bird Report 2005): There
152-405: Is a type of twill fabric that has diagonal lines or ridges on both inner and outer surfaces via a two-up, two-down weave . The worsted variety is used in making military uniforms , suits , greatcoats , and trench coats . Its counterpart, silk serge, is used for linings. French serge is a softer, finer variety. The word is also used for a high-quality woven woolen fabric. The name
171-406: Is a walk from the main village to Bantham and another walk to Salcombe going through Hope Cove and Bolberry . Both of these are along the headland . There are also a numerous walks to nearby beaches and villages. Kingsbridge Kingsbridge is a market town in the South Hams district of Devon , England , with a population of 6,116 at the 2011 census . Two electoral wards bear
190-400: Is built of the dark grey local slate. The chancel is early 13th century; the remainder of the church 15th and 16th century. Thurlestone Marsh ( grid reference SX675423 ) is one of three small wetlands south of the village ( South Milton Ley and South Huish Marsh are the others). It is formed where a small unnamed stream flows through low-lying flat farmland just inland from Leas Foot Sand,
209-543: Is derived from Old French serge , itself from Latin serica , from Greek σηρικός ( sērikós ), meaning 'silken'. The early association of silk serge, Greece, and France is shown by the discovery in Charlemagne 's tomb of a piece of silk serge dyed with Byzantine motifs, evidently a gift from the Byzantine Imperial Court in the 8th or 9th century AD. It also appears to refer to
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#1732787484761228-422: The 19th century. The parish church of St. Thomas Becket displays a particularly well-preserved rood screen , restored in 1897. In 1798 the town mills were converted into a woollen manufactory, which produced large quantities of cloth, and serge manufacture was introduced early in the 19th century. During the 19th century the town had an active coastal shipping trade, shipbuilding, a tannery, other industries and
247-523: The Monasteries , when it was granted to Sir William Petre. Kingsbridge was never represented in Parliament or incorporated by charter, the local government being by a portreeve . It lay within the hundred of Stanborough. Kingsbridge is in fact a combination of two towns, Kingsbridge and Dodbrooke . Dodbrooke was granted its own market in 1257 and had become a borough by 1319. While Dodbrooke
266-495: The name of Kingsbridge (East & North). Their combined population at the above census was 4,381. It is situated at the northern end of the Kingsbridge Estuary , a ria that extends to the sea six miles (10 km) south of the town. It is the third largest settlement in the South Hams and is 17 miles (27 km) southwest of Torquay and 17 miles (27 km) southeast of Plymouth . The town formed around
285-499: The south Devon coast and sailing venues such as Salcombe , the town has developed into a popular tourist destination. Its attractions include several restaurants, pubs, a cinema housed in the old Kingsbridge Town Hall building, and a museum devoted to the chemist William Cookworthy who was born in the town in 1705. There are two supermarkets in Kingsbridge: a Morrisons and a Tesco Store, which opened in 2010. It also has
304-487: Was collected by Sabine Baring-Gould at Lydford, Devon. It belongs to the years 1778–80 when soldiers stationed here had to depart for North America. [REDACTED] This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Chisholm, Hugh , ed. (1911). " Kingsbridge ". Encyclopædia Britannica . Vol. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 815. (Some text may have been edited). Serge (fabric) Serge
323-410: Was originally considered to be the dominant of the two, Kingsbridge later expanded to include it. The town consists of two ecclesiastical parishes : St. Edmund 's in the west and St. Thomas Becket at Dodbrooke in the east. St. Edmund's Church, in mainly Perpendicular style, retains some 13th-century features including a font , but was enlarged and reconsecrated around 1414 and was mostly rebuilt in
342-576: Was released in April 2023. The town centre retains many 18th and 19th century buildings. The Shambles, or market arcade, was rebuilt in 1796 but retains its 16th century granite piers. The former grammar school, now a museum, was founded and built by Thomas Crispin in 1670. Kingsbridge has been the main market town in the area for centuries. Being situated within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and with its proximity to
361-780: Was woven into cloth in France or the Low Countries . However, with the French taking possession of the town during the Siege of Calais on 7 January 1558, England began expanding its own weaving industry. This was greatly enhanced by the European Wars of Religion ( Eighty Years' War , French Wars of Religion ); in 1567 Calvinist refugees from the Low Countries included many skilled serge weavers, while Huguenot refugees in
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