Brixham with Churston Ferrers & Kingsware, Deanery of Ipplepen

Chanter 225B, 577-578

  1. Population and dissenters: We have about four hundred families in the Parish of Brixham, about eighty in the Chapelry of Churston Ferrers, & about sixty in that <of> Kingsware (Both Chapels annex'd to Brixham) of all which only three families are Dissenters, & of the Presbeterian Denomination. They have a Meeting house in Brixham which is Licenc'd; Samuel Adams of Dartmouth & John his son are the Persons who teach there; It must inevitably sink when either of these die, by reason the Survivor will be confin'd to the Meeting house at Dartmouth, there being no Probability of raising sufficient here for the Maintenance of another who hath no foreign Support.

  2. Public or charity schools: We have a publick School in ye Parish of Brixham endow'd with Lands amounting in value to about Twenty pounds per annum clear profit, wherein about fifty young persons of both sexes are taught Reading Writing & Navigation, about Twenty whereof of Brixham, Churston & Kingsware are now instructed gratis out of the said Charity. They are likewise I believe carefully instructed in the Principles of the Christian Religion according to ye Doctrine of ye Church of England & attend the Service of the Church on Sundays & Holidays. – There is a small School at Churston Ferrers & another at Kingsware, neither of which is endow'd, in each of these between ten & twenty Children are commonly taught.

  3. Alms-house, hospital or charitable endowment: We have a little Alms house in ye Parish of Brixham, without any endowment, but no Hospital. – There were some years ago fifteen hundred pounds bequeath'd to ye Parish of Brixham, by Mr Robert Lang Merchant, a native thereof who was twelve years Consul at Marselles, & died there. By his Will it is Order'd that ye said money should be laid out in Lands (which hath been accordingly done) & the Revenue thereof to be applied to ye Redemption of poor Captives, if any such of the Parish should be taken by the Turks, otherwise to ye Relief of our Poor who have not weekly pay, which is the use it is now put to. – We have Lands to the value of about £10 per annum, leased out upon lives before I came to the Vicarage, the high Rents whereof have been applied towards the Repairs of Brixham church; The Churchwardens for the time being have ye direction thereof; I neither know nor have heard of any abuse committed in the management thereof.

  4. Residence upon cure: I do Reside personally upon my Cure, & in my Vicarage house.

  5. Curate: I have no Curate in the Vicarage of Brixham.

  6. Divine service at other churches: No.

  7. Frequency of divine service: In my Church of Brixham I perform Divine Service <& Preach a Sermon> both forenoon & Afternoon every Sunday, Read Prayers there every Holiday, & every day in the Passion week, & every Saturday evening when the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is to be administred ye next day & preach there & at Churston on Occasional days. – In Churston Ferrers I likewise perform ye morning service & preach every Sunday beginning a little after eleven; & at Kingsware the Evening Service with a Sermon on the first Sunday of every Month, when there is no Sermon that Afternoon at Brixham.

    Churston Ferrers & Kingsware are Chapels annex'd to the Vicarage of Brixham; the former was never serv'd more than once a Sunday, nor the latter more than once a month, except when the Inhabitants of Kingsware paid subscriptions in satisfaction to the Vicar for gettting their Chapel serv'd one part of every Sunday alternatively with Churston Ferrers, which are now discontinued. All ye vicarial tithes of Kingsware amounted in my Predecessor's time but to fourteen shillings per annum, which I have advanc'd to twenty, which with £5 per annum, appropriated by ye governors of Queen Ann's Bounty is all I have for preaching twelve sermons there every year & administring ye Sacrament three times, besides my attendance in visiting the sick &c: My Immediate Predecessor Mr Curtis left by his last Will £200 to be laid out in the Reversion of an Estate in fee simple after three lives, to be applied when it falls in hand towards their being serv'd every Sunday, which has been done accordingly by his Trustees.

  8. Frequency of communion: The Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is administred four times in the year at Brixham & Churston Ferrers, & three times at Kingsware.

  9. Number of communicants: About eighty usually Receive at Brixham, thirty at Churston, & forty at Kingsware which last number is partly made up of the most distant Inhabitants of the Parish of Brixham, & who indeed likewise contributed towards having Divine Service perform'd at Kingware once every Sunday when 'twas so done. Near the same Number communicated at each place at Easter last past.

  10. Catechising of children: I Catechise the Children every day in the Passion week & on Easter Monday & Teusday, after the second Lesson at Morning Prayer. The Parishioners send their Children & Apprentices to be Catechis'd, but not their Servants who are grown Men & Women.

  11. Chapels or chapels in ruins: We have, as I said before two Chapels in my Vicarage, viz Churston Ferrers & Kingsware, the former is a little mile distant from ye Parish Church, the other about three miles, they are both serv'd by me. We have no Chapel that I know of in Ruins.

    Chas Vinicombe Vicar

    Brixham V. C. Vinicombe A.M. Inst. Octbr. 3. 1729. Presb. Septr 22. 1728. Stephen Exon. [Explanation]