Brixham Church Town, and Brixham Quay, which have derived considerable consequence of late years, and become much improved, through their proximity to Torbay.

Near Brixham Church Town, is an ebbing and flowing spring called Laywell, of which the following particular account has been given by a former tourist, who remarks, as the result of his own observations, that he had carefully attended to its periods, and the quantity of its ebbing and flowing, for fourteen hours together.

"The situation of this spring is pretty near the foot of a large ridge of hills, and the quantity of water flowing from it considerable. It falls into a large basin. By a careful observation of a great number of fluxes and refluxes, I find that when it proceeds regularly, as it sometimes does for eight hours together, it is eleven times in an hour.

"There happens sometimes an intermission of these ebbings and flowings; for, on the same day that the above remarks were made, the spring had no motion once for upwards of an hour, and at another time for above twenty minutes."

The basin that receives the water, is supposed to be about twenty feet in area; the perpendicular height of the flowing various, sometimes an inch and three quarters, but generally about one inch and one-eighth.

One mile to the north-west of Brixham, is Lupton-house, the seat of — Buller, Esq.: it is finely situated in an ascent, and its southern front is particularly handsome. The eminences about it are well wooded, and the watered vales lie spread out beneath them. About a mile distant, at Brixham, is Upton-house, G. H. Cutler, Esq.

At Brixham, within the bay, are kept a large number of sloops for the sole purpose of trawling, by which the best flat fish, as turbots, soles, and plaise, besides great quantities of whitings, pipers, gurnets, and other fish frequenting that coast, are taken some leagues out at sea. The fishing is continued during the year, the fish being sent to their ultimate destination by land-carriage.

A pier has within these few years, been built at Brixham. This town has increased very much within these few years, and carries on an extensive fishery. The fish is of the best kind, and is conveyed to various parts of the kingdom.

Brixham, a dependency on the port of Dartmouth, has no less than 100 sail of vessels employed in the fisheries. These boats are built much larger than formerly, as in the summer months they are engaged in a number of freights in the culm trade, averaging a burthen of about eighty quarters; of this, each quarter contains sixteen heaped Winchester bushels. Their principal fish markets are London, Bath, and Bristol; but if there is a likelihood of any glut, the whiting, flounders, thornback, gurnet, &c. are first cleaned, and well washed in salt water, and afterwards gently salted and dried in the sun. Thus prepared they make an excellent relish called buckhorn, much used in the navy in war, and always on the French coast in time of peace, being sold from 10s. to 16s. per hundred fish, according to their size and quality.

Near Brixham is the promontory of Berry Head, on which some barracks were erected, during the late war.

The views of Torbay from Brixham and Berry Head are very fine. William the Third landed here November 4, 1688.

The sail down the Dart from Totness to Dartmouth is incomparably fine. Here are extraordinary successions of fine views.

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BRIXHAM is a market and seaport town and extensive fishing station and parish on the southern headland of Torbay, connected with the Dartmouth and Torbay branch of the Great Western railway by a branch line from Churston station, 2 miles in length, authorized by Act of Parliament in 1864, and opened for passenger traffic 28th February, 1868, and for goods traffic in May the following year. The town is 9 miles east-by-south from Totnes, 5 north-east from Dartmouth, 30 south from Exeter, 8 ¼ south from Torquay (on the opposite side of the bay) by road, or 5 by water, and 226 ½ from London. The town extends in a long straggling street for more than a mile south from Lower Brixham, or Brixham Quay, with a picturesque valley opening to the quay, and bounded on the east by lofty sea cliffs and by Berry Head, the most easterly point of the bay: the parish is in the Southern division of the county, hundred of Haytor, petty sessional division of Paignton, union and county court district of Totnes, rural deanery of Ipplepen, archdeaconry of Totnes and diocese of Exeter.

The “Local Government Act, 1858” (21 and 22 Vict, c. 98), was adopted by Lower Brixham Sept. 19, 1862, but the town is now governed by an Urban District Council, formed under the Act of 1894 (56 and 57 Vict, c. 73), and consisting of 12 members. The powers of the Harbour and Market Commissioners have been transferred to the Urban District Council by the “Brixham Harbour and Market Act of 1896.” The town has been well drained under the superintendence of E. Appleton C.E. considerable additions having been made from time to time, and the main outfall was further extended into Torbay in 1899. Water is supplied from a reservoir constructed in Higher Brixham, at a cost of about £4,000: during 1888 the part of the town on Furzeham and the higher levels has been supplied with water by water and steam power and a large tank erected on Furzeham Common.

The harbour, being well protected by the bold high promontory of Berry Head, is a place of refuge for shipping in stormy weather; and during westerly winds great numbers of vessels may be seen riding at anchor here and in other parts of the bay. The old pier was built under the powers of the Harbour and Market Improvement Act, passed in 1799, and was finished in 1804; but the harbour not being sufficiently large for the increased size of the vessels and the general trade of the port, a new pier and breakwater was begun in 1843, and up to the present time a length of 1,363 feet has been constructed and the fabric strengthened from time to time at a cost of £28,000.

Brixham depends entirely on its fishing industry; there are at present over 300 fishing smacks, varying from 20 to 50 tons, which hail from this port; and the population not engaged as fishermen, are mainly employed in building these smacks and in making ropes, sails and other requisites for outfit.

On the 5th of November, 1688, William, Prince of Orange, landed here at the invitation of the Whig leaders, the Earls of Shrewsbury, Devonshire and Danby, Admiral Russell and others, to preserve, in the words on his banner, “the Protestant religion and the liberties of England,” and on the quay, protected by an iron railing, is a stone on which, it is said, he first set foot on landing: the Prince was entertained during his stay at the house of Christopher Farwell, mayor of Totnes in 1656: the bicentenary of this event was celebrated on the 5th of November, 1888, by a public meeting and a grand banquet, and a statue of William HI. has since been erected, at a cost of £700, from the model by Messrs. Wills, of London; the foundation stone of the pedestal was laid by His Excellency Count Van Bylandt, Netherlands Minister, and the statue unveiled 5th November, 1889, by C. A. Bentinck esq. J.P. In July, 1815, H.M.S. “Bellerophon,” 'Captain Maitland, anchored in the roadstead here, after receiving on board the Emperor Napoleon, and remained several days before sailing for St. Helena. This coast was visited with a very severe storm on the night of January 10th, 1866, when upwards of 40 merchant vessels, out of a fleet of 64 then anchored in Torbay, were driven from their anchors and wrecked or stranded, most of them being totally lost, and more than 100 men are supposed to have perished, 29 of whom are buried in Brixham churchyard: a monument, surmounted by a cross and anchor, was erected to their memory by the Brixham Shipwrecked Sailors’ Relief Committee, from the surplus of £3,211 9s. 5d. entrusted to them by a generous public, after relieving the widows and orphans and other sufferers from the gale.

The parish church of St. Mary the Virgin, which stands in the higher part of Brixham, is an ancient building of stone in the Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave, transepts, aisles, two side chapels, south porch and an embattled western tower 103 feet high, with pinnacles, containing a clock and 6 bells, all cast by Abel Rudhall in 1737; in 1852 it was repaired at a cost of about £665, and in 1867 the church was reroofed and other repairs executed at a cost of £1,100; the south porch has a finely-groined roof, the centre boss representing the Virgin crowned, with two angels incensing on either side; in the church is a monument to Sir Francis Buller bart. justice of the Common Pleas, and ancestor of the present Lord Churston, who died 5th June, 1800; the stained east window was presented jointly by the late Lord Churston and the late vicar, and there are also two memorial windows in the chancel, inserted in 1881, to the Rev. R. Holdsworth, late vicar, by his daughters: the font dates from the 14th century and is richly carved; the fine screen once here disappeared before 1861; there are 700 sittings. The register of baptisms dates from the year 1587; marriages 1556; burials 1560; and the books contain the names of the vicars from 1566 to the present time. The living is a vicarage, with the chapelry of Churston Ferrers annexed, joint net yearly value £280, with residence, in the gift of the Crown, and held since 1900 by the Rev. Richard William Perry Circuitt Assoc. K.C.L. The church was formerly served by the monks of Totnes Priory, and the vicar has to pay a sum of £1 3s. 6d. yearly as a fee farm rent to the present possessor of these rights. The population in 1891 was 2,106. John Travers M.A. vicar in 1645, a cousin of “the judicious Hooker,” and a learned and amiable man, was ejected for his unshaken loyalty to the king, and never restored; his son, also a clergyman, was taken prisoner by the Parliamentary soldiers while conducting divine service in the church.

The church of All Saints’, erected in 1820, is a building of stone, consisting of chancel with aisles, nave, aisles, organ chamber and vestry, added in 1872: the chancel was built as a memorial to the Rev. J. R. Hogg, late vicar: in 1886 a south aisle was added, at a cost of £1,800; and in 1892 a new north aisle was erected, heating apparatus fixed and the seats re-arranged at a cost of £2,300: the west front and stained west window, completed at the same time, form a memorial to the late Mrs. Hogg, of Berry Head, and were erected at the cost of her relations and friends: in 1898 the nave roof was renewed, at a cost of £800, in memory of the late Rev. Robert Bissett Fenwick Ebrington M.A. vicar 1854 to 1889: the church affords 1,000 sittings. The register dates from the year 1826. The living was declared a vicarage April 3rd, 1866; net yearly value £224, including 8 acres of glebe, with residence, in the gift of the Crown, and held since 1889 by the Rev. Stewart Sim M.A. of Trinity College, Oxford, and surrogate. The Rev. H. F. Lyte, author of the well-known hymn, “Abide with me,” was the first incumbent of this parish.

The St. Peter’s Mission Church for Seamen, erected in 1874, at a cost of £2,212, is a building of stone in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave and north aisle, with organ chamber: there are 350 sittings. The Rev. Arthur Baring-Gould M.A. of Magdalene College, Oxon, has been curate-in-charge since 1901.

The Baptist chapel, in Market street, was rebuilt in 1858 and restored in 1895.

The Congregational church in Bolton street, erected in 1843, at a cost of £2,000, was restored in 1872, and will seat 500 persons.

The Wesleyan chapel in Fore street, erected in 1816 at a cost of £2,000, was enlarged and improved in 1871 at a cost of about £200, and has sittings for 800 persons; the Sunday schools on the opposite side of the street, erected in 1889 at a cost of about £1,100, are of stone in the Gothic style.

The cemetery, which adjoins the churchyard in Higher Brixham, is 1 ¾ acres in extent, additional ground having been consecrated by the Bishop of Exeter in 1900.

The Freemasons’ Hall, in Church street is a building of dressed limestone, erected in 1886, at a cost of about £650; the Temperance Hall, Bolton street, erected in 1869, at a cost of £1,100, including the site, is let for entertainments and lectures, and will seat about 450 persons.

The market is held daily.

The early closing day is on Wednesday.

The market, built in 1877, at a cost of £3,000, on a site presented by H. W. Nelson esq. The Hyde, Middlesex, comprises market and public halls, magistrates’ room, Urban District Council and school board offices. The Artillery Volunteers drill at the market buildings; the Royal Naval Reserve Battery, whose head quarters are in Berry Head road, numbers about 400 men.

A regatta for vessels ranging from 15 to 60 tons is held occasionally in the month of August.

The Conservative club, in Bolton square, was erected in 1900, at a cost of £1,500, and contains reading, billiard, committee, card and refreshment rooms, caretakers’ apartments and offices and kiel alley.

The Liberal Club, in Bolton street, was erected in 1898, at a cost of about £700, and comprises reading, card and billiard rooms, kiel alley and caretaker’s premises in the rear.

In 1858, during the progress of some quarrying, a cavern containing stalactites and bones was discovered and thoroughly explored by the Royal Geological Society, who obtained a lease of the place for one year. The first crust consisted of a foot of stalactite flooring, underneath which was a stratum of bone, averaging three feet in depth, out of which upwards of 2,000 different specimens were recovered, consisting of flint implements, bones and teeth: below this formation were water-worn pebbles, varying in depth: the extent of the cavern, which has been much affected by aqueous action, exceeds 600 feet, and the stalactites with which it is encrusted are remarkable for the fantastic character of their formation.

Messrs. J. W. and A. Upham, Mr. S. Dewdney, Mr. D. Dewdney, Mr. R. Jackman, shipbuilders, each employ 20 or 30 men, and there are two roperies, in which 40 men and boys are employed. This town also contains the works of the Torbay Paint Company, where “Calley’s” Torbay paint, well known and largely used throughout the world for the preservation of iron and steel, is manufactured.

The British Seamen’s Orphan Boys’ Home for the western counties was originally established in the Berry-head road, in this parish, in 1859, by the late William Gibbs esq. of Tyntesfield, near Bristol, for the purpose of making provision for the orphan sons of seamen, and subsequently a new building near to Rock House was opened in December, 1863, and completed in 1864; in 1873 these premises were enlarged, and in 1875 a separate school room for 50 boys was erected at the cost of the Baroness Burdett-Coutts. An entirely new wing was built by subscription in 1838-g, at a cost of £1,400. The freehold of the Home and Rock House and its grounds, now the chaplain’s residence, have been vested by Mrs. Gibbs in the Bishop of the diocese as trustee. The Home is now available for 70 boys, and there are at present (1901) 45 boys in residence: it is maintained by voluntary subscriptions and managed by a committee. The Rev. Tom Lumsden Brown L.Th. of Durham University, is resident chaplain and secretary.

Lang’s charities, producing £33 yearly, are distributed in clothes and money. The charity of G. H. Cutler, of Upton, produces £23, which is distributed in coal and blankets to the poor of Higher Brixham only.

Nethway, the residence of Llewellyn Llewellyn esq. J.P. is an ancient mansion of historic interest, situated midway between Brixham and Kingswear.

There are manorial rights: the manor was formerly held in four parts, one-fourth by the Duchess of Cleveland and the Earl of Sandwich, one-fourth originally by 12 fishermen, who were styled Quay lords, and the other two-fourths were held by Sir Henry Paul Seale, of Dartmouth, the Right Hon. Charles Seale-Hayne P.C., M.P., J.P. of Kingswear Castle, and the representatives of the late W. Gillard esq. Waste lands and commons have been allotted to several proprietors under an award made by Mr. W. Borey, acting for the Inclosure Act Commissioners: a recreation ground, containing 8 acres, and an allotment garden for the poor, containing 4 acres, have been laid out.

The principal landowners are Lord Churston, The Right. Hon. Charles Seale-Hayne P.C., M.P. Llewellyn Llewellyn esq. Nethway, Mrs. Philip Gillard, Black Hause, Higher Brixham, Thomas Lakeman esq. Thomas Bedford Bolitho esq. and William Green esq. of Burton villa. Llewellyn Llewellyn esq. is lay impropriator of the great tithe of this parish, and also of Kingswear and Churston Ferrers. The soil is light; subsoil, slate, Durstone limestone. The chief crops are oats, barley and wheat and pasture. The area of the civil parish and Urban District is 5,611 acres of land and 141 of foreshore; rateable value, £23,559; population in 1891 was 7,978. At the time of each census being taken several hundred men and boys were at sea. The population of the Urban District and parish in 1901 was 8,090. The population of the ecclesiastical parishes in 1891 was:-St. Mary the Virgin (parish church), 2,106; All Saints, Lower Brixham, 6.439.

Petty Sessions are held at the New Market buildings every alternate Friday, at 11 a.m.. The places in the division are Brixham, Churston Ferrers, Kingswear, Marldon, Paignton & Stoke Gabriel.

VOLUNTEERS

Devonshire (1st) Volunteer Artillery Western Division Royal Garrison Artillery 2 Company, Drill hall, New Market buildings; headquarters, 3 New road; Lieut. William B. Maddock, commanding.

PLACES OF WORSHIP, with Times of Services

Parish Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Rev. Richard William Perry Circuitt Assoc. K.C.L, vicar; Rev. Jas. Greaves B.A. curate; 10.45 a.m.. & 6.30 p.m.; Thur. 7 p.m.

All Saints’ Church, Lower Brixham, Rev Stewart Sim M.A. vicar; 8 & 11 a.m.. & 6.30 p.m.; Wed. 7p.m.; daily at 9 a.m.

St. Peter’s (Mission to Seamen), Rev. Arthur Baring-Gould M.A. curate-in-charge; 8 & 10.30 a.m.. & 6.30 p.m.; daily, 8 a.m.. & 7.30 p.m.

Baptist, Market street, 10.45 a.m.. & 6.30 p.m.; Wed. 7 p.m.

Congregational, Bolton street, Rev. John Appleyard; 11 a.m.. & 6.30 p.m.; Wed. 7.30 p.m.

Wesleyan Methodist, Fore street, Rev. Verrant Wills; 10.45 a.m.. & 6.30 p.m.; Thur. 8 p.m.

Brethren, Mount Pleasant road; 11 a.m.. & 6.30 p.m.; Wed. 7.30 p.m.

Gospel Union Hall, Fore street; 11 a.m.. & 3 & 6.30 p.m.; weak days, 8 p.m. except Fridays.

Town Mission Room, Bolton street.

SCHOOLS

A School Board of 7 members was formed April 1, 1874; William Philalethes Spark, clerk to the board; George G. Potter, Burton street, school attendance officer.

Board, Furzeham hill, built in 1889, for 350 boys, 300 girls & 300 infants; average attendance, 300 boys, 170 girls & 170 infants.

Board, Higher Brixham (girls & infants), for 200 children; average attendance, 80 girls & 130 infants.

Board, Nethway (mixed), built in 1886, for 100 children; average attendance, 30.

National Endowed, Bolton street (boys & girls), for 550 children; average attendance, 312 boys & 220 girls; & endowed with £75 yearly; a full average attendance.