Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 2.djvu/484

Rh KINGSTON- WITH-BLYTHE-BEIDGE. 476 KINGSTOWN. of Hampton Court Palace. The streets have been much widened and improved, and near the station of the South-Western railway an entirely new town has been formed. The noble five-arched bridge of Portland stone connecting Hampton Wick with Kingston was completed in 1828, at a cost of 40,000, in lieu of a wooden one built prior to the reign of Henry III. In connection with this bridge we may mention a curious petition still extant in the Public Record Office, of the king's footmen to Charles II. praying a grant of tho fines which may bo imposed on the bailiffs of Kingston (they prosecuting tho suit at their own charges), for pulling down a part of Kingston Bridge, purposely to raise a benefit for tho bailiffs there by the use of ferry boats to convey passengers, in consequence of which abuse, no watch being kept at the bridge, two children were drowned in the night.- There are malt houses, corn, flax, and oil mills, with breweries and a distillery. The public buildings are, the townhall, house of correc- tion, now used for the barracks of the county militia, county court, gas works, corn and cattle market, union poorhouse, burial board, and police station. Kingston is governed by a mayor, 8 aldermen, and 24 coun- cillors, and is divided into four wards, each ward returning six members. A county court is held every fourth Tuesday for the parishes in Kingston hundred, and petty sessions are held every Thursday for the county, and every AVednesday for the borough. The quarter sessions are held in October. The Lent assizes are also held here. It is a polling place for East Surrey, and was once a parliamentary borough, returning members to the parliaments from 4 Edward II. to 47 Edward III. The living is a vie.* in the dioc. of Win- chester, vol. 500, in the patron, of King's College, Cambridge. The parish church, dedicated to All Saints, has been lately restored. It is an ancient cruciform structure with a tower rising from the intersection, formerly surmounted by a spire, which, having been destroyed by lightning in 1703, was taken down, and a portion of the church, of great antiquity, fell in 1730. The interior contains two brasses, one of which is to Skerne, the founder of the chantry, whoso wife was daughter to Alice Piere, Edward III.'s mistress, and wife of Sir W. do Wyndeson, of Down Hall ; also a monument to Bute, physician of Charles I. In addition to the parish church, there are six district churches, at Ham, St. An- drew's, Norbiton Hook, St. Paul's, Robin-Hood Gate for Kingston Vale, Surbiton, and Christ Church, the livings of which are all perpet. curs., varying in val. from 000 to 80. The district church of St. Mark at Surbiton was consecrated in 1845. The old church, with figures of the Saxon kings, fell down in 1775. The church of St. Peter, at the Norbiton end of tho village, which was erected at the cost of 1,000 by subscriptions, is a hand- some building of brick, with a square tower containing one bell. The charities produce about 1,182 per annum. There are Alderman Cleave's almshouses for 12 poor aged men and women. At Norbiton is the Cambridge asylum for soldiers' widows, the foundation stone of which was laid by the late Prince Consort in 1852. It has a chapel adjoining. There arc grammar, blue- coat, National, and infant schools. Tho Indepen- dents, Baptists, Wesleyans, and Roman Catholics, have places of worship. Many Roman antiquities have been discovered in the immediate vicinity of the town, which induced Dr. Gale to identify this place as occupying tho site of the ancient Tamesa mentioned by the geographer of Ravenna. On digging the foundation of the new bridge across the river, several Roman military weapons were found. K1NGSTON-WITH-BLYTHE-BR1DGE, a par. in the S. div. of the hund. of Totmonslow, co. Stafford, 3 miles S. of Uttoxeter, 10 N.E. of Stafford, and 2 S. of the Bramshall station on the North Staffordshire rail- way. It is a small village. The land is chiefly in pas- ture, and the soil a stiff marl. The living is a perpet. cur. in the dioc. of Lichfield, val. 68. The church is a small ancient structure with a low brick tovcr. Tho parochial charities produce about 3 8s. per annum. it i 5 The Primitive Methodists have a place of worship. The late Earl of Shrewsbury and Talbot was lord of the manor. KINGSTOWN, formerly Dunleary, a seaport, market town, fashionable bathing-place, and station of the Royal Yacht Club, in the par. of Monkstown, co. Dublin, prov. pf Leinster, Ireland, 5 miles S.E. of Dublin. It has two stations on the Kingstown and Bray section of the Dublin and Wicklow railway, one in the town, and tho other at Sandycove Harbour, the royal mail packet station. The former name of this town was derived from Leary, son of " Nial, of the nine hostages," and monarch of Ireland in 458, who resided here. Its present name of Kingstown was conferred on it by George IV. on his embarkation here for England, after his visit to Ireland, in 1821. Queen Victoria also landed and embarked here in August, 1849. It is situated on tho southern shore of the bay of Dublin, and possesses a pier harbour, first projected by Captain Toucher, and begun in 1816 by Rennie. Previous to the formation of this harbour the bay of Dublin was regarded as ex- tremely dangerous for shipping, owing to a bar of sand which obstructed the entrance into the port, and ren- dered the western passage at times utterly impracticable. The cost of this harbour was more than half a million sterling. Its pier is 3,500 feet in length, and its western pier 4,950 feet. By an angular deviation they incline towards each other, leaving at the mouth of the harbour a distance of 850 feet, and enclose an area of 251 statute acres. A quay 40 feet wide is continued along the piers, protected by a parapet, on the sea side, 9 feet high. Along tho breast of the harbour a spacious wharf, 500 feet long, has been erected, where merchant vessels of any burthen may deliver or receive their freight at all tides. A revolving light is placed at the extremity of the western pier. This harbour is now exclusively tho station for the Holyhead and Liverpool steam packets. The Dublin and Kingstown railway, now amalgamated with the Dublin and Wicklow, affords frequent intercourse between these towns. It was first opened in 1834, and was continued to Dalkey in 1844, on the atmospheric principle, but this being found im- practicable in working, it has since been continued to Bray on the ordinary plan. The town has recently greatly increased in wealth and population, and in 1861 contained 1,823 houses, inhabited by a population of 11,584. It mainly consists of one spacious street, half a mile long, with several smaller streets branching out in all directions. There are several handsome ranges of buildings, as Gresham-terrace and Haddington-terraco. It contains market and court houses, fever hospital, a savings-bank, baths, hotels, lying-in hospital, race- stand, and George IV.'s obelisk, near the quay. Here is an Episcopal chapel, built by subscription, and called the "Protestant Episcopal Mariners' Church." In tho Roman Catholic arrangement the town is the head of a union comprising the parishes of Dalkey, Killiney, Old Connaught, Rathmichael, Tully, and the greater part of Monkstown and Kill. The chapel is a handsome building. There are also places of worship for Wes- leyans, Independents, and Presbyterians, and a convent of Mercy. There are numerous schools in connection with the several denominations. According to census of 1861, the proportions were, 3,335 belonging the Established Church, 7,745 Roman Catholics, 167 Presbyterians, 88 Methodists, 165 Independents, and 88 of all other denominations. From the purity of its air, its convenient situation, and excellent sea-bathing, Kingstown has become a great summer resort for the citizens of Dublin. The immediate neighbourhood is thickly studded with villas and handsome residences. Races are held annually in August, also regattas in the harbour. Near here are remarkable quarries of fine granite, which was employed in tho erection of the bridge over the Menai Straits, and for the harbours Howth and Kingstown. This town is the head of a coa: guard district, including a force of 5 officers and 38 men, under an inspecting resident commander. There is also here a constabulary police force. Potty sessions inn