Bridge-Rule

BRIDGE-RULE, a parish, in the union of Holsworthy, partly in the hundred of Black Torrington, Holsworthy and N. divisions of Devon, and partly in the hundred of Stratton, E. division of Cornwall, 4 miles (W.) from Holsworthy; containing 497 inhabitants, of whom 276 are in the western or Cornwall portion. This parish, which comprises by computation 3600 acres, and is situated on the Tamar, derives its name from a bridge over that river, and from Ruald or Reginald, lord of the manor soon after the Conquest. The part in Cornwall is intersected by the Bude canal, cut chiefly for the conveyance of sand to Launceston, the road from which place to Stratton also passes through the parish. The soil is various, about one-half being good arable and pasture land, and the remainder moor and marsh; the substratum is chiefly clay, with a deep mould above, where the soil is good: the surface, in general, is hilly. Stone is quarried for road-making and building purposes. A fair is held on the 21st of June. The living is a discharged vicarage, endowed with a portion of the rectorial tithes, and valued in the king's books at £14; net income, £150; patron, the Rev. T. H. Kingdon; impropriators of the remainder of the great tithes, the Landowners. The land appertaining to the vicarage consists of about 160 acres, and an excellent glebe-house has been built. The church, which stands in Devonshire, has a tower cased with granite. There are places of worship for Primitive and Wesleyan Methodists.