Milton Abbot in 1902

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Taken from the Kelly’s Post Office Directory of 1902.

MILTON ABBOT, so called from its connection with the abbey of Tavistock, is a village and parish, on the high road from Tavistock to Launceston, and watered by the river Tamar; it is 3 1/2 miles south-west from Coryton station on the Launceston branch of the Great Western railway, 6 north-west from Tavistock, 7 3/4 south east from Launceston, in the Western division of the county, Tavistock hundred, petty sessional division, union and county court district, and in the rural deanery of Tavistock, archdeaconry of Totnes and diocese of Exeter. Edgcumbe, in this parish, gives the title of baron to the Edgcumbe family, Earls of Mount-Edgcumbe. The church of St. Constantine, erected about 1460, in the Perpendicular style, consists of chancel, nave of four bays, aisles, two south porches and an embattled western tower, with pinnacles, containing a clock and 6 bells, all re-cast by John Pennington and Co. in 1769 : attached to the north wall of the nave is a turret containing the staircase, still perfect, which formerly led to the rood-loft: the timber roof is relieved with foliaged bosses, and there is an octagonal font, ornamented with quatrefoiled panels and shields : the east window is stained, and there is a memorial window, erected by the Rev. Samuel Lane, sometime vicar of Holne, from 1827, to his wife, daughter of Dr. Robert Jago, a former vicar, there is another to Dr. Jago himself, and two others, placed by the Rev. Sir St. Vincent Love Hammick bart. vicar 1836-88, who died in 1888, to his father-in-law, Robert Alexander esq. his son Albert Hammick, and to his father, Sir Stephen Love Hammick bart. d. 15 June, 1867: there are also memorials to the Edgcumbe family, 1589-1781, and to that of Doidge, 1584-1717: the church was thoroughly restored in 1860, at a cost of £1,500, and has 300 sittings. The register of baptisms and burials dates from the year 1653; marriages, 1654. The living is a vicarage, net yearly income £400. including 80 acres of glebe, with residence, in the gift of the Duke of Bedford, and held since 1890 by the Rev. Harry Martin Petty M.A. of Hatfield Ball, Durham. The Duke of Bedford is owner of the great tithes, valued at 374. Here are Wesleyan and Bible Christian chapels, and there is also a Bible Christian chapel at Chillaton. There is a Working Men’s Beading Room and a parish library of 300 volumes! A fair is held here on the last Tuesday in July. The charity called ” Jewell’s trust ” consists of dividends arising from 567 stock, left by will, dated 7 Jan. 1783, by Nicholas Jewell, of Stoke Climsland, mason, and has a yearly value of about £16 10s. ; of this two-thirds belong to Stoke Climsland, Cornwall, and the other third to Milton, and is applied to the support of a clothing club for the poor. This place, in the latter part of the 16th century, was the residence of several families named Rundle, of whom was Thomas Rundle LL.B. born here in 1686, prebendary of Salisbury, archdeacon of Wilts and Bishop of Derry, 1734-43 ; he died 15th April, 1743. The manor, as part of the possessions of the dissolved abbey of Tavistock, was granted to Sir John Russell, Baron Russell of Chenies, and subsequently Earl of Bedford K.G. 4th July, 1539. Endsleigh, a picturesque fabled building on the Cornish border, in the Anglo Swiss style, erected by John, 6th Duke of Bedford, in 1810, from designs by Sir Jeffrey Wyattville, is surrounded by extensive and enchanting grounds of nearly 3,500 acres, through which flows the river Tamar, and Is a residence of his Grace the Duke of Bedford, who is lord of the manor: in one of the gables is a figure of the last abbot of Tavistock. The Duke of Bedford, William Henry Chichester esq. of Grensfen, Tavistock, John Carpenter-Gamier esq. of Rookesbnry Park, Fareham, Hants, Mrs. Wood, of Brentwood, Essex, the Hon. Mrs. Tremayne, of Sydenham House, Lewdown, the Rev. Maitland Kelly M.A. of Kelly, and Messrs. William and Alfred Brook, of Lamerton, are the chief landowners. The soil is light loam ; subsoil, partly limestone, but very varied. The land is fertile, and is mostly arable and pasture land. The area is 6,744 acres ; rateable value, 7,983; the population in -1891 was 780.
CHIILLATON is a small place in the north of the parish.

Post, M. O. & T. 0., T. M. 0., S. B., Express Delivery, Parcel & Annuity & Insurance Office, Milton Abbot.
John Rice, sub-postmaster. Letters received from Tavistock at 6.54 a.m. ; dispatched at 5.318 p.m
Post & M. 0. 0., S. B. & Annuity & Insurance Office, Chillaton. John Prest, sub-postmaster. Letters through Lew Down R.S.O. North Devon; delivery commences at 9 a.m. ; dispatched at 3.50 p.m. week days only. Coryton railway station is the nearest telegraph office, 2 miles distant.

Schools.
A School Board of 5 members was formed July 19, 1877; Rev. H. M. Petty M.A. chairman & hon. clerk to the board ; Harry Rice, attendance officer Board, Milton Green (boys), erected by the late Duke of Bedford, in 1829, for 98 boys ; average attendance, 36; John Mortimore, master Board (girls & infants), built in 1848, for 60 children; average attendance, 52 ; Miss Mary H. Smith, mistress Board, Chillaton (mixed & infants), opened in 1867, for 60 children ; average attendance, 39 ; Walter John Hare, master.

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