IVYBRIDGE is a large and respectable village, with many neat houses, picturesquely seated on the banks of the river Erme, where there is an ancient ivy mantled bridge, on the Plymouth and Exeter road, 11 miles E. by N. of the former, and 34 miles S.S.W. of the latter. The South Devon Railway crosses the valley by a bridge and viaduct, a little to the north, and has a station here. More than half of the village is in the Ermington parish, and the rest is in the three parishes of Cornwood, Harford, and Ugborough. It has a post office, several neat villas, and many good lodging houses; three large and commodious inns, two paper mills, a large corn mill, several good shops, an extensive joint-stock tannery and leather manufactory, a district church, and two chapels. About 17 years ago, when the new road was made, a new bridge was erected a little below the old one. The bed of the river shews, by its jagged rocks, the impestuous nature of the stream, which having but just escaped from the high moorlands, rushes down, after heavy rains, like a wild cataract, through the deep and narrow valley, the woody banks of which rise in some places, above the old bridge, so abruptly, that the foliage of the trees on either side meet, and form a sylvan arch over the river, which runs southward to Bigbury Bay, about seven miles below. The enchanting scenery of the village and neighbourhood attracts numerous visitors in summer and autumn, from Plymouth, Devonport, and other places; and the inns and lodging houses afford excellent accomodation for all ranks. Sir F. L. Rogers, Bart., is lord of the manor of Ivybridge, which extends into Cornwood and Ermington parishes. In that part of the village in the former parish, a Chapel of Ease was built by subscription in 1790, and in 1835 it was consecrated as a District Church. It has an embattled tower, and the living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of Sir F. L. Rogers, and incumbency of the Rev. J. D. Cork, M.A. An Infant School was established in 1849; and here is a small Weslyan Chapel, built in 1812; and an Independent Chapel, erected in 1845.
