Wadebridge

Wadebridge, a market town and seaport in the St Austell parliamentary division of Cornwall, England, on the Great Western and London & South-Western railways, 38 m. W.N.W. of Plymouth. Pop. of urban district (1901), 2186. It is picturesquely situated at the head of the estuary of the river Camel, 7 m. from its mouth in Padstow Bay on the north coast. A stone bridge, consisting of seventeen arches, was built in 1485 over the river, and made a county bridge under James I. The parish church of Egloshayle, nearly 2 m. from the town, is in the main Perpendicular, with a beautiful tower; but part of the fabric is Early English. The neighbouring church of St Breock is Decorated and Perpendicular, with a fine font of the earlier period. An ancient round-headed cross stands near the town. There is considerable agricultural trade, and iron founding is carried on; while in the neighbourhood some copper, lead, granite and slate are worked and exported in small vessels; coal, timber and general merchandise being imported.