Kelly's Directory (1886) - Kingston

Kingston, a parish in the rural deanery of West Medina, archdeaconry of the Isle of Wight and diocese of Winchester, is situated 6 miles south-south-west from Newport. The church of St. Paul is a small building of stone in the Early English style, pleasantly situated on an eminence, and has chancel, nave, turret and 1 bell: the church was restored in 1871: all the windows are stained. The register dates from the year 1625. The living is a rectory, yearly value £223, in the gift of T.C. Baring esq. M.P. and held since 1883 by the Rev. Thomas Binstead Macnamara M.A. of Magdalen Hall, Oxford. Edward Granville Ward esq. is lord of the manor and chief landowner. The soil is sandy on sand rock. The chief crops are wheat and barley. the area is 914 acres; rateable value, £1,045; and the population in 1881 was 69, being the smallest number of any parish in the island.

[Description(s) from Kelly's Directory of the Isle of Wight (1886)]