Cockington
Cockington is located within Torbay local authority area. Historically it formed part of Haytor Hundred. It falls within Ipplepen Deanery for ecclesiastical purposes. The Deaneries are used to arrange the typescript Church Notes of B.F.Cresswell which are held in the Westcountry Studies Library. The population was 294 in 1801 2669 in 1901 . Figures for other years are available on the local studies website. In the valuation of 1334 it was assessed at £00/16/08. The lay subsidy of 1524 valued the community at £19/12/00. In 1641/2 115 adult males signed the Protestation returns. Formerly a market town, it is a parish and village in Torquay. A market is recorded from 14 cent..
You can look for other material on the community by using the place search on the main local studies database. Further historical information is also available on the Genuki website.
Maps: The image below is of the Cockington area on Donn's one inch to the mile survey of 1765.
On the County Series Ordnance Survey mapping the area is to be found on 1:2,500 sheet 116/13 Six inch (1:10560) sheet 116SW
The National Grid reference for the centre of the area is SX895639. On the post 1945 National Grid Ordnance Survey mapping the sheets are: 1:10,000 (six inch to a mile: sheet SX86SE, 1:25,000 mapping: sheet Explorer 031, Landranger (1:50,000) mapping: sheet 202. Geological sheet 350 also covers the area.
Illustrations: The image below is of Cockington as included in the Library's illustrations collection. Other images can be searched for on the local studies catalogue.
A fair is known from: 14 cent.. Extract from The glove is up! Devon's historic fairs, by Tricia Gerrish, by kind permission of the author.
COCKINGTON (near Torquay)
LOCATION:Village reached from seafront near Torre Abbey Sands
ORIGINAL CHARTER:c.1297. Obtained by Walter de Woodland. Three day fair held at Holy Trinity. c.1354. Second fair granted by Edward III
In about 1297, Walter de Woodland obtained a charter for a 3 day fair, to be held at Holy Trinity. Another, for 'Cokynton' appears in a list of charters issued in medieval times, granted by Edward III in around 1354. The Lysons reported that there 'has not been a trace of fair or market within memory of any person living.'
Extract from Devon by W.G.Hoskins (1954), included by kind permission of the copyright holder:
The little village of Cockington [in TORQUAY] still stands unspoilt, beyond the suburbs of Torquay, and is famous even among Devon villages for its beauty. Cockington Court is a house of 16th and 17th century date, delightfully placed in a small park. It was the home of the Carys from the time of Richard II until they were forced to sell out to the Mallocks in 1654. It continued with the Mallocks down to 1927. W. H. Mallock's Memoirs of Life and Literature has some good pages on life here in his early days. The mansion and park were acquired by the Torquay Corporation in 1935 for the sum of £50,000.
