Cockington, Devon
Church of St George &amp; St Mary, Cockington, Devon stands in the grounds of Cockington Court  - Originally the Norman dedication of the earlier church was only to St George until 1296 when  the church became the possession of the Canons of Torre who would have wanted St Mary included.  Unusually St George continued to be named first 

​There has been a church here since Saxon times.  The original place of worship was a private (?) chapel thought to have been built by William de Falesia a Norman who had many areas of Devon and Somerset given to him after 1066. 

The first part of the church to be built was the nave in c.1069 followed by the tower built in the Romanesque style in c.1236.   
in 1297 part of the north aisle was added which was further extended c.1400 along with the building of the north porch. 

​The tower stands 66 feet tall with walls 6 feet thick in places. There are three floors which are believed to have been the accommodation for the priest in residence who would have been provided by Torre Abbey. There is a fire place and drain in the first floor floor room (now the bell ringing chamber) which further supports this theory.    There is also evidence of it also being a place of refuge from local pirates -  by the front door there is an oak beam 6 feet 4 inches long that can be slid across when the door is closed and the door and the walls have several arrow slits.

​St George’s Chapel north of the main altar was built in the early 14c by Roger de Cockington as his family chantry chapel.  The Cockington family were the owners of the Court for 229  years until the Cary family took up ownership in 1374.
 In St George’s chapel there is also a bible on display which contains the 27th letter of the original alphabet.  <a href="https://www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/c6Kq2txMXq">www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/c6Kq2txMXq</a>

​The south chapel also built in early 14c was dedicated to St Katherine and funded by Sir Walter de Wodeland in memory of his wife Katerina.   Evidence of the altar still remains behind the organ which now fills the chapel 

​The font which came from Torre Abbey,  was given by Robert Cary to celebrate his second marriage to Jane Carew.  It is octagonal in shape and made of Caen stone. <a href="https://www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/r533sBFcbP">www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/r533sBFcbP</a> On the 8 faces are the coats of arms the families connected by marriage to Robert with shields of Cary (3 roses) &amp; Carew (3 lions)   The later Elizabethan font cover, which is no longer used, is now in the north chapel <a href="https://www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/pM8443on5p">www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/pM8443on5p</a>

High on the north west corner of the nave is the 
Commonwealth Bell cast in 1653 which at that time was in total defiance of Cromwell's order that no bells should be rung <a href="https://www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/8324T362Z8">www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/8324T362Z8</a>

There were 3 bells in the tower which were all cracked until 1908 when it was decided to have two recast and that there should be four bells in all, the Commonwealth bell being removed to its present situation.  Rev. Henning was supported by Captain Mallock in his desire to have them rehung in the upper room and they decided to raise funds by holding an “Old Time Village Fair”, the forerunner of Cockington Fayre, which was so successful it raised sufficient funds for the four bells to be put in place. The two that were recast, the tenor, the heaviest of the bells weighs 9cwt and the treble, the lightest, weighs just over 4cwt.  The two other bells are inscribed &quot;Charles and Iris Mallock, Cockington Court&quot;.  In 1909, a fifth bell was added inscribed “The gift of William Tanner in memory of his wife and Emily&quot;.  In 1910 the sixth was added as a gift from Col. Lucius and Louisa Cary in memory of all the Cary’s buried in the Church.  

In the north aisle , the cross in the third window marks the death of Major C. H. Mallock who died in 1917 in WW1   The names of all the parishioners who died in the two world wars are also recorded. <a href="https://www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/0d8L6D578v">www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/0d8L6D578v</a>

The pulpit is thought to have come from a Spanish warship during the time of the Spanish Armada, which was washed up in the bay and taken to the Spanish Barn at Torre Abbey where it lay untouched for centuries before being installed here.  (lord of the manor, Sir George Cary === who died in 1617  was prominent during the Spanish Armada and was responsible for the defence of Torbay.  When the Spanish galleon, Nuestra Senora del Rosario, was grounded in Torbay, 397 sailors were also taken to the Spanish Barn under his direction.  Sir George advanced the money to “relieve the misery of the Spanish prisoners, otherwise they must have perished.” The cost being £84 8s 11d. )  Some say it was from where the captain preached and others, that it was the crow’s nest. ( !! ) <a href="https://www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/T20q7Xd762">www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/T20q7Xd762</a> It  was bought c 1820 by Rev. Roger Mallock, the then Squire of Cockington, who saved it from being broken up. 
The helmet, which hangs in the sanctuary was used at the funeral of Sir George Cary ===  <a href="https://www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/945x9xuC3E">www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/945x9xuC3E</a> whose grave lies under the carpet before the chancel altar  <a href="https://www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/fAdU3289P9">www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/fAdU3289P9</a>

The rood screen was constructed between 1915 – 1923 by Herbert Read in Exeter replacing an earlier Victorian (?) one <a href="https://www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/56KaW04qdq">www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/56KaW04qdq</a>

There are 15c carved misericords <a href="https://www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/U3P2xAp8da">www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/U3P2xAp8da</a> showing St Luke &amp; St Matthew with their evangelist symbols 

The last Cary to own the court was Sir Henry Cary.  He fought for the King in Civil War and was in command in the battle for Kingswear Castle in 1647, which was the last stronghold in this area to be taken by the Roundheads.   After this his assets were confiscated.  He appealed against the confiscation by saying that “He was young and was easily persuaded ”  He won the appeal and the grounds were returned to him but a heavy fine of £1985, which was estimated to be one tenth of the value of the land,  was enforced.   Later in 1651 he was found to be trying to fund the return of the king.  Another heavy fine and the cost of keeping the Court going ended in 1654 when he had to sell it to the Roger Mallock, a silversmith from Exeter.  
The church had been the centre of the village until that time, however the Mallocks removed buildings from around their house leaving it alone with the Court 
Of the Mallocks , several were vicars, doctors etc. some held commissions in the army and Richard Mallock became MP for Torbay.   However, the last Mallock to live in the Court , Richard Herbert Mallock in 1929 had a gate erected at the entrance to the park so that no members of the public, including parishioners were allowed in the grounds.  This was hotly contested by the church authorities and they won a high court ruling that vehicles of parishioners were allowed in as far as the fork for divine services and that any member of the public could enter the park on foot between the hours of 9am and 6:30pm.  The Court was finally given to Torbay Council in 1932. 

Cockington church, although in existence for 950 years, was not made a parish in its own right until 1882 after the influx of thousands of people into the area after the railway came to Torquay in 1876.  

The church was damaged in 1943 by two German bombs (a crater can still be seen to the south of the church). 
There are no graves except for those of 3 of the gamekeepers' dogs of c1910 sited under a beech tree.

The registers date: baptisms, 1628; marriages, 1632; burials, 1632.

Picture with thanks - copyright Paul Farmer CCL <a href="https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4889819" rel="noreferrer nofollow">www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4889819</a>
cockington church devon