Hockworthy
HOCKWORTHY is a parish, and a small scattered village, near the borders of Somerset, about 4 miles from Burlescombe and Venn Cross Railway Stations, 7 miles W.S.W. of Wellington, and 8 miles N.E. of Tiverton. It is in Tiverton union and county court district, Sampford Peverell polling district of North Devon, Bampton hundred, Exeter archdeaconry and Tiverton East rural deanery, The parish, which includes the small hamlets of Staplecross and Lea, had 371 inhabitants (182 males, 189 females) in 1871, living in 67 houses, on 2526 acres of land. In the parish are limestone, &c. quarries. The rectorial tithes and the tithes of Hockford (112 acres) formerly belonged to Canonleigh Abbey; but most of the former have been sold to the landowners, and the latter belongs to C. A. W. Troyte, Esq., together with other farms in the parish, and the old manor house called. Court Hall. The other freeholders are the Rev. Pearse, W. Dester, Esq., W. N. Row, Esq., Mrs. Hawkins, Mrs. Quartley, and the Rev. W. J, Newman. The CHURCH (St. Simon and St. Jude) is a neat and substantial structure in the Early English style, and consists of chancel, nave, north aisle, south porch and tower containing three bells. The tower was rebuilt in 1848, and the remaining portion of the edifice in 1863-5. The cost of the latter was about £1500. The east and the south-east chancel windows are filled with stained glass, designed by Hardman, the former, a triplet, depicts the Nativity, Crucifixion, and the Resurrection, and is in memory of the late patron of the living, William Newman, Esq.; the latter, illustrating the Preaching of John the Baptist, and the Building of the Temple, is in remembrance of Charles Durnford Greenway, Esq. The living, a vicarage, valued in K.B. at £7 6s. 8d., and in 1831 at £288, is in the patronage and incumbency of the Rev. William James Newman, M.A. The vicarage house was built about thirty years ago by the Rev. T. H. Britten, and has been considerably added to by the present vicar, the Rev. William James Newman, M.A. The total cost has been about £3000. The glebe comprises 67 acres of good land, and the vicarial tithes were commuted in 1842 for £205 10s. a year. The NATIONAL SCHOOL was built about 1860 by the present vicar, at a cost of about £550. The poor have 34s. a year out of Thornlands, left by Peter Sharland. The late Dr. Troyte bequeathed £20 a year to the parish£10 towards the support of the Church of England School, and £10 to be given in beef to the poor at Christmas.
LETTERS are received per messenger about 10.50 a.m. from Wellington, Somerset, which is the nearest Money Order and Telegraph Office. There is a WALL LETTER BOX in the churchyard wall, cleared at 2.50 p.m. week days only.
Transcribed from History, Gazetteer and Directory of Devon, by William White, 2nd edition, 1878-9