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Summary

A mansion

Location

Protected Status

• Listed Building (II*) 1206759: COCKINGTON COURT
• Listed Building (II*) 1206759: COCKINGTON COURT
• Listed Building (II) 1206760: STABLES AND COACH HOUSE ADJOINING TO NORTH WEST OF COCKINGTON COURT, Cockington Park
• Listed Building (II) 1208572: GARDEN WALLS ADJOINING TO NORTH WEST OF COCKINGTON COURT, Cockington Park
• Listed Building (II*) 1206759: COCKINGTON COURT

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: 564M/6/118 Illus by Swete
• Torbay HER: MTO8884

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• Mansion (XVI to XXI - 1577 AD? to 2050 AD (Between))

Full description

Torbay HER record (SMR record). SDV361984.

Cockington is a pre-conquest settlement, and a Domesday manor. Cockington Court was preceded by an early medieval manor house and farm (?built by the de Cockingtons). It was part of a small community with a church (under the canons of Tor Abbey from the early thirteenth century). Remains of the great medieval hall: three courses of bricks in the bottom of the central block between the two wings are visible; there is some evidence inside of two supporting towers.

The present mansion stems from the time of the Carys and the Mallocks. Cockington Court was the seat of the Cary's from the fourteenth century to 1654 when it was bought by Roger Mallock, an Exeter merchant. The Carys may only have made changes to the south (left-hand) side, building a neat projecting wing with a gabled roof and broad mullioned windows now with wooden casements.; it is clearly Elizabethan and has the date 1577 and the letters "TC" on a cornice. Thomas Cary had died in 1567 but perhaps his son, George, wished to acknowledge his father's efforts when "modernising" the house. Thomas had been the first member of the family to be in permanent residence there. [4] Parts of the Tudor house of the Carys survive, disguised by an extensive remodelling by Rawlin Mallock in the 1670s. An original watercolour sketch made by Archdeacon Froude shows Cockington Court as it appeared in 1679 - the year in which Rawlin Mallock completed the house. At that time pillars of the old courtyard and a low wall with a garden gate stood in front of the house. The classical central block is a two-storey structure of seven bays and a central doorway with Corinthian fluted columns. In 1820 the Rev. Roger Mallock swept away the various outbuildings and the gables on the wings of the house in favour of a parapet removing the top storey and remodelling the interiors. The hall was divided up and a stairway inserted.[1][2]

The building as it stands today (2001) is mostly of local stone rubble, coursed in places with 19C brick dressings and earlier Beerstone ones; the main front is of Beerstone ashlar, red sandstone chimney shafts and hipped slate roofs, facing south-east. The crosswings project forward at each end. The north-east wing was the location of the kitchen and service stair; it has re-set (probably) late sixteenth century stone Tudor arch doorway. The rear of the building is partly slate hung. Most of the interior shows the result of nineteenth century re-furbishment although there are a number of 16C and 17C features surviving, such as the plasterwork ceiling of 1650-1700.[3][4]

A history of the Cary family, of their ownership of Cockington Manor and Torre Abbey, and of their political relations with the Crown is given in detail.[5] with further information in [6][7].

An illustration of Cockington Manor by Swete is held by the Devon Records Office.[8] The print dated 1795 shows the Court with two wings on the east face in pencil; it was then of three storeys.

A major historic landscape study was undertaken by Nicholas Pearson Associates in December 2001. Its focus was on the designed landscape of the parkland rasther than a historic or architectural study of the house. [9]

Nicholas Pearson Associates, 2001, Cockington: Historic Landscape Survey & Management Plan (* Torbay Report - Interim/Research/Specialist). SDV362366.

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<1> 1999, Herald Express, p.10-11, many photos (Article in Serial). SDV362177.

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<2> Cherry, B. & Pevsner, N., 1989, The Buildings of England: Devon, Page 835 (Monograph). SDV361985.

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<3> French. K. & C., 1957, Transactions of the Devonshire Association, p. 134 (Article in Serial). SDV362331.

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<4> Department of National Heritage, 1994, Revised List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, p.109-10; 885-1/16/372 (List of Blds of Arch or Historic Interest). SDV362056.

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<5> Watkin, H.R., 1920, Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries, pp. 1-46 (Article in Serial). SDV362173.

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<6> Hamblin, E. & Hamblin, E., 1951-54, Transactions of the Torquay Natural History Society, p.105 (Article in Serial). SDV362189.

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<7> Benson, J., 1942-46, Devon & Cornwall Notes & Queries, p.273 (Article in Serial). SDV362181.

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<8> Swete, J., 1793, Cockington Court, DRO 564M/6/118 (Illustration). SDV362178.

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Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7926 - Cockington: Historic Landscape Survey
• EDV8000 - Site visit by OS Field worker - Nov 1952

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