Petrockstowe

Kelly's Directory 1899

Provided by Michael Wright

Petrockstow (or Stow St. Petrock) is a Parish and village, on the road from Haterleigh to Torrington, with a station on the North Devon and Cornwall light railway ( worked by the Southern Railway), 7¼ miles south-by-east from Torrington station on a branch of the Southern Railway and 4¾ north-north-west from Hatherleigh, in the South Molton division of the county, hundred of Shebbear, petty sessional division, rural district, county court district and rural deanery of Torrington, archdeaconry of Barnstaple and diocese of Exeter. Electricity is available. The church of St. Petrock is a building of stone in the Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave of three bays, aisles, south porch and an embattled western tower with pinnacles containing 6 bells; the bells were rehung and the sixth added in 1913; there are several mnouments to the Rolle and other families, including a brass to Henry, 4th son of George Rolle esq. of Stevenstone and his wife Margaret (Yeo), ob. 1591, with kneeling effigies of both and their ten sons and nine daughters, shields of arms and inscriptions; the carved oak reredos, erected in 1886, is a memorial; 1888 a window was placed to Mr. Moase, formerly of Petrockstow, who died in America; there is another erected in 1891 to Louis Woolacombe M.A. rector 1845-83. d. 1889 and to his widow and daughter, 1895; the font is Norman, but has a cover of Perpendicular date; in 1933 a new altar rail and in 1936 a stained window were given by Mr. S Bonifant; the church was entirely rebuilt, with the exception of the tower, in 1879-1880, and in 1887 the tower was re-roofed and repaired throughout; the church seats 250; the churchyard was laid out in 1887, in 1933 Lord Clinton gave a further ¾ acre. The register dates from 1597. The living is a rectory, with the vicarage of Peters Marland annexed in 1931, joint net yearly income value £650, including 6 acres glebe, with residence, in a gift of Lord Clinton P.C., G.C.V.O. and the representatives of Col. R.A. Moore-Stevens D.L., J.P. and held since since 1929 by the Rev. William Henry Smale. A granite cross was erected in 1921 in memory of the eight men who of the parish who fell during the greta war, 1914-18. There is a methodist chapel erected in 1933. The ancient manor house was burnt down many years ago, and the present mansion, Heanton Satchville, which stands in the adjoining parish of Huish, is the seat of Lord Clinton P.C., G.C.V.O.; the old house was for some time the seat of the Rolles and the Walpoles, Earl of Oxford. Lord Clinton P.C., G.C.V.O is lord of the manor and principal landowner. The soil is dun land; the subsoil is clay. The chief crops are wheat, barley oats and roots. The acreage is 4.288, including 210 acres of woodland and 7 of water; the population in 1931 was 381.

Post & T. Office. Letters through Okehampton. Merton nearest M O. office

Brian Randell, 31 Aug 2002