England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Cornworthy St Peter

The Parish

The parish of Cornworthy lies in southeastern Devon roughly 4 miles southeast of the market town of Totnes. Cornworthy is a small and compact village sitting atop a hill above the upper Dart estuary and some distance from its nearest major road, the closest such being Dartmouth's access road the A3122 which connects Dartmouth with the A381 and which lies over 3 miles south of Cornworthy. The village sits within deeply incised countryside with steep slopes not being conducive to arable farming the major farming method, therefore, being pastoral and mainly cattle, in addition some typical Devon orchards are present and the local limestone was quarried for lime burning. Despite riverside access at Tuckenhay, a half mile west, use of the estuary for either fishing or transport of goods does not appear to have been a significant part of the local economy. The fast flowing River Wash drains the parish the half mile into the side creek of Bow Creek before joining the main ria of the Dart and flowing through Dartmouth to the nearby English Channel. Cornworthy is sited on a sloping site between 60 and 110 metres above the sea, land is deeply incised but not dramatically high with local high spots of 171 metres about a mile and a half to the south. Cornworthy parish was fairly typically sized for its area, covering close to 1,600 acres it would have supported a population of around 550 parishioners. In Domesday times Cornworthy was a tidy and prosperous holding of one local man, Iudhael of Totnes, offering 10 ploughs, extensive pastures and woodland and also having both a mill and a fishery it was sufficiently well populated to be amongst the largest 20% of settlements listed in that book, a far cry from its rural nature today.

The Church

St Peter's church sits t the higher, eastern end of the village amongst a jumble of narrow lanes. The church is a product of the perpendicular era but much modified by later Georgian changes. Estimates of its original date are lacking in Pevsner but the building's historic listing states that it was almost entirely built during the 15th century. The local granite of nearby Dartmoor is prominent in its construction giving a solid feel to the church. There was clearly an earlier church on this site as the font carries a 12th century date. Following the standard Perpendicular layout of nave and chancel with a western tower little was changed until the 17th century when the southern porch was added. The church's restoration, which was extensive, came at the early date of the 1820s and made significant changes in particular to the windows, a common device for determining dating. Sadly much of this tracery was requiring change again in the 20th century. St Peter's has a rather constrained approach with limited parking outside the village hall or in nearby Green Close, a narrow entrance with metal gates does lead, however, into an extensive churchyard with no obvious obstacles to impede the photographer.