England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Hennock St Mary

The Parish

The parish of Hennock lies in the southern part of central Devon, close to Dartmoor. The village is located 2 miles northeast of the large village of Bovey Tracey in lanes to the east of the A382 road which links Newton Abbot to Moretonhampstead. Hennock is a small village with most housing sited along a narrow lane which heads north to south through the settlement. Hennock sits on a high shoulder of land between the valleys of the River Teign (to the east) and the River Bovey (to the west) both flowing to the sea at Teignmouth. Hennock had a varied employment base, apart from pastoral farming there were stone workings using the local granite in particular and also clay suitable for pottery. Hennock is sited at around 180 metres above sea level, land climbs still higher to the west to reach almost 260 metres on Shap Tor. The parish is elongated from northwest to southeast following the ridge of land on which Hennock sits. The parish covered just over 3,000 acres and supported a healthy quota of parishioners, over 800. In Domesday Times the parish was much smaller it was held by one Baldwin the Sheriff and supported just 8 ploughs and a few sheep.

The Church

St Mary's church sits to the north of the main centre of Hennock, appropriately enough adjacent to Church Road. The church basically consists of two periods of work, the tower is the earliest being dated to the middle 13th century. The remainder of the church comes from a Perpendicular rebuilding in the mid-15th century to complete a standard nave, chancel & western tower design with both north & south aisles. The church is a solid construction built largely from the local granite and appears formidable in its setting. St Mary's is in a slightly raised site with a low granite wall facing down to the street, access is through a curious granite piered archway. The site is open with no significant obstructions to the views of the church.