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

The Parish

The parish of Rockbeare lies in southeastern Devon roughly 7 miles east of the city of Exeter. Rockbeare sits a little under 2 miles north of the A30 road which connects Exeter through to London. Rockbeare is a smallish village which forms a distinct "L" shape bending around the small stream which forms its centre, most properties line that lane formed by Silver Lane and Clay Hill with the older parts of the village along the latter. More modern developments have extended the village southeastwards in recent times. To the north, along the ancient Roman Road that formerly formed the route of the A30 lies the subsidiary settlement of Jack-in-the-Green. Like most Devon parishes farming would have dominated the local economy but here east of the Exe more dry conditions made for more arable, early gazetteers estimate roughly 50/50 in favour of each method. Modern developments have come to the parish, the railway line from Exeter to Honiton & onward to London Waterloo passes just north of Jack-in-the-Green, a more intrusive feature is Exeter Airport which sits southwest of the village leading to it being under the normal landing path with frequent noise therefrom. A small tributary of the River Clyst drains westwards to join that river which turns southwards skirting Exeter to meet the outer Exe estuary at Topsham before reaching the English Channel. Rockbeare is sited at around 30 metres above the sea in a fairly gentle are for Devon, local high spots reach 118 metres at nearby Aylesbeare. Covering 1,500 acres Rockbeare parish was fairly typically sized for its area that acreage supporting a population of around 500 parishioners. In Domesday times Rockbeare's 35 households were just sufficient to place it amongst the 20% largest settlement recorded, its assets were, however, more typical of the mid-sized farming village it has always been; shared by Baldwin the Sheriff & Count Robert of Mortain its assets of 10 ploughs backed by meadows, pastures & woodland were not dissimilar from many such settlements.

The Church

St Mary's church sits at the northern end of the village west of Clay Hill where that lane performs a sharp right-angled bend. As confirmed by the two distinct types of stone used there are two distinct ages to the fabric of the church. Remaining from the medieval and Perpendicular in style from the late 14th or early 15th century remains the ashlar faced western tower complete with its stair turret. Also of a similar period is the main south wall in the local sandstone, the northern aisle wall, the aisle arcade and western doorway. Everything else post-dates the marriages in this transcript having been almost completely rebuilt during 1887-9. Clay Hill has a little space outside the set-back lychgate for a car or two to safely park, from the lychgate a curving pathway leads to the main body of the churchyard which has few obstacles for the photographer.