Cornworthy

What's In A Name - Cornworthy

Cornworthy is a village that has a lot going for it: a thriving community, beautiful rolling hills and some wonderful old buildings.

Its name was listed in the Domesday Book – a list so important its decisions on worth of property and land were considered as final as those delivered by God on the day of reckoning – as Corneorde. This is thought by most to derive from the Anglo Saxon for ‘Where the Corn is Grown’ or literally “Corn Earth”. This fits with the strong agricultural heritage of the village and its placement at the heart of the South Hams.

However, this is NOT the only possible meaning of the name.  It could also mean “Enclosure Frequented by Cranes”. In the Middle Ages ‘Cranes’ could mean the Common Crane – there are sightings of this graceful and exotic seeming bird around Devon to this day – OR it could refer to the Grey Heron, which most people called a ‘Crane’ until Tudor times.

This could indicate there was a breeding population in the South Hams before the Norman invasion. However, although there probably WAS, most place names associated with the birds begin with the word ‘Cran’ so this might be a red heron – sorry, red herring.  

It is thought the village itself has a history which stretches back far before the Domesday Book, but that was the first historical recording of the village – so lets take a look at the man who owned it when the book was put together in 1086.

Judhael was a man much trusted by the King, known now as William the Conqueror. Judhael  - from Brittany and obviously well connected and respected  - owned or was in charge of more than 100 estates, making him the second most important landowner in Devon. He held Totnes on behalf of the king and also owned Cornworthy, Churston, Brixham, Coleton, Lupton and Asprington in South Devon alone.

In 1086, Cornworthy had a water mill, a salmon fishery, a carthorse, 11 pigs, five cattle and 140 sheep. The village also had eight slaves and 20 villager,s or heads of households. The scribes gathering the vital information demanded by their King only wrote down the very basic information needed, so population is difficult to judge, but it was clearly a bustling place.  

The most noteworthy building in the village is actually a ruin: the Cornworthy Priory.  

The Priory was founded around 1238 by Eva de Braose, a woman who acquired much land on the death of her husband William.

William did not have a happy end – he was hanged by one of the most revered Welsh Kings, Llywelyn the Great. William was hanged after being caught in the bedchamber of Llywelyn’s wife Joan. It was an inauspicious end for a man who was as unpopular as he was unscrupulous. His nickname in his native Wales was ‘William the Black’.

Eva – daughter of the Earl of Pembroke – was not a shrinking violet and did not allow William’s rather embarrassing and horrible end get in her way: she made the most of the lands which came into her possession and worked hard at getting her four daughters the right matches to improve the family’s standing.

It worked: she was a direct ancestor to many future Kings and Queens, including the first Queen Elizabeth.

She set up the Cornworthy Priory, using her immense wealth to place nuns inside its walls and the rumour is she asked them to pray for her cheating husband’s soul.

Ironically this small but perfectly formed Priory would be dissolved by Eva’s own descendent Henry VIII in1536.

Cornworthy would later become famous for its quarries and stone from them have been used in the construction of both Dartmouth and Kingswear Castles, as well as the village’s own St Peters Church which has parts that date back to the 14th Century and even has a Norman font, which indicates either there was a much earlier church structure in the village, or the builders knew a good antique dealer.

Like many villages in the South Hams, Cornworthy gives the impression of having been there forever and having always been so welcoming and friendly.

First published March/April 2013 By The Dart

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