Neolithic flint scatter has been discovered in what is now the allotments, these are now in the Royal Albert Museum in Exeter. The nearest Flint deposits are near Beer in East Devon, so the flint scatter must have been the remains of worked Flint traded by a local from a trader to make flint tools for personal use or for trade.

There is evidence that a prehistoric settlement once existed near Bottor Rock. As recorded by English Heritage on their Gateway Web Site. "In a field called Brady Park, about 300 yards SW of Bottor Rock were two concentric stone circles.
W C Radly, in 1841, gave the following measurements. Diameter of the inner circle 24 feet. Distance between the walls 18 feet.
The outer wall was 4 feet thick and the inner stronger, wall 5 feet but much had been thrown away and about 3 feet remained.
The area in the centre had been hollowed out. The circles were destroyed in 1842. "
Most of Britain was inhabited by independent Celtic tribal groups, led by powerful rulers.

In BC 55 and 54 Gaius Julius Caesar invaded England twice, landing on the South Coast of Kent.
The first time seems to be a small exploratory mission with just 2 legions.
The second time the following year was with 5 Legions and over 2,000 Cavalry. This time they reach as far as the Thames.
Caesar writes an account of both invasions in his journal, this is the first written first-hand description of the people and culture of Britain.

In AD 43 under Emperor Claudius the Romans conquer most of what will become England amd Wales and it becomes a province of Rome.
It was generally believed that the Romans had maintained a low presence west of Exeter, but modern archaeological discoveries are changing that long held view.
Nationwide a lot is known about the Roman occupation but other than a few Roman coins that could have been lost but any passing stranger, there is no archaeological evidence that the Romans were ever here.

Shortly after the Romans departed in 410AD, Angles, Jutes, Saxons, Frisians, Danes, etc. (Germanic tribes from the northern fringe of the Roman Empire) started arriving on the east coast of England and became known as the Anglo Saxons. They slowly made their way west eventually arriving in Devon (Celtic Dumnonia) sometime after 710 when the West Saxon King Ine defeated the last Celtic King of Devon. Devon then became a part of Wessex and known by its Anglo Saxon name Defenascire, which eventually became Devonshire.
If at this time the area around Hennock above the Teign Valley was inhabited it must have been by members of the the Celtic Dumnonii people. Due to the remoteness of its location, the inhabitants may well have remained Celtic for many years after the arrival of the Saxons in the 8th century. By the time of Doomsday, the settlement was under Saxon rule because Hennock (Hanoch) is recorded in the Doomsday Book (see below) as having a Saxon Thane called Alnoth with 20 households here, about 80 to 90 people. Doomsday does not record where those 20 households were in the area or Vill called Hennock and to my knowledge no Saxon remains have ever been found. Saxons lived in thatched timber framed houses and as Wolves and Bears roamed the countryside were usually, for safety clustered in villages, both houses and animal pens were all made of wood, so little if anything will have survived. Where the original Celtic/Saxon settlement was is something we are unlikely to ever know for certain.

If you have read this far, thank you; you have found my mystery, where was the original Saxon settlement of Hanoch located?
The original settlement may well have been somewhere relatively flat with good arable soil that had a constant source of water. A number of springs flow down from the south and east side of Cherricombe Head, none to the north or west. The Saxons practiced contour ploughing enabling them to cultivate sloping fields which abound here, in fact there are very few flat fields in the area. So, the farm land was likely spread out along the valley slope on either side of the settlement. There is some evidence of contour ploughing on the slopes east and west of Warmhill. Its name does suggest that it may have been a pleasant place to live, so it may have been the site of the first village. Most lanes from the valley lead to Warmhill directly or via five lanes, see map below.
There is no evidence that there was ever a resident Saxon Lord so no Manor House near to which village houses would have been clustered. The Saxons it seems did like to have a Hall in their settlements to which they would go for special occasions, celebrations, feasts and rites and rituals (pre and post Christian) this may have incorporated the first place of worship.
Access to Hennock has always been difficult, from studying some old maps there seen to be only 3 ancient ways into the area, from Bovey Tracey (South Bovey), from the Teign Valley and north across what was then wild moorland.

The lanes around Hennock showing their relationship to the farms.
(Dotted lanes are less than 200 years old.)
(Blue lines and dots are Water Courses, Wells, Springs, Issues or Ponds.)
(The 5 underlined farm names were once owned by Torre Abbey.)

From the map there are three ways up from Bovey Tracey (South Bovey):

• Reeve Coombe to Little Helstons Bench crossroads and then on via Lower Cridiford Farm (Frost) to the junction with Shameface lane and then to Warmhill and Hennock.
• Trough (Trow) Lane giving access to Stickwick, Bottor, Shaptor and Bowden with onward access via Five Lanes to Warmhill and Hennock.
• The lane to Furzeleigh Cross or the lane from the Wray valley via Little John Walk to Furzeleigh Cross and then to the junction with Trough Lane and on to Five Lanes.

Five Lanes is a major junction that is probably ancient, the original 5 lanes were, clockwise from the North:

• The lane that leads up to Chericombe Head and thence on to Shaptor and Bowden, or to the north side of the present village.
• The lane the skirts the boundary of Hazelwood Farm that leads to a junction with the lane towards Hennock from Warmhill.
• The lane leading down to Warmhill.
• The lane to the south is Shameface lane.
• The lane to the west is the end of the lane/s that lead up from Bovey Tracey and the Wray Valley.

There are four ways up to Hennock from the Teign Valley:

• A lane from the valley to Franklands Farm and then on up the hill to modern day Hennock Village.
• A lane from the valley to Leigh Farm and then on to Warmhill or to Hennock by the junction on the Franklands Farm lane.
• A lane from the valley near Crockham through what seems to be a sunken lane to Riley and then on past Huish where it joins Shameface lane.
• A lane from the valley near Lyneham past Fluda, to Huish where it joins Shameface lane.

Hennock can also be accessed from the north along what is now called Bell Lane from the open moorland or a short way out of the modern village via the lane that leads from Bowden or Five Lanes over Cherricombe head.
To get to the present site of Hennock Village the ancients would have most likely travelled along the lanes leading up from the valley. Most of them pass by or close to Warnhill, from where there is then only one road on to the modern village of Hennock.
Was the earliest settlement established at or near this junction and five lanes?
It is a great curiosity why all these lanes/tracks that form 5 lanes come together at a place where today there are only fields.
In many villages the crossroads are in the middle of the settlement, what happened at 5 lanes?

Why is 5 lanes a junction in empty space unless that was the ancient centre of the Village.
The present centre of Hennock has just one through road most unlike many villages.
Was the original village relocated to its present site and if so by who?
The monks of Torre are a possible candidate when looking for a suitable building site for their new Church. See Plantagenets below.
The site of the Church is the first relatively level place between it and 5 lanes/Warmhill.
The North East flank of Cherricombe Head that slopes down the valley on either side of the road is for the most part very steep, 30 to 45 degrees in pleces and most unsuitable for medieval building or agriculture.

The entry for Hennock in the Doomsday Book of 1086:
Roger holds Hanoch (Hennock) from Baldwin. Alnoth held it T.R.E. (before the conquest?), and it paid geld for 1 hide. There is land for 13 ploughs. In demesne are 2 ploughs, and 5 slaves; and 9 villans and 6 bordars with 6 ploughs. Formerly 10s. ; now it is worth 30s.
Reproduced by kind permission of The National Archives, Kew, London ref. E31/2/1/4186 (folio number, 108r Great Doomsday Book).

This is what it says:
Roger Fitz Payne is lord of the Manor in 1086, Alnoth (a Saxon Thane) was lord in 1066 and has lost his land, as did most Saxons. Baldwin FitzGilbert son of Gilbert, Count of Brionne and of Eu, in Normandy is the Sheriff of Devon and Baron of Okehampton.
Hanoch comprised 20 households (9 villans (Villagers), 6 smallholders and 5 slaves) this was just a count of heads of households.
Taxable value 1 geld (a very small amount, below the national average).
Value in 1086 £1.50, value in 1070 £0.50. So now it is Norman it is worth 3 times more than it was worth when it was Saxon.
There were 13 plough lands (fields), 2 plough teams belonging to the lord and 6 belonging to the villagers.
There were 60 sheep and one cob.
At the time of the doomsday book it is estimated that as much as 10% of the population were classed as slaves, called Serfs under the Normans.

The smallest Norman administrative area was a Vill (roughly equivalent to a parish). One of the classes of inhabitant of a Vill was a Villain, it does not imply that they lived in a village as we may think of it.

About 1207, in the reign of Richard I, Philip de Salmonville and his wife Beatrix give the Church of Hennock to the Abbots of Torre. Confirmed by Deryck Seymour in Torre Abbey. It would seem that Beatrix was a de Hainoc, a Norman family who have styled themselves after the Vill that their ancestor was given by William for taking part in the conquest. Philip would seem to have acquired Hennock as part of his wife’s dowery. After Philip's death she remarries to Sir Gerrard de Clist, a knight. Their son William also confirms his mother’s gift.

In 1214 Simon Bishop of Exeter confirms the gift and Benjamin the vicar is confirmed as vicar for life. So there was a Church in Hennoch at that date but was it on the site of the present Church or elsewhere, the records do not say.

Construction of the present church most likely begins soon after this date. The present day church tower has been dated to the mid 12th Century and is late Norman perpendicular. It may have replaced an earlier structure or have been the first church on the site, it is possible that this is documented somewhere in the Torre Abbey archives, but to investigate this would require some knowledge of medieval Latin and involve extensive travel to the many locations to which the Torre Abbey archive has been scattered.
During the 13th century the Abbey are gifted or acquire five of the best farms in the parish, Huish (Hywys), Fluda (de la Flode), Clayparks (la Cleye), Lyneham (Linicombe, de Lynihuse) and Huxbear (Hokesbeare), all notably on the lower east slope towards the flatter valley bottom.

Construction of the earliest part of the Rectory that we see today and the tithe barn (now the village hall) would also date from this time.
The nave and chancel are of a later date, said to be mid 15th century, was it a new structure or did it replace an earlier Saxon or Norman structure, why the record does not say.

Torre Abbey were probably responsible for the construction of all ancient buildings that exist in the Village today and may well have established the location of the modern village, chosen for its bedrock of Dartmoor granite, ideal for foundations but unsuitable for agriculture.

Hennock Church remained in the possession of Torre Abbey until just before the dissolution.

In 1828 the Rev J P Jones records that the arms of Bishop Booth of Exeter from the year 1466 to 1478 are in one of the windows, so the building was probably erected during his episcopate. Which dates the building work to a twelve year period in the last half of the 15th century. (Sadly the Bishops arms are no longer in the window, likely a victim of the 1875 'modernisation').

In 1537 The birth of Edward VI. is recorded in the Parish Register "The eleventh day of October, the year of our Lord God 1537, was borne Prince Edwarde, which was the 29th yeare of our Sovereigne Lord, King Henry VIII., by the grace of God King of England, France, and Ireland. God send him good olde age, and his father a long and prosperous reigne, Amen. Thomas Herle, vicar of Hennock."
On January 4th 1539, in the 30th year of the reign Henry VIII the last Abbot of Torre, Simon Rede, leased for 60 years the Rectory and Advowson to John Southcote and John Parre of Bovey Tracey.
On April 7th 1553, in the 7th year of the reign of Edward VI, John Southcote purchased the Rectory and Advowson from the Crown, for £234 8s.

In 1631 in the reign of Charles I (1625-49) the Rectory of Hennock was purchased by the Chamber of Exeter.
From Izacke's Account of the Legacies left to the Poor of Exeter "That the sheaf and rectory of Hennock, with the vicarage there, was purchased by the Chamber of Exeter of Thomas Southcote, Esq. with the sum of £400, left by Laurence Bodley, D. D. one of the Canons Residentiary of the Cathedral, for the purpose of founding a lecture (sermon) at Exeter, to which Thomas Moggridge, of the city of Exeter, a merchant, added the sum of £200. Dr. Bodley bequeathed his charity in 1615. T. Moggridge in 1617. "

The only record that I have found of there being a Lord of the Manor of Hennock is from this reference in 1773 Matthew Lee, Esq., was lord of the manors of Hennock and Knighton, they were sold by him to Richard Inglett, Esq., of whom they were purchased,in 1775, by James Templer, Esq., father of George Templer, Esq. This snippet is often quoted but I have seen no documents to prove its accuracy. These dates are within the period of ownership by the Chamber of Exeter, would they have allowed independent Lords?

The Hill Family of Exeter and Hennock
In 1775 John Hill, the son of an Alderman of Exeter was appointed Vicar. He served for 53 years until his death age 77 on the 2 April 1828. He was interred on the 10 Apr 1828 in a chest tomb adjacent to the South wall of the church, Chancel End.
He is notable for having 4 sons who served their country during the Napoleonic Era.
William a Navy Captain who fought at Trafalgar.
Frederick C a Navy Lieutenant who died at Arichat, Nova Scotia on the 14 May 1834.
Charles Abraham a Midshipman on HMS Minotaur who was lost at Sea in 1801.
John Humphry Edward Lieut Col. Royal Welch Fusiliers he fought and was wounded at Waterloo. See the archive at Royal Welch Fusiliers Museum.
Steve McCarthy of Warmhill in Hennock has recently published a book about John Hill called 'An Astonishing Infantryman: The Life and Letters of Jack Hill, Royal Welch Fusiliers (1778-1838) is available from Amazon

From: White’s History, Gazetteer and Directory of Devon published in 1850
HENNOCK, a small Village, on an eminence overlooking the Teign valley, 3 miles W.N.W. of Chudleigh, has in its parish 828 inhabitants, and 8409 acres of land, including the hamlet of Knighton, or Chudleigh Knighton, which has 284 inhabitants, and a small village in the valley, 2 miles S.W. of Chudleigh.
The parish also includes Warmhill, and many scattered houses, and abounds in tin and iron ore, which is about to be worked by the " Hennock Iron-Steel and Tin Mining Company," recently established on the " cost-book principle," with a capital of £9400, in 4500 shares of £2. 2s. each. Messrs. Kennaway and Buckingham, of Exeter, are solicitors to this company.
Lead and copper are also found here ; and the mines have had their merits tested to an extent that fully establishes their capabilities for affording a high remunerative profit.
Pipe and potters’ clay is found at Knighton.
The parish is mostly in the same manors as Bovey Tracey; but the soil is chiefly freehold, belonging to Sir L. V. Palk, Lord Exmouth, the Duke of Somerset, Wm. Harris, John Gaunter, C. Winstanly, and A. Chichester, Esqrs., and several smaller owners.
The Church (St. Mary,) is a large ancient edifice, in the early perpendicular style, with a tower and four bells. Its ancient Norman font, and the stoup in the porch, still remain; and in its fine windows are some fragments of stained glass.
The vicarage, valued in K.B. at £16, and in 1831 at £206, is in the patronage of J. Mason, Esq., and incumbency of the Rev. Wm. Woollcombe, of Christow.
The parsonage is a good residence, and the glebe is 20 acres. The tithes were commuted in 1838; the vicarial for £233, and the rectorial for £168. The latter are held by the Corporation of Exeter, as the endowment of a city lectureship.
Knighton Chapel of Ease is a neat structure, of flint and limestone, in the early English style, built by subscription and grants, in 1841-2, at the cost of £900, and endowed with £1000. The Rev. C. M. Collins, of Chudleigh, is the curate.
An ancient episcopal chapel, at Knighton, was turned into a barn many years ago.
The Wesleyans have a chapel in the parish; and the poor have an acre of land, given by John Stooke, in 1692, and the interest of £5, left by Eliz. Gribble, in 1726.

In 1861 construction commenced on the first of the three reservoirs to the north of Hennock, Tottiford, Kennick (1881) and Trenchford (1903). The pipeline to Torquay initially ran through the middle of Hennock.
1875 the Church undergoes a period of 'modernisation' see Church History.

In 1911 Teign Village was constructed by the local Quarry company to house their workers.
In WWI the parish of Hennock lost 40 of its men and in some cases boys.
- 19 from the villages of Hennock and Teign Village, whose lives are remembered here and on the Hennock War Memorial and in St Mary's Church in Hennock.
- 21 from Chudleigh Knighton who are remembered on the Chudleigh Knighton War Memorial at St Paul's Church and also inside the church.

In 1936 Tithes were replaced with Council Tax which no doubt ended Exeter's 'ownership' of Hennock.

In WW2 the villages of Hennock and Teign Village lost 7 men who had a close association with the community. They are also remembered alongside their WW1 comrades on the Village War Memorial.