This was formed
of occasional flights of roughly-hewn stone steps, up which in days gone
by the kegs of brandy and gin and the bales of silk had been carried to
the top of the cliffs and thence conveyed to Cockington and other
villages in the neighbourhood where the smugglers' dens existed.
[Illustration: COCKINGTON VILLAGE.]
Possibly Jack Rattenbury, the famous smuggler known as "the Rob Roy of
the West," escaped to Cockington when he was nearly caught by the crew
of one of the King's ships, for the search party were close on his heels
when he saved himself by his agility in scaling the cliffs. But
Cockington was peaceful enough when we visited it, and in the park,
adorned with fine trees, stood the squire's Hall, or Court, and the
ivy-covered church. Cockington was mentioned in Domesday Book, and in
1361 a fair and a market were granted to Walter de Wodeland, usher to
the Chamber of the Black Prince, who afterwards created him a knight,
and it was probably about that time that the present church was built.
The screen and pews and pulpit had formerly belonged to Tor Mohun
church, and the font, with its finely carved cover and the other relics
of wood, all gave us the impression of being extremely old, and as they
were in the beginning.
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