Cowick, Devon

On Baldwin's death his son and heir William FitzBaldwin made a gift of the manors of Cowick and Exwick, both in the parish of St Thomas, to the Benedictine Abbey of Bec-Hellouin in Normandy.

[4] In St Michael's Church in Spreyton survives a lengthy Latin inscription carved into the timbers of the chancel roof, erected by Henry le Mayne, the last vicar presented by the prior and convent of Cowick, who held the advowson, instituted 23 August 1451.

Pray for their souls").Within the Priory Church was buried on 5 February 1341Hugh de Courtenay, 9th Earl of Devon (1276-23 December 1340), feudal baron of Okehampton.

Following the seizure of the throne from Henry VI by Edward IV in 1461, the new king removed Cowick Priory from the possession of Eton and re-granted it in 1463/4 to Tavistock Abbey.

Tavistock Abbey however maintained that the priory had held conventual status and ought to be served by "religious men yf eny coude be founde" and in 1478 it secured confirmation of the king's earlier grant to it.

The priory building was rebuilt by Lord Russell in the 1540s, possibly as a residence for the bailiff of his vast Devon estates granted to him by the king, consisting chiefly of the lands of Tavistock Abbey.

Some period plaster reliefs also survive, one showing a nun caring for some children and another of a long-haired maiden, both standing on the head of an obese friar.

White continued to make an annual payment to charity and gave 30 shillings to maintain a schoolmistress to instruct in reading four poor children of the parish of St Thomas.

Cowick is bounded by the Exeter districts of St Thomas to the east and Exwick to the north, and the villages of Pocombe Bridge to the west and Ide, Devon to the south.

1801 watercolour of Cowick House, Exeter, Devon, when owned by "Counsellor White", by Rev. John Swete . Devon Record Office 564M/F1/221. Swete's Travel Journal records: "On the northern side of this house is a grove of uncommonly large elms and indeed throughout the grounds and in every hedge between them and Exeter this charming tree is seen in the highest luxuriance and plenty. Contiguous to these are also a few other trees of consequence and beauty: a magnificent walnut tree given in the foregrounf of the sketch and a beech or two" [ 1 ]
Watercolour of Exeter Cathedral viewed from Cowick, by Rev. John Swete dated 1801. Devon Record Office 564M/F1/223. Swete's Travel Journal records: "One of (the beech trees) in particular of high growth appears in the following view where through a break amid the successive ranges of elms Exeter is beheld with its turreted cathedral rising with lordly grandeur over the subjacent city; this is a scene of great picturesque beauty and I know no spot, in consequence of the profusion and disposition of its trees, from whence Exeter is seen to greater advantage" [ 2 ]
Exwick Mill, St Thomas, Exeter. A plaque on the mill wall reads: Exwick Mill was built by W. R. Mallett. A.D. 1886 on the site of Mills worked by Benedictine Monks of the Priory at Cowick A.D. 1325. Alfred Bodley Engineer, Brook & Ash Builders