Petrockstowe

Coordinates: 50°51′42″N 4°06′48″W / 50.8617°N 4.1132°W / 50.8617; -4.1132

Petrockstowe (or Petrockstow) is a small village and civil parish in the district of Torridge in Northern Devon, England. Its population in 2001 was 379, hardly different from the figure of 385 recorded in 1901. The southern boundary of the parish lies on the River Torridge, and it is surrounded, clockwise from the north, by the parishes of Peters Marland, Merton, Huish, Meeth, Highampton and Buckland Filleigh.

The village lies about four miles NNW of the town of Hatherleigh and is some two miles west of the A386 road, accessible only by minor roads.

Etymology

The place was called Petrocestoua in the Domesday Book in 1086, in 1150 Petrochestona, and in 1202 Petroc. By 1272 is was called Patrichestowe and Petrokestowe in 1297. In 1535 it was called Stowe S"e'i Petroci. All the names mean St Petroc's place, for the patron saint Petroc. Stowe means "place of burial or the shrine of relics of the saint". By 1910, it was also called Padstow.