celebrated forge in the village'. The pub sign depicting an Elizabethan soldier beating a drum, is attributed to be from the studio of Dame Laura Knight. The original was painted on a solid sheet of copper and today it hangs on a wall inside the pub, with a facsimile in its place outside. Sir Alan Charles Laurence Whistler, the noted poet and glass engraver presented Sir Edwin Lutyens with a poem titled 'The Drum', engraved on a glass pane that was originally placed in a lounge window. It's now framed and is on display inside the pub. The Almshouses The Almshouses consist of seven terraced cottages built during the reign of King James I of England by the Cary family to house the poor and those who could not work within the village. When the Mallock family took over the Cockington estate, the almshouses fell into disrepair. They were rebuilt between 1790 and 1810. Cockington Court Cockington Court was the mansion house of the Mallock family, and remains the focal point of the estate. Originally built in the 16th century, it has few architectural features remaining from then, but was altered and extended several times, particularly in 1673 by Rawlyn Mallock and about 1820 by the Rev'd Roger Mallock. He had the top floor removed and the interior remodelled. Its historical significance merits great care in maintaining its existing fabric and in ensuring new elements are sympathetically designed. Cockington Court was built over the remains of a medieval court. A far cry from the days of the Cary family when it was an actual court, it is now filled with various arts and crafts workshops. In her youth, Agatha Christie regularly visited Cockington. Her novel Why Didn't They Ask Evans? is dedicated to Christopher Mallock. The Mallock family were friends of Christie's from the years before her first marriage. The Mallocks staged amateur theatricals at Cockington Court, in which Christie, managing to overcome her usual crippling shyness, took part. Other notable buildings Cockington Church which has been estimated to have been standing since 1069 built by William de Falaise. A water mill that is in the middle of the village; Cockington Forge, which has been in the same place in the village for 500 years. Notable residents Robert Cary a cronologer was born in Cockington in about 1615. Robert Sweet (1782-1835), an horticulturalist and author, was also born in the