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A small town, at the first bridge across the estuary which starts at Padstow at the seaward end and stretches inland to Bodmin. There are numerous villages in the region around Wadebridge, many of them having been home to members of the Hockin Family. The majority of the villages are named after Cornish Saints. The parish chuch for Wadebridge, is at St.Breock, a short distance from the town, up a slight valley.
Some of the earliest known Hockins in this area,
lived in
villages along the valley of the River Camel to the north of Wadebridge
such as St Tudy and St.Teath, and around Camelford, Llanteglos and up to Bude. Some
were farmers, millers, some coopers - one a master cooper, one was the hatter
in Wadebridge itself, another a master mariner.
One family moved to Boconnock, to the south east of Bodmin, and
subsequently many of this family emigrated to Canada. One son
Benjamin stayed in Wadebridge, and was buried at St. Breock, but
his daughters emigrated to Canada.
The only known son of Richard the hatter, William Richard, left Wadebridge and moved to Bristol - how and why we do not yet know although we do know that there was a regular boat service up the Cornish coast from Hayle to Padstow, Bude, across to Swansea, where some Hockins settled, and on up the Channel to Bristol. This service was just as regular as today's bus services and, with the terrible state of most of Britain's roads, probably faster and safer. The norhward journey carried passengers and ores from the Cornish mines to Swansea for refining, and the southerly return brought back coal from South Wales, and probably Somerset too, to feed the coal-burning Cornish Engines keeping the mines drained.
He was later followed by his father and mother Jane (nee Daw, of
Egloshayle), the former dying in Bristol, and the latter in London
- again we can only conjecture at the present, as to why this
was. Perhaps there were family relatives or friends living there.
We know that members of the Phillack Hockins lived in Paddington,
and later at Lee, in Kent. It is also known that there was a firm
of Hockin & Co. at 38 Duke St., Manchester Square, London W.,
in the photographic business, since in the Ashmolean Museum in
Oxford, there is a large box displayed, open to show its contents,
which were Lewis Carroll's photographic "kit" - bottles,
dishes, chemicals etc., which were supplied by a Hockin & Co.
Since some of the Phillack Hockins moved away from that parish
to villages and towns to the northeast, including ones surrounding
the Wadebridge area, it may well be that there is a connection
between these two lines, but whether it was before or after the incident
of John the Hurler, is not yet known. Until this can be settled,
the use of the coat of arms can only be made by those known to
have an established descent from the Phillack line.