Rock village gets its name from the limestone and sandstone which came to the surface in places locally. The village is located four miles inland, and the 2,000 acres in the parish lie at an elevation of 200- 300 feet.

The oldest sign of habitation was the finding of a 4,000 year old clay pot or beaker, under a burial mound in the Ellsnook plantation in 1925. The oldest building in the Parish is the church which dates from 1176, but the placenames of neighbouring villages (Rennington, Ellingham) indicate Anglican settlements in the 7th and 8th Centuries , and it is possible that a village also existed at Rock in this period.

The next oldest building is a 14th Century stone building in the kitchen yard of Rock Hall - the oratory in which Robert de Tuggal obtained permission in 1359 from the Bishop of Durham to hold services.

Written records after 1600 are more detailed, and it is in this period that Rock Farmhouse was built. Rock Hall is now a private school. The central portion made up from the thick walls of the original pele tower built in the 15th Century.

The 19th Century was a period of agricultural prosperity for the area. A journalist from 1860 noted new buildings and improvements to many of the buildings in the village, and the land was producing excellent crops. [See map of Rock from this period]

The village of Rock shares an annual festival with nearby Rennington called 'Rock and Rennington'. There is an annual  Scarecrow Festival held - this year - from Friday 22 August - Monday 25 August 2003. More information at www.rockandrennington.com.

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