"Rone?”said I: "is that a Devonshire name?  I don't remember to have heard of it before in my travels."  I believe, continued the Captain in effect, that the name is properly "Tyrone", and that the Earl of Tyrone, or a political refugee supposed in Combmartin to be such a personage, was captured by a detachment of soldiers in Lady's Wood, near this village, during the times of the Irish Rebellion.  The legend goes that he had been wandering in the neighbourhood for some time before his capture, and had lived on a string of sea-biscuits which he had hung round his neck, and which he had procured from the little vessel which landed him on the North Devon coast. 

 

I am not, however, going to tell you the story of his wanderings in the woods, or of his capture, but of the strange annual commemoration thereof which the Combmartin people instituted, and which they kept up with great regularity till the year 1837, when the ceremonial was finally abolished.  The 'show' took place yearly on Ascension Day, and the characters or mummers who played in it were the following.  The Earl of Rone: wearing a grotesque mask, a smock-frock stuffed or padded with straw, and a string of twelve hard sea-biscuits round his neck.  The Hobby-Horse: masked and covered with gaily painted trappings, and armed with an instrument called a "mapper", which was shaped to represent the mouth of a horse, and was furnished with rude teeth and the means of rapidly opening and closing its formidable jaws.  The Fool: also masked and gaudily dressed.  A (real) Donkey: decorated with flowers and a necklace of twelve sea-biscuits.  A troop of Grenadiers, armed with guns, and wearing tall caps of coloured paper profusely adorned with bunches of ribands.

 

During the fortnight which preceded Ascension Day the Hobby-Horse and the Fool, in full dress, paraded the parish and levied contributions to defray the cost of the dresses and the other expenses of the show.  On the morning of the day itself great numbers of people thronged in from the surrounding parishes, and the whole village turned out in its Sunday garments and put on its liveliest aspect.  At three o'clock in the afternoon the Grenadiers marched with all due pomp and circumstance of war to the neighbouring plantation called Lady's Wood, and after much parade of search, discover the fugitive Earl of Rone ineffectually hidden in the low brushwood.  They immediately fire a volley, lay hold of their prisoner, set him on the Donkey with his face towards the animal's tail, and thus conduct him in triumph to the village.  Here the Hobby-Horse and the Fool, and great numbers of the inhabitants, join in the procession.

 

At certain stations in the village the Grenadiers fire a volley, when the Earl falls from his Donkey apparently mortally wounded.  Hereupon there is great exultation on the part of the soldiers, and excessive lamentation on the part of the Hobby-Horse and the Fool.  After great exertion the latter invariably succeeds in healing the Earl of his wounds, and then the procession re-forms and marches onward once more.  At every public-house there is also a stoppage for purposes of refreshment, and as there are many such houses in Combmartin the progress of the mummers is necessarily slow.  Moreover there are further innumerable delays, caused by the perpetual efforts of the performers to levy additional contributions from the visitors who throng the street.  As a general rule small sums are given readily, for in case of refusal the Fool dips the besom which he carries in the nearest gutter and plentifully besprinkles the rash recusant, and should not this hint be promptly taken the Hobby-Horse proceeds to lay hold of the victim's clothes with his 'mapper', and this detains his prisoner till the required blackmail is forthcoming.  About night-fall the procession reaches the sea.    BACK TO TOP

The earl of Rone wore a mask, a smock frock padded with straw, and a chain of ship biscuits hung round his neck. The "horse" was covered with painted trappings; and armed with an instrument called a mapper (is this a clerical error for snapper?), shaped to represent the mouth of a horse, furnished with teeth and jaws capable of rapid opening and closing.  A donkey also, decorated with flowers and a necklace of threaded ship bread, took part in the procession: and so did a group of grotesquely dressed grenadiers.  For a week before the show day the procession paraded the parish, and naturally collected many spectators from surrounding places.  All appeared in holiday attire on the Feast Day preceding that of Whitsuntide.  There was some thought of the procession into Jerusalem, on Maundy Thursday, underlying the performance; though all such meaning had evaporated by modern times.

 

At three o'clock in the afternoon the grenadiers filed to the wood, where the earl was hidden in a bush, and they immediately fired a volley.  This wounded the refugee, who was then seized, set on the donkey, with his face to the tail of his steed, and thus led in triumph through the long village.  He, the hobby, and the fool, joined in procession, and at certain resting places - a memory of the Stations of the Cross ‑ the soldiers fired and the earl fell from the donkey, seemingly wounded, to the great exultation of the soldiers and the lamentation of the hobby‑horse and fool.  The latter replaced the earl of 'Rone on the animal and again the progress went on.  This amusement lasted for some hours.  The actors stopped here and there to levy contributions from the spectators, and to spend these wherever they could find a place of refreshment.  Should any refuse to give, the fool dipped a besom in the gutter, which followed the course of the street, and besprinkled the unwise individual, and if this treatment did not produce the required coin the hobby‑horse seized the unfortunate bystander with his mapper, and detained him until blackmail was forthcoming.  BACK TO TOP

Until the year 1837, when it was suppressed, Combe Martin was the scene of a quaint custom, which took place upon Ascension day.  It was called the Hunting of the Earl of 'Rone, and was supposed to be a commemoration of the hunting of an Irish outlaw, (Hugh O'Neill, the Earl of Tyrone), during the Irish rebellion in the latter days of Elizabeth.

 

A troop of village men dressed as grenadiers assembled in the street on Ascension day.  They formed a procession having with them an extraordinary figure representing the Earl of 'Rone.  This person was attired in a smock frock padded with straw, a string of biscuits hung round his neck, and he wore a mask. A          "hobby horse", with gay trappings pranced about, bearing an instrument called a mapper.  This consisted of two wooden jaws, furnished with formidable teeth, wherewith the hobby horse laid hold of those who did not contribute a coin to the exhibition.  There was a donkey, also decorated with biscuits and flowers, and a fool bearing a besom, wherewith, after dipping it in the gutter, he bespattered the niggardly.   At three o'clock on Ascension day the Earl would take refuge in Lady's wood, and soon afterwards, a mock discovery and capture would be enacted.  The party then paraded the village, the Earl riding the donkey with his face to the tail.  At intervals they pulled up, the grenadiers fired a mock volley and the Earl fell from his steed.  Hereupon the grenadiers would rejoice, and the hobby‑horse and fool would pick him up and replace him with cries of compassion and lamentation.  A large company of holiday makers would come from all the country round to see this play, and contribute a little welcome coin to the actors.  At every public house (and there were more even in those days than there are now), the party would stop for refreshment.  It may be imagined therefore that the journey down the street occupied some time, and that when the sea was reached, the procession had waxed somewhat disorderly.  This eventually led to its suppression.  It has been suggested that this ceremony was a survival of the old miracle or morality plays, which were probably sometimes acted at the four days Whitsun fair.  These plays written, and often acted by the clergy, usually took place during the great Church Festivals, and were general throughout England.  BACK

Transaction of the Devonshire Association. vol.49. 1917

The last observance of this old festival was on Ascension Day, 1837.  I had this on the authority of the late rector and three very old men now living in the village (the year 1917) - George Dendle, aged 95; Ezekiel Lovering, aged 86; William Chugg, aged 85.  The three latter actually took part in the last festival ever held - this would have been in the year of Queen Victoria's accession.

 

From conversations I have had with these three old men from time to time, I learn that this strange old local festival - altogether unlike any other in the whole of North Devon - during the last few years of its existence was gradually losing much of the historical importance it may have possessed, owing to the introduction of a good deal of rough horse-play and drinking habits.  There were at that time nine public-houses, and it is said that a rather prolonged halt for "refreshments" was made at each.

 

On the last occasion upon which it was held (1837) it would appear from my informants that there was so much mirth and wild conviviality during the strange procession from "Lady's Wood" at the very head of the town to the seaside (1½ miles nearly) that most of the principal "actors"  were pretty well "done for"  by the time they had left the third public-house downwards; also, that there were hundreds of people, not only from this place, but also from surrounding parishes, all dressed in gay holiday attire, following the noisy procession... BACK TO TOP

Obsolete from 1837. - The 'show' took place yearly on Ascension Day, and the characters or mummers were the following:- The Earl of Rone: wearing a grotesque mask, a smock-frock stuffed or padded with straw, and a string of twelve hard sea-biscuits round his neck. The Hobby-Horse: masked and covered in gaily painted trappings, and armed with an instrument called a 'mapper', which was shaped to represent the the mouth of a horse, and was furnished with rude teeth and the means of rapidly opening and closing its formidable jaws. The Fool: also masked and gaudily dressed. A (real) donkey: decorated with flowers and a necklace of twelve sea-biscuits. A troop of Grenadiers, armed with guns, and wearing tall caps of coloured paper profusely adorned with bunches of riband.

During the fortnight which preceded Ascension Day the Hobby-Horse and the Fool, in full dress, paraded the parish and levied contributions to defray the cost of the dresses and other expenses of the show.  On the morning of the day itself great numbers of people thronged in from the surrounding parishes, and the whole village turned out in its Sunday garments and put on its liveliest aspect.  At three o'clock in the afternoon the Grenadiers marched with all due pomp and circumstance of war to the neighbouring plantation called Lady's Wood, and after much parade of search, discover the fugitive Earl ineffectually hidden in the low brushwood.  They immediately fire a volley, lay hold of their prisoner, set him on a donkey with his face towards the animal's tail, and thus conduct him in triumph to the village.

Here the Hobby-Horse and the Fool, and great numbers of the inhabitants join in the procession.  At certain stations in the village the Grenadiers fire a volley, when the Earl falls from his donkey apparently mortally wounded.  Hereupon there is great exultation on the part of the soldiers, and excessive lamentation on the part of the Hobby-Horse and the Fool.  After great exertion the latter invariably succeeds in healing the Earl of his wounds, and then the procession reforms and marches onward once more.

At every public house there is a stoppage for purposes of refreshment, and there are innumerable delays caused by the efforts of the performers to levy contributions from the visitors.  As a general rule small sums are given readily, for in case of refusal the Fool dips the besom in the nearest gutter and plentifully besprinkles the rash recusant, and should not this hint be promptly taken the Hobby-Horse proceeds to lay hold of the victim's clothes with his 'mapper' and thus detains his prisoner till the required blackmail is forthcoming. BACK TO TOP

At Combe Martin in North Devon, a very curious custom  was performed on Ascension Day each year until the year 1837, when, probably owing to the drunkenness that prevailed, it was discontinued.   The custom was based on a tradition in the district, that, in the days of James I, an outlaw named the Earl of Tyrone was wrecked in the Bristol Channel, and landing from a small boat near Ilfracombe, he is said to have made his way across country to Combe Martin, where he lay securely hidden in the dense woods of the neighbourhood for several days, existing on a few biscuits he managed to save from the wreck. According to the tradition, as soon as his whereabouts were known to the authorities, a party of Grenadiers was sent to Combe Martin with orders to capture him.

 

In its early days the custom was celebrated with colour and vigour, but as time went on it gradually deteriorated.  During the period when it was performed well, it must have been a very colourful and amusing spectacle.  On Ascension Day a party of local men dressed as Grenadiers, and armed with fowling‑pieces made their way to Lady's Wood in search of the Earl of Rone (Tyrone).  Meanwhile, the Earl, who seems to have been the hero of the day, wearing a grotesque mask and dressed in a smock, padded with straw, and adorned with a huge necklace composed of ships biscuits, was being ceremoniously mounted on his mettlesome steed, which consisted of a donkey also decorated with ships‑biscuits.  He was attended by a hobby‑horse covered with brightly coloured trappings and bearing an extraordinary instrument called a "mapper," furnished with large teeth with which the hobbyhorse caught hold of people who tried to evade giving money towards the collection made for the actors taking part in the entertainment.  There was also a 'jester' in attendance, who carried a wet broom with which to sprinkle water over those persons whose contributions to the fund were not forthcoming.  Cheered on by the jubilant shouts of the spectators, the Earl of Rone supported by his ludicrous attendants, rode off on his donkey.  As soon as the Grenadiers saw the Earl approaching, they fired a volley from their fowling ­pieces, and the Earl of Rone promptly fell from his steed, apparently desperately wounded, to the great joy of the Grenadiers.  The hobby­horse and the jester, with many lamentations, replaced the Earl on the donkey and the procession continued through Combe Martin, stopping at every tavern on the way.  Every now and then the Earl would fall from his trusty steed only to be mounted once more by the faithful hobby‑horse and jester.  The procession would reach the seaside as twilight was falling, and then the entertainment would come to an end amid the cheers of the spectators.

 

It is said that during the last occasion on which the custom was observed, a man named Lovering fell from the steps of a house and broke his neck.  This tragic event is supposed to have sobered the party up a trifle, and their visits to the remaining taverns were of a shorter duration out of respect to the dead man's relatives.  It is very difficult to say how much truth there is in the tradition of the landing of the Earl of Tyrone on the coast of North Devon.  No mention of such an occurrence is made in the Dictionary of National Biography.  Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, was confirmed in his title and estates by James I at Hampton Court on 4th June, 1603.  On his return to Ireland at the end of August, the King's 'deputy' in Ireland, Sir Arthur Chichester, soon had reason to doubt his loyalty, with the result that Tyrone was again ordered to appear before the King.  Irish friends in the Netherlands sent a warning to O'Neill that if he went to England he would be imprisoned, so the Earl decided to escape to Italy.  At midnight on 14th September, 1607, the Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnel, with their wives and retainers sailed from Rathmullan in a vessel of 80 tons intending to make for Spain.  The fugitives encountered a violent storm which drove them out of their course and buffeted them about for three weeks.  If the Earl ever landed on the coast of North Devon it would have been while his ship was weather-bound.  Eventually, the vessel reached the mouth of the Seine, and later the fugitives journeyed to Rome, where they were well received by the Pope, who granted the Earl of Tyrone a monthly pension, which was increased by an additional sum from the King of Spain, and was continued until the Earl's death on 20th July, 1616.  BACK TO TOP