One of the reasons why I started this blog, was my mobility problem. It took me a long time and lots of effort to get it back to a reasonable shape. Meanwhile, the other knee started to cause problems. Then at last they both allowed me to live the adjusted but satisfactory lifestyle. And guess what? A couple of weeks ago or so I went on an amazing hike with friends. Well... Since then my troublesome knee has been complaining. Now the long weekend has started and I am in pain. How awful! There is a trip to the South West of England on the agenda! How will I take part in the Combe Martin annual hunt???!!!
Would you like to read about the event?
Here you go:
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.
