Dead Famous in Ilfracombe

14/09/2025

17/08/2025

A Decade of Dedication: Thank You Erica

Regrettably, Erica Castle, who led the Graveyard Group for over a decade, has stepped down from her role to care for her elderly mother. Her dedication, energy and community spirit was the driving force behind the transformation of the Holy Trinity graveyard—work that began in earnest in 2014, when Erica first learned of the need to make the War Graves accessible ahead of the WW1 centenary commemorations.

Thanks to Erica’s tireless efforts to recruit volunteers and engage local groups—including generous helpings of doughnuts and appreciation for the Community Payback team—the severely overgrown and unmanaged two-acre site was gradually restored and beautifully maintained. The graveyard went on to receive prestigious awards from the Campaign to Protect Rural England (Devon’s Best Churchyard Competition) and Britain in Bloom.

Under Erica’s stewardship, the graveyard became not just a place of remembrance, but a peaceful public space visited by locals and tourists alike. It has welcomed visitors from Ireland and Belgium who came to honour their nationals buried there, and descendants from across the UK and all over the world who came to pay their respects. Many others who couldn’t visit in person contacted Erica who went above and beyond to send them photographs and research about their ancestors’ lives.

Modest donations from the community and descendants helped cover basic costs of fuel and wire for strimmers and equipment maintenance but more often than not, volunteers reached into their own pockets.

Beyond maintaining access to the 2,500 graves, the group also:
• Cleared and maintained walkways for church services
• Prepared and decorated the War Graves for Remembrance Sunday
• Pruned trees overhanging nearby roads
• Took part in church events with stalls and crafts
• Planted wildflowers, vegetables and decorative beds
• Installed bird feeders, nesting boxes and wildlife habitats to encourage
biodiversity in “God’s Acre”.

Vandalism has been a recurring challenge with graves desecrated, the notice board and benches damaged and even the security camera stolen. Fly-tipping has added to the burden.

One long-standing issue has been the misuse of the graveyard as a dog park. While many dog owners act responsibly, some feel entitled to allow dogs to run off-lead, damage flower beds and leave behind waste. Aside from being unpleasant, this becomes a health hazard as dogs’ mess is trodden in, it gets knelt in and on hands when weeding, and strimmers throw it onto volunteers’ faces and clothing.

There is a legal responsibility for all UK graveyards to ensure gravestones are secure and not hazardous to the public. With limited funds, the only realistic way to manage this is through regular safety checks—laying flat any unstable stones to prevent accidents. This too fell to the volunteers.

When Erica stepped back, no one felt able to take on the leadership of the group. Many of the volunteers have since joined Ilfracombe in Bloom, led by Steve Trebble.

It was because of Erica’s passion and encouragement that I began researching the stories behind the gravestones and sharing them on the Graveyard Group’s page—also run by Erica. These stories often began with the inscriptions on the stones and with further research grew into something much bigger. Some became the inspiration for “Dead Famous” -- theatre performances held in the graveyard by Studio Theatre Ilfracombe -- which Erica helped to coordinate.

With her support, I began writing monthly graveyard articles for Coast and Combe in 2020, and last September I became its editor.

On behalf of all who’ve had the privilege of working alongside her, I want to say a heartfelt thank you to Erica and the many volunteers who have given their years of service to keep our graveyard open, welcoming, and cared for. You’ve inspired us all and your leadership will be greatly missed.

Mark Parr
Coast and Combe
August 2025

14/07/2021

What did a Queen, a talk show host, a centenarian and a superhero have in common with the greatest batsman of his day?

Everyone else was below Parr.

“Some literary gentlemen one day dined with Scottish poet and writer James Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd at his farm in Selkirkshire, when it was mentioned by someone as a strange thing that Dr Parr had married clandestinely and nobody knew who his wife was.

‘Ay, ay’ said the shepherd ‘she is nae doot below Parr.’

“Here is a pun perfect in all its parts, preserving at once exactness of sound and sense, and giving at the same time a humorous colouring to a commonplace fact.”
-The Cornhill Magazine Vol IV 1861

Mr Hogg acknowledged this to be the only pun he ever made.”
- North Devon Journal August 14 1856

The reader need not know the identity of Dr Parr to chuckle, but a pun carried more weight when the subject was a familiar name. The Reverend Dr Samuel Parr (1747-1825) was a prominent literary figure, prolific writer, clergyman and schoolmaster.

At the age of 70 in 1816 he married his second wife Mary Eyre, about 45 years of age. The punsters were ready.

“The newspaper gossips state that the celebrated Dr Parr means shortly to take a wife. In that event the Par will take odds, and both become even.”
-Literary Anecdotes of Professor Poson by E.H. Barker

“Ah! Such a Pair were never seen,
Since Ida’s Mount so far is;
For is not Eyre his Venus sheen,
And surely he her Parr-is!”
-Morning Post January 1 1817

Parr puns originated in the late 1500’s when the English language adopted the Latin word ‘par’ meaning equal in value or standing. Bank notes and lottery tickets were described as being ‘above par’ or ‘below par’. Its homonym was the surname of several ancient families of the United Kingdom. (Another par homonym entered the English lexicon during the 1700’s but its pedigree was a little fishy.)

Homophonic puns like Parr/par are used as a literary device or punch line. Puns which include a surname are onomastic puns. Most onomastic puns are sub Parr.

Catherine Parr became the sixth and last wife of Henry VIII in 1543. One of the Queens-in-waiting punned that His Majesty’s first five wives were less than Parr. That Lady had a short-lived gig at the Tower of London and lost her head when her rival punned that the royal line of succession was a Grey area.

Perhaps the most famously punned Parr was Thomas or ‘Old Parr’ who was said to have lived for 152 years. The puns began after his death in 1635 and continue to this day, due in part to “Grand Old Parr” whisky and “Parr’s Life Pills” which bore his name.

“Badminton is certainly a noble place; if wealth and grandeur could give long life then the Duke of Beaufort should be ‘above Parr’ – that’s meant for a pun, and not a bad one either.” - Bristol Times, October 1 1842

“Ever since Sir George Cornewall Lewis died, centenarians have been passing away at frequent intervals. The oldest of these very old people, however, are always very much below Parr.”
- The Western Mail April 21 1871

George Parr (1826-1891) was the English cricketer known as ‘The Lion of the North’ and considered the best player in the world. He was Captain of the Nottinghamshire Club from 1856-1870 and George Parr’s XI was the first overseas tour by an English team in 1859.
-Wikipedia

“Why are the batsmen of England said to be at a discount?
Because they are all below Parr.”
- Nottingham Journal June 14 1850

Jack Paar (1918-2004) was the second host of NBC’s The Tonight Show. “Time Magazine's obituary reported wryly, ‘His fans would remember him as the fellow who split talk show history into two eras: Before Paar and Below Paar.'"
-Wikipedia

There’s even a Bob Parr pun for Generation Z: “'Lego The Incredibles' is simply below Parr.”
-Trevor Sheffield, Ballstatedaily com July 6 2018

Thanks to their puns, these and many other Parrs became a standard against whom others were measured. From British royalty to superheroes, punned Parrs are par for the course.

“Your long labour’d trifle at length finds an end
Strict silence in future’s the advice of a friend;
Your premise already is spun out too far,
Both subject and reas’ning are much below Parr.”
-Norfolk Chronicle March 20, 1784

Mark Parr
(No relation; just a little fish)
Holy Trinity Graveyard Group

Reprinted from the July Coast and Combe Magazine

19/06/2021

Mrs Slade-King and Lady Bowring

Amy Slade-King was a trail blazer for women in primarily male domains. She married physician Edwin John Slade-King at Cheltenham in 1861. Dr Slade-King became Ilfracombe’s medical officer of health shortly afterwards, a position he held for almost 60 years. The couple were highly respected in the town.

At Ilfracombe in 1879 Mrs Slade-King presented a paper to the Devonshire Association entitled “Notes on the Older Times of Ilfracombe.” She gave a well researched history of Ilfracombe and although read by her husband it was the first time a woman had presented a paper to the association. It was also the first meeting at which two ladies responded to the toast of “The ladies”. According to the Western Morning News “the toast was proposed and drunk with all seriousness, and not in the jocular way in which it was often given.”

The first ‘lady’ to respond was Lady Deborah Castle Bowring, an Exeter suffragette and philanthropist who served as a Vice President of the Bristol and West of England Women’s Suffrage Society. Her husband Sir John Bowring was the 4th Governor of Hong Kong and the first President of the Devonshire Association.

Lady Bowring (pictured) “gave a speech of touching eloquence and earnest good sense expressing the pleasure she felt in attending the meeting and her conviction that her sisters had much to gain from participating in such proceedings. Topics of art especially appealed to them and she trusted now that a lady had contributed a paper others would follow her example.

“She closed her speech with a poetic outburst:

‘Thus labouring still we onward tread
And, prizing nature more and more
Hold blest communion with the dead
And press towards the eternal shore.’

“The other lady, Miss Marshall, strongly deprecated the patronizing tone in which women who joined in the proceedings of such meetings were usually referred to. She wished no avoidance of criticism, no measuring of women’s work by a different standard from men’s, but fair and honest equality.” (Western Morning News July 26 1879).

While she may have been upstaged by the presence of the suffragettes, Mrs Slade-King opened a door for women in 1879. Her ‘first’ was followed by papers by notable Devonshire women including Charlotte Elizabeth Treadwin (Honiton Lace) in 1883, Lady Emma Louise Radford (History of the Church at Lydford) in 1888, Grace Johnson (An Old Parish Chest) in 1889 and Frances Batchelder Rose-Troup (Reverend Matthew Mundy) in 1894.

In 1928 women received equal suffrage with men. That same year Lady Radford became the first woman President of the Devonshire Association; almost 50 years after Mrs Slade-King’s ground-breaking presentation.

Her paper and others are to be found in the Association’s “Reports and Transactions” Volume XI. The Devonshire Association’s website has biographies of former members and some of their papers.

https://devonassoc.org.uk/category/people/

The contributions of Lady Bowring and her contemporaries to the suffrage movement in Devon have been nicely documented by the Devon History Society.

https://www.devonhistorysociety.org.uk/bowring-lady-deborah/

Mark Parr
Holy Trinity Graveyard Group
🥳

05/06/2021

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