Combe Martin is Hunting the Earl of Rone this weekend

Colourful characters, parades and revelry will be in full swing this bank holiday weekend as Combe Martin celebrate sits unique custom of The Hunting of the Earl of Rone.

Villagers will don costumes to ‘hunt’ the elusive Earl, in a series of four processions beginning on Friday evening and culminating in a huge parade with hundreds of people on the Monday evening.

Accompanied by rhythmic drums, various characters including a Hobby Horse, Fool and Grenadiers – plus the Earl himself once located – will make their way up and down the long village street.

Above: Combe Martin is on the hunt this weekend. Credit: Simon Stuart

No one knows for sure the origin of the custom, which includes various elements from English folklore and is thought to date back hundreds of years.

It was banned in 1837 for ‘licentiousness and drunken behaviour’ but was revived in 1974 and has continued to this day, aside from a break during Covid.

Credit: Simon Stuart

On Friday a smaller procession of Grenadiers, Hobby Horse and Fool, accompanied by drums, will leave Holdstone Way at the top of the village at 7pm and make their way to the Stable at the Castle Inn.

Then on Saturday it is the turn of local children to have their own procession, leaving the junior school at 11am and making their way up the village.

Sunday will see the hunt take to the lanes and byways around the village, leaving Sandaway holiday park at the beach at 1.30pm.

Then on Monday evening the whole party gathers at Holdstone Way at 6pm, with the grenadiers setting off at 5.45pm to locate the Earl in Lady’s Wood.

He is then paraded down the main street, sometimes sat back-to-front on a donkey, periodically ‘shot’ and revived by the Hobby Horse and Fools to much clamour of drums, before the procession reaches the beach at sunset and he is cast into the sea.

Above: Villagers Hunting the Earl of Rone in Combe Martin, with the captured ‘earl’ on donkey back. Credit: Simon Stuart

Local legend says the unlucky Earl was Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone, who was forced to flee from Ireland in 1607 and was shipwrecked in Rapparee Cove in nearby Ilfracombe. 

Hiding in the woods and surviving only on ships’ biscuits, he was eventually captured by a party of Grenadiers sent from Barnstaple.

There is not thought to be any historical evidence for this and theories abound as to the origins of the custom, such as a holdover from medieval May games, or pagan pre-Christian customs.

Regardless, Combe Martin has plenty of fun each late May bank holiday and the custom is a spectacle for visitors to enjoy.

During procession times, traffic is likely to be slower in the village and expect delays during the Monday evening procession, though it will step aside regularly to let traffic through.

You can find out more about The Hunting of the Earl of Rone at https://earl-of-rone.org.uk.

Below: The final scenes of the hunt play out at the beach. Credit: Earl of Rone Council/JustSo Photography