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Hunting The Earl Folklore

Wednesday 4th June 2025

Hunting The earl Of Rone

At Hippy Motors we help people make cars and vans unique. We help you put your own mark on, what could be, just another car or van. With that in mind what makes a town unique and how do people help make it unique? Combe Martin, on the North Devon coast, in my mind is unique and I want to tell you why. It's certainly got what many could say are wonderful features. It is a coastal town that is set in magnificent Devon countryside, it has a great things that are really special like sheltered bays great for kayaking, paddle-boarding and even snorkelling but, sorry, other places can also boast that. The kind of unique the town is has been crafted over millennia by the people of the town. People have for hundreds of years met up, organised, arranged and participated in a weekend of madness and joy. A gathering without the modern trappings of the everyday and the ordinary. It just has the idea that maybe a community can just do something together, just be who they want to be and all come together to demonstrate what it means to be from Combe Martin.

So just as you make your car and van unique the people of Combe Martin do the same with their town. I would like to describe what they do as, I hope, it will inspire you to go and experience it and maybe forge your own path to uniqueness if your town is a bit bland.

I have been aware that Combe Martin have an event they call “The Hunting of the Earl of Rone” and this year, in 2025, I finally got to witness it. It was so much greater than I expected and, I like to think, I've already got experience of mad events based on folklore. It genuinely warmed my heart and filled me with joy. Those people from that small, remote and complex town manage to organise and bring together the towns folk and call out to outsiders like me and show the world, this is us, this is what we do, we have been here for millennia and we will be here next year.

So what is “Hunting the Earl of Rone”?

To answer that we must address the event's name. It is certainly linked to the flight of the Earls of Ireland going way back to 1607 when Gaelic Chieftains fled Ireland from the oppressive take over by the English. Chieftains were forced to change to the English system of Earls and, at the same time, hand over the family based rule in Ireland to become ruled by the English crown. One Chieftain was Hugh O'Neill who became known as the Earl of Tyrone where, probably, we get the name Rone from in the event.

The story that unfurls, through several parades set around the ascension day weekend, recreate how the treasonous Earl of Tyrone was shipwrecked off the North Devon coast as he fled Ireland and is hiding in woodland on the outskirts of Combe Martin sustained by ships biscuits. Soldiers from Barnstable are called by the town to search for the Earl and bring him to account under English law. They search the town over days and eventually find the Earl hiding in the woods. They then parade him through the town backwards facing on the back of a donkey with much dancing, music and drinking. Every now and then they drag the dreaded Earl from of the donkey and execute him in front of the cheering crowd. Thankfully he is quickly resurrected by an 'obby 'oss and an accompanying 'Fool' put back on the donkey so he can be executed once again further down the road.

This merriment continues until they get to the beach at sunset were they do their final dance and execution of the tragic Earl of Rone. This time the 'obby 'oss and the Fool are unable to revive him and the soldiers take his body run into the sea and toss him as far as they can so he floats away from the town.

The historical basis for this story is certainly dodgy which only adds more to the uniqueness. The earl, according to historical documents, actually escaped the claws of the crown and lived his life out in Italy but that doesn't actually matter because, like much of ancient folklore, it's goes way older than 1607 and the flight of the Earls. It was, probably, a reimagining of an even older event that around 1607 was altered to appease the church so they can keep the event alive and not banned like many others probably were.

The event certainly has many echo's of a few other surviving pre-Christian nature based festivals where a wild-man or greenman of the woods is chased out and expelled by a community for 'good luck'.

It is one of only three events in the UK that has an 'obby 'oss as it's focal character all on the same stretch of coastline. The 'obby 'oss of Combe Martin is a large disc of sackcloth and colourful tassels with a snapping head and a colourful but disturbing mask that rolls as it dances as it rocks and spins down the streets entertaining and frightening those that see it. It's 'stable' is the wonderful Castle Inn where it lives through the year to be released annually to play it's part in four days of parades through the streets.

It is, actually, a classic spring/Easter story. One of rebirth for sure and expelling evil spirits maybe.

What you'll find if you see 'The hunting of the Earl of Rone?

Here I don't want to describe in detail the four parades over the four days. I'm planning to do a video and other video's are on Youtube that are great, especially this one by someone we met this year. What I want to do here is tell you what we got from it.

The Friday is as quiet as you'll get. It's smaller, less spectators and less in the procession so it's very relaxed. It gave us a great opportunity to talk to those involved and we sat back at The Pack o' Cards and saw family and friends reuniting with each other. Those that had moved away from the town arrive and meet up with old school friends and family and catch up with each other. Their is a real buzz in the air and the enthusiasm is obvious. They parade from the Focsle Pub on the harbour front and walked to The castle Inn a few miles away via the Pack 'o Cards pub half way up.

The ladies cover the most ground as they zig zag and skip along with the parade to the beat of the drums and tunes from the accordions.

Saturday is the turn for the young ones with drums and accordions etc. They do a mini version of the parades with a smaller 'obby 'oss and parade from the primary school. So wonderful to see the children involved in it. The setting is stunning up high over the bay at the top car park by the bandstand where they dance and perform with The fool and 'Obby 'oss.

Saturday evening was the ceilidh in the village hall. A ceilidh is always great fun but this was extra special. Not because everyone was super friendly and rubbish at following basic instructions but they did the 'Strawberry Cake'. I won't spoil your surprise at what the strawberry cake is but it is the only time in the weekend I wondered if we'd been lulled in by their smiles and friendliness to be dragged off and ritually scarified. Please go to The Strawberry Cake and, hopefully, you'll be fine.

Sunday is great. They start the parade away from the town and do a dance on the beach and walk all the way to The castle Inn. Not sure where they get their energy. Maybe it's the tonic they swig from in their hip flasks that keeps them going. It takes you through some of Combe Martin's back streets and passages that, as a frequent visitor to the town, I've never been down which was a delight.

Following the marching Grenadiers I overheard one soldier to another. “I'm convinced I didn't take part in this last year”, “Well you did, I was with you”, “Yeah people keep on telling me that but I just don't remember it” He then took another swig from his hip flask.

We also walked some of the way with a young girl excited and proud that her fiance was a grenadier. Tomorrow she was going to surprise him by being one of the dancers. Very sweet.

Monday is the big day. The parades through out the weekend get progressively bigger and this is the final one. The grenadiers manage to finally locate the treasonous Earl of Rone in the woods where he is dragged off and shot, resurrected by the 'obby 'oss and The Fool only to be put back on the donkey to get shot once more a short time later.

I loved the dance between the 'obby 'oss and The fool. It seemed to be reflecting a duality of not just male and female but it's also suggestive of more in my mind. The 'obby 'oss is not human for sure, it's not really animal either, maybe it's more magic than anything else but it's a male energy. The two work together to cure the Earl after his multiple executions as, indeed, was the role of the Wisewoman (played by the Fool) in days of old and her appearance is defiantly witch like with the broomstick. What sealed the relationship for me was one of the sweetest moments of the parade. After the penultimate dance right next to and before they head onto the beach the Fool and the 'obby 'oss gave each other a quick kiss. I don't think it was a rehearsed kiss but I guessed they were an actual couple and just kissed. Maybe I saw it wrong but I hope not.

All weekend the weather was great but for the final parade it rained but that didn't stop the maidens dancing, the drummers drumming and the Grenadiers killing the earl. They knew the job needed to be done and the dreaded Earl needed to be tossed out into the sea.

What is The Hunting of the Earl of Rone all about?

That is a question we all asked a lot during the weekend and I gave it a lot of thought.

For decades I thought England, Britain had lost it's identity. When I went overseas I could see a national and local identity, a pride and awareness in the people there and I never saw it here. Now looking at these folklore based traditions I see it here and I love it. So I guess that answers one part of that question, it's a living tradition which is both rare and valuable which does give an identity to the people here.

It's an incredibly inclusive event. By that I mean it's for the very young to the very old. I saw old men with massive drums, small children with small drums, wheelchair users joining in with the parade and ceilidh, teenagers disconnected from phones and fully engaged with those around them and us, as outsiders, welcomed to join in if we want. All involved know where they are, what there roll is and have their own reasons for taking part. All clearly demonstrate a pride and a spirit that is rare and uplifting.

You walk up and down Combe Martin high street and it's clear it has gone through many changes over hundreds of years. Banks are no more, bakers are closed, pubs gone and shops converted to housing. Combe Martin is one of those old fishing and farming coastal towns that expanded a lot with tourists and new comers in the Victorian era but now it is moving on from that.

Community in Combe Martin is very much strengthened by The Hunting of the earl of Rone. The people do this themselves and they come together not just for the weekend but throughout the year to organise and attend this event which, in itself, is a great achievement. With it they demonstrate their pride in themselves, who they are, where they have come from and confirm that their hearts are here where their roots blossom from.

The event has a unique ancient history and has clearly been reinvented several times in order to move with the changes over vast lengths of time. No bigger change than after it was banned in 1837 due to 'excessive drunkenness' but the latest incarnation of the event has lasted over 40 years which is, in itself, a massive achievement. Change, adaption and cooperation are things us humans do well and this event held in this small town sums it up in a heart warming and joy-filled way.

There is no escaping that modern technology does well to connect us remotely to each other via handheld devices but the people of Combe Martin express a better connection made not in the device in your hand but with the hand you hold. Or whom you dance with. Or you hug. Or talk to. Or the land you call home. The land and the blood of bonds units these people and they show us they have a deep love for their roots and generational heritage as well as family, friend, neighbour and visitor. That is The Hunting of the earl of Rone for me.