Zara's Devonshire Ancestry 'The Trip to Morthoe St Mary & the Irwins' by Sheila, October 2007
Channel: semw52
Date: 2024-04-03

October --very quiet on the campsite and in the surrounding villages of Mortehoe and Woolacombe. During the Summer these places are bustling with holiday-makers, surfers etc...So this quiet spell ideal for the family tree researcher. Mortehoe a quintessential hamlet that Time has been kind towards over the centuries--the place is beautiful, the scenery beautiful--the Ocean and the rocks--no wonder surfers luv this place....I have traced  Irwin links to Zara's family tree in this little place---with its tales of smuggling and wreckers ...I wander around the St Mary's churchyard where I find Lovering and Irwin graves.  I also explore a little lane that takes me to the  cemetery overlooking the Atlantic ocean--whow so beautiful...At the end of the day I visit the pub for a wee pottle of Guinness in 'The Ship Aground' and then back to my VW for a good night' sleep ready for more archive work in the Ilfracombe Museum the following day and more exploration.... With  villages like Combe Martin where many Lovering folk live and lived.....& other villages as well.....Parracombe.....