Introduction
Welcome to St. Giles Family History Research guide.
St. Giles has a number of interesting monuments, mostly in the form of memorials on its walls. Many local families are represented, including soldiers who fought and died in past wars. Many also have been laid to rest in our graveyard with some families having several generations buried here.
We hope to upload photographs of all the internal monuments and grave headstones over the next few months to assist those researching their family history.
Meanwhile the following article written by our beloved former archivist, the late Michael Sampson may be of interest:
St. Giles has a number of interesting monuments, mostly in the form of memorials on its walls. Many local families are represented, including soldiers who fought and died in past wars. Many also have been laid to rest in our graveyard with some families having several generations buried here.
We hope to upload photographs of all the internal monuments and grave headstones over the next few months to assist those researching their family history.
Meanwhile the following article written by our beloved former archivist, the late Michael Sampson may be of interest:
Little Torrington Parish Record
Trustees: Mrs R Cotton, A Mitchell,Esq, R J Watkins,Esq
Secretary: Mrs Laura Beer, Toryn Garden, Little Torrington, Torrington EX38 8PS
Secretary: Mrs Laura Beer, Toryn Garden, Little Torrington, Torrington EX38 8PS
Report to the Churchwardens on the historical importance of the Church of St Giles, Little Torrington and the Graveyard.
I am the Archivist of the Parish Record, responsible to my Trustees: I took the role following the death of Mrs Judy Barber, who had devoted thirty years to uncovering the Parish’s history through interviews with the older residents, collecting photographs and maps etc, all of which was distilled into a book published in 2005. Mercifully she lived long enough to see it’s publication, before she died of cancer in October of that year.
Alongside Mrs Barber’s efforts, considerable work had been done by others to provide a base of knowledge for me to develop. The Censuses from 1841 to 1891 had been summarised so that a researcher can trace families through 60 years: the local Youth Club in 1990 surveyed the church and graveyard, recording the legible names on the gravestones and that part of the graveyard in which they can be found. In my turn I have mapped the graves on the north side of the church - they can be done broadly on a grid system - the graves on the south side have so far defied my efforts in that regard. We know however who is there, and I have been able over the years to guide visitors to their family graves.
The Church has memorials to a number of past residents, including one former vicar who created a scandal by having a child out of wedlock with a parishioner - he did the decent thing and married her, leading to eight more children. Our four casualties of the Boer War are remembered, as are those of the First World War - the latter on two ‘Rolls of Honour’. A wooden one in the Church is dated August 1918, lists 53 names of men who were serving, with four others noted as casualties - I believe this was donated as an expression of ‘relief’ following the the battles of August 8th 1918, when the Allies started at last to push the German armies back to their own frontiers. A later one, in the porch of the Church shows the complete picture - 64 names, a variety of units in which they served, two medals, 11 who did not return. Both memorials were donated by the same lady, whose son had been a casualty of the Boer War.
One memorial eludes us, still, that of a Coplestone of Woodlands, Little Torrington: he was of a family that takes its roots back to the Norman Conquest - it is thought this lies underneath the church organ, a much later addition.
The graves tell stories familiar to all country churches: families with many children, many of the latter dying young, victims of smallpox and other diseases prevalent at that time. Long serving parish families are of course there in numbers, Heales, Lawrences, Quances, Stevens-Guilles - we buried another member of the How family this last week. There is one Commonwealth War Grave, a serving soldier who died at home while on leave. More than one person, who died away and was brought home to lie, are remembered.
Alongside Mrs Barber’s efforts, considerable work had been done by others to provide a base of knowledge for me to develop. The Censuses from 1841 to 1891 had been summarised so that a researcher can trace families through 60 years: the local Youth Club in 1990 surveyed the church and graveyard, recording the legible names on the gravestones and that part of the graveyard in which they can be found. In my turn I have mapped the graves on the north side of the church - they can be done broadly on a grid system - the graves on the south side have so far defied my efforts in that regard. We know however who is there, and I have been able over the years to guide visitors to their family graves.
The Church has memorials to a number of past residents, including one former vicar who created a scandal by having a child out of wedlock with a parishioner - he did the decent thing and married her, leading to eight more children. Our four casualties of the Boer War are remembered, as are those of the First World War - the latter on two ‘Rolls of Honour’. A wooden one in the Church is dated August 1918, lists 53 names of men who were serving, with four others noted as casualties - I believe this was donated as an expression of ‘relief’ following the the battles of August 8th 1918, when the Allies started at last to push the German armies back to their own frontiers. A later one, in the porch of the Church shows the complete picture - 64 names, a variety of units in which they served, two medals, 11 who did not return. Both memorials were donated by the same lady, whose son had been a casualty of the Boer War.
One memorial eludes us, still, that of a Coplestone of Woodlands, Little Torrington: he was of a family that takes its roots back to the Norman Conquest - it is thought this lies underneath the church organ, a much later addition.
The graves tell stories familiar to all country churches: families with many children, many of the latter dying young, victims of smallpox and other diseases prevalent at that time. Long serving parish families are of course there in numbers, Heales, Lawrences, Quances, Stevens-Guilles - we buried another member of the How family this last week. There is one Commonwealth War Grave, a serving soldier who died at home while on leave. More than one person, who died away and was brought home to lie, are remembered.
Links to pages:
- Graves at St. Giles (currently in progress)
- Monuments inside St. Giles (currently in progress)
