The Denbury Factor

Wednesday October 25, 2006

4 day blog breaks can yield a wealth of unexpected non-blog activity. Firstly, anyone who knows me even slightly has probably already been bored by my work this year on the family tree. But I had an exciting find the other day. On route to Cornwall, I decided to take an unplanned detour into Denbury in Devon.

Thanks to the nice people of the Denbury website and their painstaking research, I’d already managed to trace my ancestors back to the 1800s and this very quaint and pretty town. But this was my first visit, and as I walked into the rain-soaked churchyard of St. Mary the Virgin I didn’t really expect to find anything.

“We’re looking for graves marked Holman or Lang!” I called out to my wife and daughter as I began the hopeless task of examining more than a hundred gravestones. But, extraordinary as this sounds, I found what I was looking for within five minutes:

In memory of FRANCIS HOLMAN who was drowned at Pentewan, March 20th,
1846, aged 45 years. His remains were interred at St. Austell, Cornwall.
Also of ANN his wife who departed this life the 8th day of September 1867 Aged 72
years.
Also of FRANCIS infant son of FRANCIS and ANN HOLMAN who died at
Sandown, Isle of Wight November 27th 1828, Aged 7 months.
Also of ELIZABETH ANN infant daughter of JOHN and MARTHA GAYLER
and grand-daughter of FRANCIS and ANN HOLMAN who died 22nd May 1866
aged 3 months.
Also of WILLIAM HENRY eldest son of WILLIAM and LOUISA JANE
WINSER and grandson of the above FRANCIS and ANN HOLMAN who died 10th
January 1868 aged 2 years and 6 months. Here….

Francis and Ann Holman are my great-great-great grandparents. The inscription on the headstone has almost worn away and will be indecipherable in a few years time. Before I really had time to digest my find, my wife makes another:

Gravestone of my ancestors

This is the grave of my great-great grandparents, and reads:

In loving memory of Robert Lang who died 5th August 1904 aged 80. Also of his wife Susanna Hamlyn Lang who died 3rd May 1905 aged 77 years. Thy will be done.

Not a bad shot I think, considering it was taken with a cheap mobile.

There are lots of ancient graves here, many fallen into ruin and their inscriptions gone forever. Perhaps other ancestors buried here. We have a look inside the church, and sign the guestbook. Perhaps this is the former scene of christenings, weddings, funerals of Holman and Lang. My daughter buys me a bookmark, fifty pence in the box.

The local pub are very kind and supply large ploughmans lunches, even though it’s now three o’ clock and they’ve long stopped serving. On the wall is an old newspaper cutting of one Annie Lang, past Denbury local celebrity and churchyard authority. Now dead, and I am unable to find a place for her in the family tree.

So I leave Denbury with more questions than answers, although (and this is starting to sound a bit too much like Who Do You Think You Are) I’m going to return someday to quiz a few locals on Annie Lang…

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