Ilsington

Ilsington History Group

Ilsington joined the Parishscapes family with approval of their grant in May 2017. The aim of their project is to establish a local history group within the parish of Ilsington.

The project commenced on 10th June 2017 with a 'Merry Medieval' event at St Michael's church, Ilsington.

Members of Ilsington parish received a Parishscapes grant earlier in the year to establish a new organisation - the Ilsington Local History Group. The group aims to share local knowledge and historical records with the community, school and public through the creation of an accessible, digitised archive, public meetings and events.  The Parishscapes grant has paid for equipment to digitise, catalogue and index unpublished parish archives such as photographs, maps, inventories, private diaries, land deeds, parish magazine articles and school log books and on of the long-term aim of the group is to make these records accessible via a web-based searchable database.

The group plan to promote several parish-wide community events, and have done so already. These have included the Merry Medieval event on 10^th June 2017.  Further events include the 80^th anniversary of the conservation of cottages in Ilsington by Captain Quelch, Beating the Bounds 2019 and the Templar Way anniversary in 2020. The group also plan to submit articles on local history to the parish magazine and Dartmoor Magazine to keep the parish updated on their activities.  

Project lead Anne Parkinson explains “the Ilsington Local History Group has begun to digitise an archive of parish magazines and we are delighted with the response from local people for the loan of their old copies. Two members have started to index material relating to the Old Poor House at Smokey Cross in readiness for the Conservation80 day next year when we celebrate the visionary work of Capt. Quelch and the restoration of agricultural cottages in the parish in 1938”.