Richard Grylls

Epitaph for Grace

At the east end of the north aisle of Totnes Parish Church in Devon, high up on the wall, is a small wooden memorial to Grace Gryles. She was buried in the church in April 1636. Grace, who was born in October 1619, was the daughter of Charles and Honor Gryles of Carwen in the parish of Lanreath, Cornwall. Her mother's maiden name had been Fortescue. Grace's aunt Phillippa, Honor's sister, was married to Walter Dotting, a wealthy merchant living in Totnes. In August 1635 Walter Dotting died. It appears that, since Walter and Phillippa had not had any children, Grace Gryles was sent from Lanreath to Totnes to comfort and act as a companion to her bereaved aunt. Sadly, that companionship was all too soon severed by the death of Grace, agedonly sixteen. The cause of her death is unknown.
In Lanreath Church there are two large and magnificent memorials to members of the Gryles family who lived during the 1600s, but the small memorial to Grace in Totnes Church records in a much more pe rsonal and touching manner the grief experienced by her family.
This setting of Grace's epitaph (for unaccompanied SATB choir) was composed by the eight-times great grandson of Sir John Gryles of Lanreath, Grace's uncle. It is dedicated to all those whose children's lives have been cut tragically short.
Duration 2 minutes 45 seconds