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Ted Hughes' funeral service was held on 3rd November 1998 in St. Peter's Church, North Tawton, Devon.
His body was subsequently cremated in Exeter with only his close family in
attendance. (See map...ref no. 3) His ashes were scattered at a remote location on Dartmoor, close to
the source of the River Taw. A large granite stone bearing his name was laid near
the spot. At the
church service Seamus Heaney read 2 of Hughes' own poems and Do Not Go Gentle
Into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas.
In 1961 Hughes and his wife Sylvia Plath
moved to Court Green, North Tawton in Devon. The marriage was an unhappy one ending with
Plath's suicide in 1963. In 1969 Hughes's relationship
with Assia Wevill also ended in tragedy when she killed herself and
their 4 year old daughter, Shura. His bleak collection Crow
(1970) is dedicated to Assia and Shura. Hughes continued to live in Devon
following his second marriage to Carole Orchard in 1970. For
a number of years he worked as a farmer
on her father's farm - experiences which he recorded in Moortown.
Ted Hughes Memorial Stone
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