She was widely known in the West Country and there are more than 300 churches in Devon and Cornwall with examples of her work, even after accounting for the loss of much of her woodcarving in Plymouth, destroyed during the bombing of the early 1940s. This left Violet in charge of the Plymouth woodcarving business, which she continued up to the age of 82. Later, in 1908, Annie moved to Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey, and took up a woodcarving career there. In 1900 Mary married and she subsequently retired from the business. The sisters’ partnership did not last for long. Fortunately, the business was continuously patronised by EH Sedding, who commissioned woodcarving from the sisters for his church projects. The sisters set up a woodcarving company called Rashleigh Pinwill and Company, and moved to Plymouth in about 1893. Mary Rashleigh appears to have been the initial driving force. Subsequently, three of the Pinwill sisters, Mary Rashleigh, Annie Ethel and Violet Alice, became professional woodcarvers. While the restoration works were under way, Mrs Pinwill engaged the workmen to teach her seven daughters woodcarving. He raised sufficient funds to restore the church under the guidance of the architect EH Sedding. In 1880 the Reverend Edmund Pinwill moved from Lincoln and became Rector to Ermington. Violet Pinwill died in 1957, and 2017 marked the 60th anniversary of the death of this remarkable woman. Her final piece of woodcarving in the church is the second-world- war memorial plaque, after 1945, carved when she was 71 years old. She was born in 1874, and her first woodcarving in the church dates back to 1890, when she was just 17 years old. St Peter and St Paul, in Ermington, Devon, has a body of Violet Pinwill’s woodcarving stretching across the whole of her working life. Her success is all the more remarkable, given the status of women in Victorian society. Based in Ermington and then Plymouth, she and her sisters carried out work across Devon and deep into Cornwall. Violet Pinwill was the third force in woodcarving in Devon. Herbert Read, a former employee of Harry Hems, set up his own business, the Saint Sidwell Art Works, also in Exeter, in 1892. At one time he employed over 80 craftsmen and his business, the Ecclesiastical Art Works, became a worldwide enterprise. He was not only a gifted carver but also a very successful businessman. Harry Hems, Herbert Read and Violet Pinwill are all now recognised for outstanding contributions to local woodcarving in the second half of the 19th century. Within Devon, three woodcarvers’ names are particularly distinguished. The late Victorian era saw a period of church restoration and renovation across the whole of the country, including a flourishing of woodcarving. Jesus and (far right) Judith at St Peter and St Paul, Ermington. 2017 was the 60th anniversary of the death of a woman whose career of more than 50 years produced a body of work that can be seen in more than 300 churches in Devon and Cornwall.
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