The funeral of one of the last of the Gypsies to travel across England by horse and wagon has been held.

Eileen Ika Rawlings, nee Hughes, whose obituary was featured in these pages, was given a loving send off by family and friends.

She died aged 76 on May 15 and was a Romany Gypsy proud of her heritage.

Eileen was born in a wagon in 1943 at Doles Ash near Piddletrenthide. Her parents were Alice Hughes and Robert Cooper.

Her Aunt Caroline Hughes was sometimes called the Queen of the Gypsies due to her beauty and fine singing voice. She became famous outside the Traveller world as she was recorded, by the BBC For Ewan MacColls Radio Ballads. Eileen inherited her aunt's good looks.

In 1961 she met and married Dave Rawlings who was a non-Gypsy or ‘gorja’, and it was rare in those days to marry outside the community. But theirs was a love match.

Dorset Echo:

They travelled for 50 years by horse and waggon, travelling the highways and byways of Dorset, Wiltshire, Somerset and Gloucestershire. It was a hard life collecting water and firewood every day, making a living by the work of their hands fashioning clothes pegs, and paper flowers, helping with the elderflower and black currant harvests. Additional income came through Dave busking as he had a fine baritone voice and played the mandolin. They would travel as far north as Stow on the Wold for the twice-yearly horse fair and would over winter in Chalk valley in Wiltshire.

Eileen in particular would love to talk to locals as she sat on the steps of the waggon as they journeyed around the countryside. When they moved on, they would always leave their overnight stopping place cleaner than when they had arrived.

They had many relatives who had settled on sites and in houses around Dorset so when the time came for them to hang up the harness they tried settling in a house near Dorchester. Eileen though like many Travellers, couldn’t stand living in bricks and mortar, she said she felt hemmed in. So, after three weeks they moved to the council-run Traveller site in Piddlehinton. Here she kept her connection with her life travelling, by keeping a small horse.

She is survived by her husband Dave, four children 13 grandchildren and eight great grandchildren.