You will notice the term "Exmoor Forest" on maps. This does not mean a wooded area as you might expect, but is a reflection of the medieval sense of the word, when "forest" simply meant an area within which deer and other animals worth hunting were reserved for the king. The royal family has long since conceded such rights.
The forest was never wooded, as its
name might imply, but was reserved (although seldom used) by the kings
of England, possibly from Saxon times, as a royal hunting ground. It
was a barren waste administered through the forest or Swainmote courts
that met in the open air either at Landacre Bridge (Landacre Bridge sometimes known as Lanacre Bridge) or in Hawkchurch
churchyard, to which the 52 free suitors, freeholders of Withypool and Hawkridge, were summoned.
Part of the Royal Forest Boundary laid down by John Knight
Exmoor was disafforested in 1815 and a wealthy Worcestershire
ironmaster, John Knight, devoted his fortune to improving roads, enclosing
his new estate with a 29-mile wall and constructing farms and a new village,
Simonsbath, at the heart of the moor. His son, Sir Frederic Knight (died
1897), continued his father's work: to be followed by the earls Fortescue.
Exmoor National Park was established in 1954 and comprises a much larger
area than the former forest, including part of the adjacent county of
Devon. The moor is still the controversial hunting ground of the Devon
and Somerset Staghounds, established in 1855 but with links back to a
pack formed by the Acland family, lessees of Exmoor from 1767.
The Royal Forest of Exmoor
Exmoor Forest, a high moorland in Somerset and Devon, England.
The uplands of this district are bounded by the low alluvial plain of
Sedgemoor on the east, by the lower basin of the Exe on the south, by
the basin of the Taw (in part) on the west, and by the Bristol Channel on the north. The area thus defined, however, includes not only Exmoor
but the Brendon and Quantock Hills east of it. Excluding these, the total
area in the district lying at an elevation exceeding 1000 ft (305 m)
is about 220 square miles (570 km²). The geological formation is
Devonian. The ancient forest had an area of about 20,000 acres (81 km²),
and was enclosed in 1815. Large tracts are still uncultivated; and the
wild red deer and native Exmoor pony are characteristic of the district.
The highest point is Dunkery Beacon 1707 ft (520 m) in the east, but
Span Head in the south-west is 1618 ft (493 m), and a height of 1500
ft (457 m) is exceeded at several points. The Exe, Barle, Lyn and other
streams, traversing deep picturesque valleys except in their uppermost
courses, are in favor with trout fishermen. The few villages, such as
Exford , Withypool and Simonsbath, with Lynton and Lynmouth on the coast,
afford centres for tourists and sportsmen.
Exmoor is noted for its stag hunting. The district has
a further fame through Richard Blackmore's novel, Lorna Doone.
The commoners of Exmoor or Free Suiters could graze animals on payment of a fee. fIn the 17th Centuary the New Commonwealth/Cromwell took control of Exmoor from the Crown. 1651 Exmoor was bought by James Bouvey an ambitious Dutchman. He build first house in Forrest. He raised tythes to drive out Exmoor people. There are still marks on Simonsbath House door showing where the men of Exmoor men violently protested.
When the climate deteriorated from around 1000BC, the population fell dramatically and the high moorland was deserted. It was still uninhabited 2000 years later in Saxon times. Land which was unclaimed and uncultivated fell into the hands of the King. The Norman kings made the high moorland into a 'Royal Forest' - a hunting preserve, not necessarily woodland, that was governed under oppressive Forest Laws by a Warden and Foresters.
The role of Warden was a hereditary position given to a courtier. He (or on two occasions she) could earn an income by selling the Forester's job to less exalted men, who could then make money out of rents, fines, and corruption, since they controlled all 'justice' and did not hesitate to extort by blackmail.
In 1508 the Forest area was leased out, and this 'privatisation' continued until 1819, when the Crown sold its interest to John Knight from a Midlands industrial family. At the same time, it was 'inclosed' and farmers from outside the Forest, who until then had the right to graze animals there, were bought out.
When John Knight acquired it in 1819, Exmoor Forest was quite uninhabited except for a small farm at Simonsbath. Knight and his son Frederic (who took over in 1840) built a wall 29 miles (46km) long around their estate, as well as 22 miles (35 km) of public roads connecting Simonsbath at the heart of Exmoor to the outside world, and gradually - at enormous expense - they developed a system of Exmoor agriculture which was profitable. From about 1842, they constructed farmhouses on the moor, and leased them to tenants, but it was not until around 1880 that any of these showed a profit.
Not all of Exmoor was included in the Forest by any means. The Forest was mainly the central, higher and uninhabited moorland. Surrounding this were small settlements consisting of a few fields and much wasteland or woodland.
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, attempts were made in places to quarry minerals, especially iron ore. The fact that these industries never became hugely successful, that the sought after natural resources were not present in quantities large enough to turn the area into a major production centre, has meant Exmoor has retained its natural beauty with virtually no despoliation of the countryside. Imagine Porlock Bay as another Barrow-in-Furness, or Combe Martin and North Molton as huge mining areas! |
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