Gazetteer of
British Place Names

Exmoor (aka Exmoor Forest) is a rugged area of hilly open moorland and an ancient royal forest situated in the west of Somerset. It is named after the River Exe, which rises in the centre of the moor at Exe Head. The history of Exmoor as a Royal Forest started in Saxon times, when the unclaimed and unpopulated infertile uplands throughout England became regarded as royal property with ‘common’ rights to graze animals and gather wood. The Normans formalised the idea of a 'Royal Forest' under Forest Law. The name 'Exmoor', as opposed to the earlier 'Withepolla', is first recorded in the 13th century. By the 14th century, the area of Exmoor Forest controlled by a Warden had been reduced from the larger area it had previously covered. Simonsbath House was built in 1654 by James Boevey, the warden of the Royal Forest of Exmoor. For 150 years it was the only house in the forest. The Royal Forest was sold by the crown in 1819 to a northern industrialist named John Knight. Knight settled in Simonsbath House and set about converting the former royal forest, around 29-square miles in extent, into agricultural land. He and his family also built most of the large farms in the central section of the moor as well as 22 miles of metalled access roads to Simonsbath and a 29-mile wall around his estate - the Great Wall of Exmoor - much of which survives. Significant stretches of the wall run directly along the county border between Somerset and Devon. The former royal forest became the basis of Exmoor civil parish in 1856. In 1954, a much larger 267-square mile area became the basis of Exmoor National Park. It is within the council areas of Somerset.

Place Type: Downs, Moorland
Alternative name(s): Exmoor Forest
Historic County: Somerset
Lat, Long: 51.131982,-3.7367625
Grid Reference: SS 7857 3840
Council Area: Somerset CA
Police Area: Avon and Somerset PA

GBPN ID: 188423
Entry Type: Main listing (P)
URL: https://gazetteer.org.uk/place/Exmoor,_Somerset_188423

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