John Knight

The Crown was not interested in retaining Exmoor forest after its inclosure so the royal allotment of 10,262 acres and Simonsbath farm (108.5 acres) were offered for sale in 1818. On 12 May 1819 Exmoor was disafforested and on 15 March 1820 John Knight completed his purchase from the Crown and 100 years of crown ownership ended. It cost John Knight £50,122.

John Knight was a landowner and industrialist with an ironworks at Wolverley in Worcestershire. To raise the finance he sold his  Lea Castle estate in Worcestershire. Having obtained half the total extent of the original Forest, he immediately bought up much of the rest of the allotted land. Soon John Knight owned over 16,000 acres, four fifths of the original Forest, and the manor of Brendon to the north-west. His first task was to inclose his property and turn the ancient tracks across the moor into 22 miles of road at his own expense. Irish labourers built a 30-mile wall around his new estate. He dreamt of creating a new expanse of productive farmland but in the interim continued to accept sheep for grazing. Only Sir Thomas Acland’s ponies were allowed on his land.

As a condition of his purchase, John Knight was required to set aside 12 acres for a church, parsonage, and burial ground. He did nothing towards fulfilling this condition possibly because he wanted to be free of tithes and rates and the site was used for pony sales. Simonsbath farm was the only one on Knight’s estate, standing near the junction of the road from Exford. Other houses were built in the old forest, eight by 1821, some probablyt occupied by Knight’s labourers. In 1821 the Exmoor Forest population was 113 of whom only 12 were female. In addition many labourers would have been drawn from surrounding parishes. By 1831 the population was only 52, the residents of the new farms and cottages. The first new farms were Cornham and Honeymead both south of the main route from Exford to Combe Martin two miles west and east of Simonbath respectively. Some 2,500 acres of land was broken up and improved in the 1820s and 1830s. Another early work was the digging of Pinkery Pond, a large expanse of water on the far western edge of the former forest filled by damming the infant River Barle. A leat was dug to convey the water eastwards but for what purpose is unclear, possibly it was intended to irrigate the moors.
The best improved land around the forest was intended to produce crops as in the lowlands and the rest to be grazed by large herds of cattle and sheep. The investment in paring the turf, burning, liming, then deep ploughing with oxen to produce crops was enormous and yet the climate at 800 ft. (240 m.) was not suited to corn. Initially it was thought that highland cattle would be suited to Exmoor. Cattle had never been kept in the forest all year and the 700 animals, which Knight bought in Scotland in 1826, ran short of food in winter. However, the herd was maintained for about 20 years and at first sold at a premium in local markets. By 1841 they were ‘wild and some were wicked’ and impossible to drive to market, going off in all directions, tossing and goring everybody they met. Eventually they were shot in the fields.  The 200 Herefords that Knight bought were not a success either and by the 1840s Devon reds and shorthorns were introduced. Overall cattle proved profitable and sales in 1840 totalled £7,000. The local Exmoor sheep only produced coarse wool which Knight could not sell for a decent price. He experimented with Cheviots and Merino using a rotation of grass and roots. His lack of success in part due to his inability to find good shepherds locally and to theft. The deer, now no longer protected by forest law, were also poached in large numbers. By 1841 more labour was employed. Most of the population that year consisted of single men and women who lived together in cottages or boarded with the married labourers. In one case 11 labourers boarded in a cottage and the average occupancy was 6 to a cottage. In addition to the 116 men and 47 women recorded there were said to be another 100 men who were back in their home parishes but slept in Exmoor district from Monday to Friday. These people would have looked after the livestock on the moor and tended the arable crops on the improved land. Apart from the steward at Simonsbath, only one farmer was recorded, William Carter, who was later to create a successful family farm at Crooked Post. A mason was the only craftsman. Gallon House and Moles Chamber were public houses on the east and west boundaries of the district. The total number of dwellings was 28 of which one was unoccupied.

Frederic Knight changed the policy of the Exmoor estate from demesne farming with labourers to large tenanted farms. He hoped to attract men with capital and experience committed to modern methods and improvement. He advertised widely but especially in the East Midlands. At first all went well. In 1842 Honeymead with 2,100 a. was taken at £740 and in 1843 a new farm, Simonsbath Barton, north-west of the house, was let with cottages and 1,030 for £439 a year, both on 12-year leases. At Honeymead 180 dairy cows were kept using dairymen from Somerset and Dorset and Southdown sheep, which were later replaced with Exmoor horn. The sheep ate the cow pasture because there were no fences between the improved and unimproved grass. Eventually Honeymead was used as a summer farm because of the high cost of overwintering livestock.

One farmer, William Hannam from North Cheriton near Wincanton in east Somerset, wrote an account of his Exmoor experiences and relates how he was persuaded to move there. Several new farms were built and let c. 1844 including Emmets Grange, Horsen, Wintershead, Warren and Crooked Post. It was a good summer and ‘Crops in the upper Countrey were all Burnt up – Butt on Exmoor the Crops of Corn & Grass was abundant and as fine a Harvest as ever was known’. Hannam attended a sale in September 1844 where everyone spoke highly of the prospects for farming on Exmoor. He could see ‘the Beautifull Crops of Corn they were just beginning to harvest and everything looking so prosperes.’  He decided to lease land at Cornham and it was agreed that a farm be built with barn and waggon ton accommodate the large quantities of corn and hay it was planned to produce. It was customary for Mr Knight to agree to let land to a tenant and then build a farm for him. Unfortunately the winter was bad and the spring so cold that the farms were not ready for their tenants at Lady day (25 March). ‘Things now had quite a different apperence from the September preveos – there had bin a Deal of Cattle lost During the winter and a great Deal that was living looking misabrly Bad…the Forest was looking verey Barren not a Green Blade to be seen’. Many of the new farmers were discouraged and tried to give up their leases but Hannam, although obviously anxious, decided to persevere. He and his family stayed at Simonsbath House until a cottage was prepared for them, their farm being unfinished. Other families had the same experience. As the new arrivals came four farmers left but Hannam like many new arrivals was convinced he could farm there. ‘There is on Exmoor everey thing that Nature need provide to bring it into Cultavation’. 

Contrbuted by: Elsie