World War 1 and Exmoor

The war took many of Exmoor's menfolk and not a few ponies to war. Some never returned. At home the main concern was feeding the population.

Arable expanded even in parishes like Exford which had grown very little wheat before the war and also grew barley, oats and hay. The demand for oats and hay for horses at home and at war encouraged production. Herds and flocks were also increased although once cheap imports resumed after the war numbers declined. During the war Exmoor ponies were taken by rail and sea to serve on the western front. Timber was also in great demand and many of the Knight plantations on Exmoor were felled for the government by Portuguese woodmen camped at Exford and Simonsbath in 1918.  Exmoorlent itself to military training. The West Somerset Yeomanry exercised near Dulverton in 1903, when Lord Roberts visited them, and in 1909. Troops trained on Exmoor in World War I. A local woman later suffered horrific injuries from a shell exploding in turf put on the fire. However, artillery damage was not so extensive as in the Second World War, which had the greatest physical impact on the moor. Casualties among those who served, however, were much greater in the First World War than in the second as the many local war memorials testify.

Contributed by  Anne Yandle