Updates filed in Tales of the Archive

Within the archive, we have gathered a lovely collection of material on Exmoor’s rivers and streams.

This summer, we were very pleased to receive a collection of the papers of Dr Ernest Mold, a Lynton, Parracombe and Brendon GP, who had a lifelong interest in the history and pre-history of Exmoor.

Walter Raymond’s The Book of Simple Delights, held and available to read in The Exmoor Society’s Library, is a gently beguiling account of how, in 1905, the author rented a cottage in Withypool because he ‘was yearning for the simple life’.

For over 500 years, until the sale of the Royal Forest of Exmoor in 1818, June was the month of the Great Drift...

A couple of weeks ago, an Exmoor Society member kindly gave the Archive a copy of the very first edition of the Country Life Magazine, a copy which had been passed down through her family.

The Exmoor Society Archive is run by a small team of enthusiastic and dedicated volunteers, and in the last 6 months, we have welcomed 3 additional people to our group, bringing our numbers up to 8.

The South West Heritage Trust has recently released a new website featuring 78 interviews of a wide range of Exmoor people, mostly recorded between 2000-2002, from chambermaids to blacksmiths, farm workers to landed gentry.

The Exmoor Society Archive holds many beautiful paintings by Hope Bourne. This is one of the larger watercolours and shows Prince, a Shire Gelding who she painted in 1946.

A recent user of the Archive has shared with us a photo taken by her father in 1949 of the short-lived Youth Hostel at Knaplock Farm, near Tarr Steps.

We have recently received a unique item for the archive. This hand-drawn, pen-and-ink, "Guide to the location of the ancient monuments found in the Lyn District of Exmoor" includes a helpful glossary of terms as well as a beautiful map showing ancient landscape features including barrows, hut circles, standing stones and beacons.