Simonsbath

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Simonsbath
Simonsbath (Somerset)
Simonsbath

Simonsbath shown within Somerset
Population c300[1]
OS grid reference SS775395
District West Somerset
Shire county Somerset
Region South West
Constituent country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town TAUNTON
Postcode district TA24
Police Avon and Somerset
Fire Devon and Somerset
Ambulance South Western
European Parliament South West England
UK Parliament Taunton
List of places: UK • England • Somerset

Coordinates: 51°08′30″N 3°45′09″W / 51.1416, -3.7524

Simonsbath is a village and civil parish high on Exmoor, Somerset. It is the largest parish in Somerset covering 56 square miles (145 km²) but with only seventy-five houses,[2] and a population of around 300.[1]

The River Exe rises from a valley to the north, and the River Barle runs through the village, and is crossed by a triple-arched medieval bridge which was extensively repaired after floods in 1952.[3] It is also on the Two Moors Way footpath.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] The name

The -bath element in this place-name, not recorded before 1791,[4] is easily accounted for: the Old English bæth signified "water, a pool". The identity of Simon is less sure. R.J. King pointed out that the name is frequently met with in the West of England, "especially in connection with old boundary lines".[5] T. Westcote in his View of Devonshire in 1630, preserved a local tradition that "Simon" was a great hunter and Robin Hood-like figure who had his stronghold at Symonsburrow, at the highest point of the Black Down hills in Someerset, a barrow that pre-dates even a medieval legend associated with it.

[edit] Simonsbath House

Simonsbath House was built in the mid-seventeenth century for John Boevey, the warden of the royal forest of Exmoor and for 150 years was the only house in the forest.[6] After the Royal Act of Inclosure it was bought, with the accompanying farm and about 70,000 acres[7], the remaining portion of the former Royal Forest belonging to the Crown, by John Knight of Worcestershire in 1818 for the sum of £50,000. It is now the Simonsbath House Hotel.[8] Knight set about converting the Royal Forest, now known as Exmoor National Park, into agricultural land. He and especially his son Frederick, who assumed management in 1841[9] erected most of the large farms in the central section of the moor and built 22 miles of metalled access roads to Simonsbath. He built a 29 miles (47 km) wall around his estate, much of which still survives.[10]

The mansion was never finished; cultivation has not spread far from the farmstead centres; the walls bother the sportsman more than the deer; and the bogs are as deep, the inner recesses of the moors as wild and solitary , and the corase grass, and the bracken, and the heatheras supreme in their occupancy mile after mile, as if no effort had ever been made to redeem its mingled wildness and sterility."[11]

[edit] 19th century expansion

The small hamlet developed in the nineteenth century, when more houses were built along with St Lukes Church (1856), providing a centre for the population. The church has been designated by English Heritage as a grade II listed building.[12] At around the same time as the construction of the church a mine was developed alongside the River Barle. The mine was originally called Wheal Maria, then changed to Wheal Eliza. It was a copper mine from 1845-54 and then iron mine until 1857 although the first mining activity on the site may be may be from 1552.[13] A restored Victorian water-powered sawmill in the village, which was damaged in the floods of 1992, has now been purchased by the National Park and returned to working order, making the footpath signs, gates, stiles, and bridges for various sites in the National Park.[14][15]

[edit] 20th century

Cairn commemorating Sir John William Fortescue.
Cairn commemorating Sir John William Fortescue.

For much of the twentieth century the area around Simonsbath was owned by the family of Sir John William Fortescue. He was librarian at Windsor Castle 1905-26 and was best known for his sixteen-volume 'History of the British Army'. After his death in 1933 his ashes were scattered locally and a cairn built in his memory.[16]

[edit] Governance

The parish has its own Parish Council. Its municipal services are run by West Somerset District Council and Somerset County Council whilst its local health services are managed by the Somerset Coast Primary Care Trust.

[edit] Geography

River Barle at Simonsbath
River Barle at Simonsbath

Simonsbath is 1,250 feet (381 m) above sea level,[17] in the valley of the River Barle. On the moor north of the village is Exe Head which is the source of the River Exe. It lies on peaty soils over rocks dating from the mid Devonian (to which this area gave its name) to early Carboniferous periods.[18] Quartz and iron mineralisation can be detected in outcrops and subsoil. The Devonian Kentisbury Slates are exposed in the small quarry by White Water.[19]

The mean annual temperature is 8.3°C (47°F). The average annual total rainfall is 69.6 inches (1,768 mm),[17] although 7.35 inches (187 mm) fell in the 24-hour period preceding 10 a.m. on 16 August 1952 which was one of the contributory factors leading to the flooding in Lynmouth.[20]

[edit] Demography

Estimates from the 2001 census show Simonsbath as having a population of 300 in 110 households, 99.7% of which are white and 0.3% Asian or Asian British.[1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Simonsbath (Somerset). Town Guides .org. Retrieved on 2007-11-28.
  2. ^ Simonsbath House. Simonsbath House. Retrieved on 2007-11-28.
  3. ^ Simonsbath Bridge. Images of England. Retrieved on 2007-11-27.
  4. ^ C. J. Battersby, reviewing Moorman's essay "English place-names and Teutonic sagas" in Oliver Elton, ed. Essays and Studies by Members of the English Association. vol. 5, in The Modern Language Review 11.2 (April 1916:222-230) p.229f; Moorman had attempted unsuccessfully to identify Simon with Sigemund.
  5. ^ Richard Nicholls Worth, Tourist's Guide to North Devon and the Exmoor district 1879:94.
  6. ^ The "forest" consists largely of moorlands.
  7. ^ Worth 1879:93-95.
  8. ^ Simonsbath House Hotel. Images of England. Retrieved on 2007-11-27.
  9. ^ C. S. Orwin, The Reclamation of Exmoor Forest; an extensive review by E. P. Stebbing was published in The Economic Journal 41, No. 161 (March 1931:119-125).
  10. ^ Simonsbath. Whatsonexmoor. Retrieved on 2007-11-27.
  11. ^ Worth 1879, loc. cit.
  12. ^ Church of St Luke. Images of England. Retrieved on 2007-11-27.
  13. ^ Wheal Eliza mine, NE of Simonsbath, Exmoor. Somerset Historic Environment Record. Retrieved on 2007-11-27.
  14. ^ Guided Tours of Simonsbath Sawmill. Exmoor National Park. Retrieved on 2007-11-27.
  15. ^ Exmoor National Park: Simonsbath sawmill (PDF). A Landscape Legacy: National Parks and the historic environment: English Heritage. Retrieved on 2007-11-28.
  16. ^ Sir John William Fortescue. Everything Exmoor. Retrieved on 2007-11-27.
  17. ^ a b The Exe Catchment, Devon, 2004 (PDF). Exe estuary management partnership. Retrieved on 2007-11-28.
  18. ^ Exmoor and the Quantocks. Natural England. Retrieved on 2007-11-28.
  19. ^ Somerset Geology. Good Rock Guide. Retrieved on 2007-11-28.
  20. ^ Hydraulics Engineering Division Meeting (PDF). The Institution of Civil Engineers Proceedings, Part 111, December 1953. Retrieved on 2007-11-28.

[edit] Further reading

  • Burton, Roger A. (1996). Simonsbath: The Inside Story of an Exmoor Village. ISBN 0951441922. 

[edit] External links