Doone Valley History Festival - Reclaiming the Wilderness: the fight for Exmoor in the 19th Century

The story of John Knight's purchase of the Royal Forest of Exmoor in 1818, and the family's subsequent efforts to reclaim it by building farms, roads, and draining peat bogs is quite well known. When he began his efforts on Exmoor, he was applauded for tackling what contemporary agricultural writers regarded as an unproductive wasteland, whose existence was a national disgrace. However, by the end of the century public opinion had turned in the opposite direction. Now Exmoor was depicted as a precious unspoilt 'wilderness' and commentators expressed relief that the Knights' enclosure efforts had 'failed'. By the 1880s, The Field commented that the public associated Exmoor with three things: ponies, Lorna Doone and stag-hunting. Today, we remember the first two, and have forgotten how far the third changed public perceptions, and over-wrote earlier demands for Exmoor to be drained, ploughed and settled. This talk tells that story.

This talk is free a £5 donation would be welcomed.