Exmoor Farming in the Late 19Th Century

EXMOOR FARMING IN THE LATE 19TH CENTURY

Changes

The first significant change of the mid 19th century was the inclosure of common land. After Exmoor forest was inclosed there was inevitably pressure to inclose neighbouring commons. Those at Dulverton, Exford, Hawkridge and Winsford were inclosed between 1848 and 1859 at great expense. Inclosing a 10-a. field could cost £40. Inclosure allowed for some expansion of cultivation but moorland, rough or improved, was vital to the economy of existing farms and few new ones were created outside Exmoor parish. [1]

Earlier farmers were willing to divide their farms between children but by the 19th century farmers, like estate owners, wanted all their property to pass to the eldest son. Agricultural improvements favoured large farms and many small to middling holdings were amalgamated with their neighbours. That prevented some young people setting up in farming. Farms which went out of use between the mid 19th and mid 20th centuries included Streamcombe, Lower Marsh, and Lower Spire in Dulverton, North Newland, Higher Pitsworthy, Sharcott, and Lower and Higher Prescott in Exford, Kingsland Pits in Exmoor, and Higher Leigh and Pine farm in Winsford. Several abandoned farms, such as Swarcombe farm in Exford, were post-medieval and presumably marginal. One new farm created in the late 1840s was Landcombe at Lyshwell in Molland, but in the 1900s the farmstead was abandoned after less than 60 years.[2]

The 1866 Somerset agricultural returns show a sharp reduction in arable in most parishes since the 1840s except Brushford, Dulverton and Winsford, which produced grains and roots, especially potatoes and turnips, the latter essential for fattening sheep. Exmoor sheep and Devon cattle were kept. Hawkridge and Withypool commons were still being inclosed, providing winter employment. Withypool had four harvests, turf, whortleberries, corn, and hay, which employed everyone.[3]

Farms and Households

Dulverton farms had resident waggoners and the largest farm in Twitchen had a resident waggoner and a shepherd. In Withypool with its poor communications several farmers had resident errand boys and girls. Cow boys were recorded at Exford. Many farms had three or more labourers living in. Children worked as house or farm servants but were rarely counted among employees, presumably because they were unpaid. Many farmsteads housed large families, sometimes up to 10 children spanning over 20 years from eldest to youngest, and grandchildren. Others included in-laws, cousins, nieces and nephews. The largest households were in Brushford, averaging seven people in 1851 and 21 farms in the Somerset parishes had 10—17 residents. Many people never married and middle-aged and even elderly unmarried children and servants were common in farmhouses. The eldest son inherited the farm and was expected to house his siblings who often had no income. Adult children worked as labourers on their parent’s or brother’s farm until they died. At Edbrooke, Winsford five children aged 28 to 45 worked the farm for their widowed father. At Bickingcott in Twitchen an elderly farmer employed his children and grandchildren as servants. Such practices kept the population down and allowed family farms to remain undivided but resulted in personal tragedies such as illegitimate children and suicide. [4]

By 1881 there were only 117 total farms across the seven Somerset parishes. In Devon there was little change and Burch farm, Twitchen (600 a.) was the only farm over 500 a., worked by ten men and four boys. The latter lived in the house with the family of five, a dairymaid, a housemaid, and a governess. In Brushford and Withypool farms between 150 and 300 a. had increased at the expense of smaller ones. In Exford, Hawkridge, and Winsford farms up to 300 a. had been lost and a number of very large farms had been created, notably South Court (900 a.) and Wellshead and Stone (800 a.) each. The smallest holdings survived in all parishes. Household size had fallen. There were fewer resident labourers, mainly young boys or widowers. Winsford had more than other parishes. Few Devon farms employed outside labour even when they had no adult children. At Sindercombe in Twitchen four sons and daughters worked the farm without help. A feature of the Devon parishes was the formal division of farms between fathers and adult sons living together. At Great Champson in Molland John Quartley held 290 a. and his son 115a. Each employed his own labour.[5]

Livestock farming

The Exmoor region was spared the worst of the agricultural depression reported on in 1879 and many North Devon estates were still carrying out improvements. Cattle breeding remained profitable as stock recovered from outbreaks of rinderpest in 1865—6 and foot and mouth in 1875. Meat prices were depressed in competition with cheap imported livestock, blamed for introducing disease. Sheep on the moors escaped footrot, which was extensive on the lower lands in the cold wet year of 1879. Wool prices fell in the late 19th century and New Zealand lamb pushed prices down but input costs were lower. Depressed corn prices enabled farmers to buy feed but oats and turnips were still grown. Smallholders survived because they relied on family labour with few inputs but several large farms created by mid 19th-century amalgamation were divided in 1890s. Many landlords found small farmers were better tenants. A gentleman farmer like the occupant of Rhyll, East Anstey could still enjoy a comfortable lifestyle with silver plate, paintings, books and china, a carriage and c. 20 riding or carriage horses and ponies, Guernsey cows and crossbred Exmoor longwool sheep.[6]

At the end of the 19th century cattle herds increased in Brushford, Dulverton and Exmoor possibly because of the nearby railway and cattle market. In Hawkridge, Winsford and Withypool livestock numbers declined perhaps because of feed and transport costs. Refrigerated ships brought beef and lamb from the southern hemisphere and Exmoor had to compete on quality. Exmoor farmers took a pride in breeding quality animals. The Exmoor Horn Sheep Breeders’ Society was formed in 1906 and in 1907 held its first sale and show at Winsford, where 1,200 ewes were sold. By 1908 flock book the society had 132 members and branded 25,000 pure Exmoor Horn sheep. Surprisingly by 1905 there was twice as much arable at Exford as in 1801 and 50 per cent more at Hawkridge. The increase in grassland, especially at Withypool probably represents improvements to the common since 1840. Rough heath had increased between 1896 and 1906 in five of the Somerset parishes. Southern Exmoor was still well wooded with over 1,000 a. of woods and plantations in Dulverton parish.[7]

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Mary SuiratPage 1 Exmoor Reference

[1] SRO, Q/Ede 60a, 80a, 146, 150; TNA MAF 1/131; Acland and Sturge, Farming of Somersetshire, 27.

[2] TNA, HO 107/1891; IR 58/4778; OS Map 1:10560 Som. LXV.SE (1906 edn).

[3] Ibid. MAF 68/60; Report of the Royal Commission on Children, Young Persons, and Women in Agriculture (Parl. Papers 1868—9 (4202), xiii, 451—5.

[4] TNA HO 107/1890--1.

[5] TNA RG 11/2239, 2242, 2358.

[6] First Report on Agricultural Depression: Report by Assistant Commissioner on North Devon (C-7728) HC (1894) xvi, 6—10, 15, 50—1; TNA, MAF 68/1056, 1626..

[7] TNA, MAF 68/1626, 2196; statistics supplied by the then Bd. of Agric., 1905; inf. from Exmoor Horn Society’s website.