Simonsbath is a restful village in the valley of the River Barle. In medieval days the village lay within the Royal Forest; not that the moor was covered in trees centuries ago, but "Forest" means an area kept for the monarch to hunt in. Overseen by a warden, the strict laws of the forest were enforced at forest courts latterly held in Simonsbath.
The impressive Simonsbath House was built in the 17th century. In Victorian times the Knight family who lived in Simonsbath were important to the region. In 1818 they bought most of the royal lands around and invested considerable wealth to upgrade the derelict moorland.
This quiet village at the heart of Exmoor
was formerly associated with the Knight family and the Royal
Forest.
Set in the splendour of the Barle Valley, Simonsbath is set in the heart of what the locals refer to as “Exmoor Proper”. Simonsbath House is a 350 year old house which retains many of the wonderful features of yesteryear and stood alone for over 150 years before the small hamlet developed in the 19th Century, with the local Church, St Lukes, built in 1856, presiding over the largest parish in Somerset 56 square miles but with only 75 houses. This r yet still provides a comfortable and cozy place to stay.
St Luke's Church Simonsbath
The roads of 19th-century construction were mainly laid out by improving landowners who sought to tame the moor, extend the farming potential and increase the farming population. But some of the routes across the more inaccessible parts are of great antiquity. There is an road called the "harepath" today that runs through Simonsbath, along the spine of the Brendons and away across the marshy flatlands of Somerset to the Bristol and Gloucester areas. This is supposed to have been the Saxon warpath, along which, in the ninth century, Anglo-Saxon farmers of Devon and Somerset tramped when called out to help their overlords repel the Danish invaders. And it was probably a prehistoric way long before that.
Simonsbath House showing damage inflicted by protesting local folk in the time of Bouveycompalining about his attempts to evict themby raing the rents on his land
Simonsbath church St Luke's Church
Simonsbath church St Luke's Church
Simonsbath House
Simonsbath House - the damaged door
St Luke's is a large, but simple building, with a high roof, clear windows which let in plenty of light, and it is great to sing in! The stained glass windows are dedicated to St Mary, St Luke and "To the Glory of God and a memorial of the Great War 1914- 18".
Simonsbath church St Luke's Church
Simonsbath Lodge, now a hotel, was originally built by James Boevey, the most remarkable and notorious of the Exmoor wardens who virtually ruled over the Forest in the King's name - he eventually bought the Forest freehold. Of Dutch descent, he brought his new wife Isabel de Visscher to the Lodge in the seventeenth century, and was himself author of several odd books, including The Art of Governing the Tongue, The Art of Gaining Wealth and The Act of Building a Man.
Much of what was still wild and unenclosed land in 1800 looked by 1900 like tamed farmland, and throughout the twentieth century moorland was regularly lost to agriculture. High windbreak hedges and grass fields replaced heather and bracken.
The River Barle above Simonsbath
Simonsbath is a nineteenth-century village created by the Knight family, who bought the area from the Crown as part of the former Royal Forest of Exmoor. There is a car park, toilets and picnic area at Ashcombe. It is a popular starting point for walks along the River Barle and the meadow by the river is also popular for picnics. There is a pub, shop and tea rooms.
OS Grid Reference: SS7739 |
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