www.EnglandsPastForEveryone.org.uk/Explore
Exmoor
LATE MEDIEVAL PROSPERITY
The 15th and early 16th centuries saw southern Exmoor prosper, as can be seen from the
surviving buildings, and probably both farming and the cloth trade contributed to that
prosperity.
Churches
The great phase of Norman church building was followed by medieval enlargement, the
addition of aisles and towers, and the insertion of larger windows. Winsford’s chancel was
built in the 13th century and a window contains 14th century glass.
West Anstey was probably rebuilt in 1319 when its altars were dedicated. In the 14th century a
new chancel and tower were added at Hawkridge. Fifteenth-century prosperity and devotion
are evidenced in the church towers of Dulverton, East Anstey, Molland, and Exford, the tower
and aisle at West Anstey, the naves of Hawkridge and Winsford, and the virtual rebuilding of
Brushford, Molland, and Withypool churches. Before its 19th-century rebuilding Dulverton
church had a fine Perpendicular south aisle and early 15th-century chancel with three windows
installed in 1425—6.
The church towers are not as tall or decorative as many lowland towers but then they usually
have the advantage, and disadvantage, of a high site. The quality of surviving windows and
doors shows that the parishioners could afford the finest work. The impressive late 15thcentury churches at neighbouring North and South Molton are probably due in part to a
flourishing wool and cloth trade. At North Molton a fulling mill rose in value in the 14th
Mary Suirat
Page 1
Exmoor Reference
century although the corn mills declined and by the early 16th century the Parker family had
amassed great wealth in the cloth trade.1
Despite the absence of resident lords and the dispersed nature of settlement, parishes
maintained their churches and clergy. Some, like Molland and West Anstey, built church
houses, predecessor of the modern church hall. They consisted of a great open hall and were
later divided into cottages.
Victorian rebuilding and restoration have removed the evidence of medieval work from many
other churches.
Houses
Although the late 16th century is traditionally see as the beginning of the domestic building
boom, on Exmoor the 15th century saw a large amount of building. A number of medieval
farmhouses, with later adaptations, continue to function in the 21st century. At Molland 13
farmhouses have been classed as of late medieval origin and three, including Great Champson
manor house, as early 16th-century. Their solid jointed-cruck roofs with smoke-blackened
timbers confirm the quality of building in the area.
Among domestic building the main range of Combe in Dulverton was a medieval open-hall,
as were Beer in Brushford and West Nethercote in Winsford. The survival of medieval
longhouses on Exmoor is due to their substantial quality and their remoteness and isolation.
The longhouse with humans and animals under one roof, and originally with a single entrance
for people and livestock, was common in the uplands of south-west England. It is not possible
to say from the recorded surviving examples how widespread the form was on Exmoor.
1
Annett, North Molton, pp. 45-7, 87-8.
Mary Suirat
Page 2
Exmoor Reference
Mainly attributed to the 15th or 16th centuries, they are of substantial jointed-cruck
construction, a form used in Somerset between the 1390s and 1630s.
Lower Sowerhill in Brushford, Badlake in West Anstey, and Edbrooke and Lyncombe in
Winsford are 15th-century longhouses. Medieval Bungsland in East Anstey was remodelled in
the late 16th or early 17th century when a shippen was added. West Nightcott in Brushford,
Luckesses in Exford and Cloggs in Hawkridge may be 16th-century and represent the
replacement of an older house in the same form. The longhouse continued to be built in
upland areas, probably for economy of space and masonry, until the 17th century, although
with a solid division between house and shippen.
Bridges
The quality of medieval building work is clear not only in the churches but also in the strong
and still usable bridges.
Southern Exmoor has a large number of late medieval stone bridges. The most famous and
unusual is the clapper bridge at Tarr Steps of uncertain but probably medieval date. It has
been rebuilt many times and like many other Exmoor bridges suffered in the terrible floods of
1952. More conventional medieval bridges include Barle and Hele bridges in Dulverton, and
two packhorse bridges in Winsford.
Southern Exmoor provided high roads between north and south, east and west for traders and
drovers. One important route between Devon and Somerset through the forest crossed the
Barle and a substantial bridge was built, which no doubt influenced the later siting of
Simonsbath house. The increase in trade and livestock movement and the desire to travel not
only in the favourable summer months probably led to the replacement of fords by bridges on
Mary Suirat
Page 3
Exmoor Reference
important routes. The Barle and Exe in spate are not easily forded and clapper bridges like
Tarr Steps can disappear under floodwater. The bridges at Exford and Withypool gave access
to and from the forest. At Winsford, where the north—south route alongside the Exe meets
the old road over Winsford hill to Tarr Steps, medieval packhorse bridges cross the Exe and
the Winn, although the road from Withypool still fords the latter. Dulverton’s medieval
bridges were essential as it stands between the Barle and the Exe and people needed to access
its fairs in the 15th century. Clearly a large amount of trade was passing along Exmoor’s
roads.2
COPYRIGHT
ALL RIGHTS, INCLUDING COPYRIGHT ©, OF THE CONTENT OF
THIS DOCUMENT ARE OWNED OR CONTROLLED BY THE
UNIVERSITY OF LONDON. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION REFER
TO
2
http://www.englandspastforeveryone.org.uk/Info/Disclaimer
SRO, A/AHT 4.
Mary Suirat
Page 4
Exmoor Reference