Simonsbath

infobox UK place
country = England
latitude= 51.1416
longitude= -3.7524
official_name= Simonsbath
population= 203
area_total_km2= 82.07
civil_parish= Exmoor
shire_district= West Somerset
shire_county = Somerset
region= South West England
constituency_westminster= Taunton
post_town= Taunton
postcode_district = TA24
postcode_area= TA
dial_code=
os_grid_reference= SS775395

Simonsbath is a village high on Exmoor in the English county of Somerset. It is the principal settlement in the Exmoor civil parish, which is the largest and most sparsely populated civil parish on Exmoor, covering nearly convert|32|mi2 but with a population, at the time of the 2001 census, of 203 in 78 households.cite web | url = http://www.exmoor-nationalpark.gov.uk/index/learning_about/living_in_communities/exmoor_parishes/exmoor_parish.htm | title = Exmoor parish | publisher = Exmoor National Park | accessdate = 2008-10-10 ]

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. [cite web | title=Simonsbath Bridge | work=Images of England | url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/search/details.aspx?id=265426 | accessdate=2007-11-27] It is also on the Two Moors Way footpath.

History

The name

The "-bath" element in this place-name, not recorded before 1791, [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.] 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". [Richard Nicholls Worth, "Tourist's Guide to North Devon and the Exmoor district" 1879:94.] 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.

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. [The "forest" consists largely of moorlands.] After the Royal Act of Inclosure it was bought, with the accompanying farm and about 70,000 acres [Worth 1879:93-95.] , 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. [cite web | title=Simonsbath House Hotel | work=Images of England | url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/search/details.aspx?id=265427 | accessdate=2007-11-27] 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 [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).] 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 convert|29|mi|km|0|lk=on wall around his estate, much of which still survives. [cite web |url=http://www.whatsonexmoor.co.uk/villages/simonsbath.htm |title=Simonsbath |accessdate=2007-11-27 |format= |work=Whatsonexmoor ]

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." [Worth 1879, "loc. cit."]

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. [cite web | title=Church of St Luke | work=Images of England | url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/search/details.aspx?id=265425 | accessdate=2007-11-27] 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. [cite web |url=http://webapp1.somerset.gov.uk/her/details.asp?prn=33007 |title=Wheal Eliza mine, NE of Simonsbath, Exmoor |accessdate=2007-11-27 |format= |work=Somerset Historic Environment Record ] 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. [cite web |url=http://www.exmoor-nationalpark.gov.uk/index/news_static/2006_may_7.htm |title=Guided Tours of Simonsbath Sawmill |accessdate=2007-11-27 |format= |work=Exmoor National Park ] [cite web |url=http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/upload/pdf/A_Landscape_Legacy_National_Parks_and_the_historic_environment.pdf |title=Exmoor National Park: Simonsbath sawmill |accessdate=2007-11-28 |format=PDF |work=A Landscape Legacy: National Parks and the historic environment: English Heritage ]

20th century

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. [cite web |url=http://www.everythingexmoor.org.uk/_F/Fortescue_John_William.php |title=Sir John William Fortescue |accessdate=2007-11-27 |format= |work=Everything Exmoor ]

Governance

The civil parish of Exmoor 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.

Geography

Simonsbath is convert|1250|ft|m|0|lk=on above sea level, 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. [cite web |url=http://www.english-nature.org.uk/science/natural/NA_HAbDetails.asp?Name=Exmoor+and+the+Quantocks&N=87&H=65 |title=Exmoor and the Quantocks |accessdate=2007-11-28 |format= |work=Natural England ] Quartz and iron mineralisation can be detected in outcrops and subsoil. The Devonian Kentisbury Slates are exposed in the small quarry by White Water. [cite web |url=http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/hughprudden/sgg.htm |title=Somerset Geology |accessdate=2007-11-28 |format= |work=Good Rock Guide ]

The mean annual temperature is 8.3°C (47°F). The average annual total rainfall is convert|69.6|in|mm|0|lk=on,cite web |url=http://www.exe-estuary.org/CPPart1PhysicalDescription1.pdf |title=The Exe Catchment, Devon, 2004 |accessdate=2007-11-28 |format=PDF |work=Exe estuary management partnership ] although convert|7.35|in|mm|0 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. [cite web |url=http://www.atypon-link.com/ITELF/doi/pdf/10.1680/ipeds.1953.12369 |title=Hydraulics Engineering Division Meeting |accessdate=2007-11-28 |format=PDF |work=The Institution of Civil Engineers Proceedings, Part 111, December 1953 ]

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.cite web |url=http://www.town-guides.org/tgo/somerset/simonsbath/population-overview.asp |title=Simonsbath (Somerset) |accessdate=2007-11-28 |format= |work=Town Guides .org ]

References

Further reading

*cite book |title=Simonsbath: The Inside Story of an Exmoor Village |last=Burton |first=Roger A. |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1996 |publisher= |location= |isbn=0951441922

External links

* [http://www.somerset.gov.uk/archives/Maps/OS62htm/4505.htm map of Simonsbath c 1900]
* [http://www.somerset3d.co.uk/logos%20&%20pictures/town%20&%20village%20pages/simonsbath.htm Photos of Simonsbath in 3d (Anaglyphs)]