Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for EXMOOR

EXMOOR, a quondam extra-parochial tract, now a parish, in the districts of Barnstaple and Tiverton, and partly in Devon but chiefly in Somerset; round the head-streams of the rivers Exe and Barle, 13 miles NW of Dulverton, and 16½ NE by E of Barnstaple r. station. Post town, Exford, under Taunton. Acres, 19, 270. Real property, £4, 073. Pop., 323. Houses, 62. Some parts are enclosed and cultivated; but most are wild, moorish, and upland. The northern border lies on the Bristol channel, and forms there a coast remarkable for general elevation and for very deep vales or glens; and the interior has summits ranging, in altitude, from 1, 100 feet to 1, 668 feet. The highest ground is Dunkerry-beacon. Woods anciently covered -the whole area; and are said to have been consumed at the ancient adjacent iron-works of Exford. Druidical rites were practised in the woods; and many rude remains of ancient times, sepulchres, small standing - stones, earth-works, and small circular entrenchments, supposed to be Druidical, still exist. Hardy sheep and horses are bred on the hill pastures; and a solitary red deer may sometimes be seen browsing on the wastes. An act, passed in the 55th year of George III., ordained that the forest should be made a parish as soon as its population should so increase as to require a church; and that act took effect in 1856. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Bath and Wells. Value, £150.* Patron, the Crown. The church was opened in 1857.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a quondam extra-parochial tract, now a parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "countries, 4th order divisions")
Administrative units: Exmoor ExP/CP       Devon AncC       Somerset AncC
Place: Exmoor

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