How much did it cost?
The Friends continue to research the Scottish shepherds on Exmoor – how they came to be there and what their impact was. One of the first known to arrive with a cargo of Scottish sheep was Gerald Spooner who took the lease of Winterhead Farm from John Knight in 1852. More can be read about Spooner on this link Gerard Spooner – hoaroak (hoaroakcottage.org) One of the Scottish shepherds who came with Spooner was William Scott who went on to become John Knight’s Bailiff.
Recently, a research partner of The Friends, based in Scotland, found an interesting newspaper advertisement from 1865 that William Scott is advertising ‘pasturage’ on Exmoor – in other words charging farmers to take their cattle: bullocks, horses, ponies, sheep with and without lambs etc., up on to the Forest of Exmoor for a fee which ranged from 2/6 to £1 per animal.
Edward T MacDermot’s book, ‘A History of the Forest of Exmoor,’ gives an insight into this ancient practice and helps us to understand that the sale of pasturage to local farmers is a method to earn income from Exmoor which has a very long history. McDermot records some of the charges for pasturage. For example, in 1655, the charge would be 4d a head for sheep taken onto the Forest for pasture. Equivalent to £1.73 in modern times. MacDermot page 202
Knight’s purchase of the Royal Forest of Exmoor was part of an ambitious aim to introduce a modern agricultural reclamation project, but it seems the tried and true method of making the Forest pay – to charge local farmers to pasture their livestock on the moor – was still in place in 1865. The advert from The Taunton Courier in April 1865 shows that Bailiff William Scott would be charging a fee of 2/6 a head for sheep in 1865. Equivalent to £7.39 in modern times.
Hoar Oak Cottage began life hundreds of years ago as a one roomed shepherd’s cott used for the shepherd responsible for sheep taken up onto the hills of that part of Exmoor for the summer pasturage.
- MacDermot Edward T, 1973, A History of the Forest of Exmoor.
- Image courtesy of the British Newspaper Archive ©
