Explore Your Archive November 26th 2023 Theme: Expedition
Exemption from School Attendance …. to help with the harvest
Mining in the Hoar Oak Valley
Stories and memories come in many shapes and this one is from a letter sent to the Voices Project by Roger Burton well-known Exmoor heritage author and North Devon mining expert. Roger gave generously of his time and knowledge to the Hoar Oak Cottage Voices Project and after one meet up Roger got in touch and as he describes in his letter below, “the conversation triggered off something in the back of my mind concerning a mine and mining within the close proximity of Hoar Oak (in the mid-1850’s) which I had written up for the Exmoor Mine Research Group newsletter in July 2004.”
There is a long history of mining on Exmoor – well told elsewhere in books such The Heritage of Exmoor by Roger Burton; The Reclamation of the Exmoor Forest by Orwin and Sellick; The West Somerset Mineral Railway by Sellick to name but three. However, this story starts with Roger reviewing letters from the Knight family estate which had been deposited in the Somerset Records Office in Taunton.
For the Knights, there was a strong desire to find other sources of income from Exmoor and mining was clearly considered a good option to pursue. This little collection of notes made by Roger Burton from estate managers’ letters from the Knight family collection relate to their attempts to resurrect an old mine at Hoar Oak which had already been used and abandoned by the 1850s. A letter dated January 9th, 1856 states that:
“The mines at Hoar Oak have difficult ground to encounter but we are in hope of cutting the lode very shortly, the old lode has been cleared and the lode looks remarkably well. Vellacott* has cut through the lode which is showing it at the angle where Comer made his rapid turn to the east and it is 7’ to 8’ thick in clay, but has not seen any small stones of iron.”
Read more about the Vellacott family and their association with Hoar Oak Cottage here.
The next report is dated January 12th, 1856 and mentions that “Captain Morcambe and Trelease (Combe Martin Mine Captains) were at Hoar Oak yesterday. They were pleased with the appearance of the neighbourhood. The first cut old level is an unfortunate affair; it is run in again and some of the timber has given way. I have decided upon adopting the new level so far as it has been driven and then carry on a new level on the lode which is running north of Comers first or old level. The upper level is still going through hard ground; it will take many fathoms to reach the upper clays.”
By January 17th, 1856 it is being recorded that “They can’t take the timbers out of the first level; we are driving on north side without any timber” and on January 23rd that “The new level going well and 6 ft deeper than the old one” and on February 4th that “The Hoar Oak Miners driving new level at the Old Works the first one had nearly run together so no one could reach the end.” On February 12th it is reported that “The men are almost at the end” and by February 23rd that “Hoar Oak has reached old lode and there they well made a cross-cut to old mind workings.”
A sketch of the mine workings at Hoar Oak – included in a letter dated February 23rd 1856 – was included by Roger Burton in his notes to the Friends. Although perhaps not very clear to us, it was no doubt very clear to the Mine Captains of 1856 what was being portrayed.
As mentioned on the sketch, the approximate location of the Hoar Oak Mine is at SS744 431 which puts it on the west side of the Hoar Oak Water and about 500 metres south of Hoar Oak Cottage. Its intriguing to consider how much noise and disruption this mine would have caused the occupants of Hoar Oak Cottage. Its not easy to pin down who was likely to be living at the cottage during the years of mining but it spans the 1850s which covers the occupation of the Moule family, John Vellacott and then Mr Taylor. It is entirely possible that the cottage – owned at that time by the Vellacotts and used to house their shepherds – may well have lain empty during this flurry of mining work. It may have even been used to billet the miners in. But if it was occupied by one of the shepherd families did the miners and other workmen benefit from cups of tea from the shepherd’s wife? Maybe even a hot meal now and then? Or were they just a nuisance to the Hoar Oak occupants trying to get on with their lives as sheep farmers and agricultural workers? The letter from Roger Burton, including his notes taken in the Somerset Records Office, does actually mentions that ‘Vellacott had cut through the lode’ so perhaps one of the Vellacott family were actively trying to encourage this mining enterprise by doing some preliminary work for the Knights to establish the old mine at Hoar Oak could be made viable. It would have been a much richer source of income than simple sheep farming. The extract from the old map below – Ordnance Survey Maps – National Library of Scotland (nls.uk) – shows the site of the mining works identified by ‘iron workings’, ‘adits’, ‘spoil heaps’ etc below Gammon’s Corner.
On February 23rd 1856, it is recorded that “Hannay visited Hoar Oak and was pleased with clays and ores in the sample room. Lode of clay and ironstone is 5 ft wide.” Roger Burton tells us that this Hannay is almost certainly from Schneider and Hannay and a quick Google search shows them to be an active mining concern, Schneider, Hannay & Co, in the mid-1800s. Burton also notes that the Hoar Oak Mine formed part of the sett* leased to Schneider and Hannay on the April 3rd, 1856 but there is no evidence that that mining company ever actually worked the Hoar Oak mine and that, in fact, all previous work there had been carried out by employees from the Exmoor Estate. Perhaps that is where the ‘Vellacott’ referred to comes in.
* A ‘mining sett’ is a legal term – traditionally used in Devon and Cornwall – referring to land exploited for mining.
On March 29th, 1856 it is recorded that there were “4 men driving at Hoar Oak Upper level” and on April 14th, 1856 a final note says “Hoar Oak works stopped.” Roger Burton completes his letter to the Friends of Hoar Oak Cottage by saying: “It is obvious from the reports on the mine at Hoar Oak that mining had been carried out there in earlier times but, of that earlier mining, there is no record.”
The records of the Exmoor Mining Research Group – in which Roger Burton often published his researches – were lodged in the Somerset Records Office in 2014 and the Friends are planning to spend some time looking through them to try and find a few more gems of information to share about mining at Hoar Oak Cottage. On this link it is possible to find a further bibliography and searchable database of mines on Exmoor. A recent research project, more on this link, jointly delivered by Universities of Exeter and Plymouth, has investigated, amongst other things, the impact of Knight and his mining exploits on Exmoor and it is hoped this research will be made public soon.
Sheep Skins and History
Its intriguing to read the parchment roll of documents and map in the National Archives which formally identifies who owns what in and around the high moors of Exmoor. It was drawn up when the Crown decided to sell the Royal Forest of Exmoor to John Knight. It documents how Hoar Oak came into the hands of the Vellacott family – for 3 generations – before it was sold on.
These rather poor images taken at Kew give the reader an idea of these beautiful documents.
Recently, in reading about parchment documents, it became apparent that the quality of the parchment relied very much on the quality of the sheep. It is intriguing to know if any Exmoor sheep skins ever made it into a document that is archived and kept safe for everyone to look at. If they did there would be some interest in whether the sheep had been attacked by warble fly. The excerpt below from L Hector’s history of The Handwriting of English Documents explains the damage warble fly could do to sheep skins and in turn vellum writing sheets and how the clever scribes got around it. Just end your writing one side of the hole and start again on the other!
Clearly another trip to The National Archives at Kew is in order to get some better copies of these precious documents related to the history of Hoar Oak Cottage. Either that or find a few hundred ££££ to pay to have them digitised!!
Robert Tait Little and Military Leadership
The diaries of Robert Tait Little – Head Shepherd on Exmoor (1870 to 1907) – and a native of Dumfries and Galloway, are an absolute delight to read. They are a treasure trove of information about the (mainly) Scottish shepherds were working on Exmoor through those years and tell us who was working on which herding, when they came and went and often where, in Scotland, they came from. But the diaries are really a meticulous recording of stock on Exmoor and as Head Shepherd RTL’s records are superb. Nonetheless it is the occasional recording of titbits which shed light on what the shepherds and their wives and their families were up to that are of particular interest in telling the story of Hoar Oak Cottage.
But there was another side to RTL. He was clearly an erudite, well read, and thoughtful and we are sharing here 2 and half pages of his diary through January and February 1880, which take the reader into an entirely different area of RTL’s interests. In these pages he reviews and comments on Captain Napier’s book on military warfare and, it seems, is expressing opinions on warfare, class and leadership.
To try and understand these pages which swerve so far away from sheep and shepherds the Friends asked Military Historian Phil Curme http://www.walkingthebattlefields.com/ to transcribe and interpret the pages. The results are fascinating. We hope you find them of interest too.
Below are first shown images of the two pages followed by Phil Curme’s transcription and interpretation notes.
RTL writes: (Note: …. is used where it is not possible to decipher the handwriting)
From Napier’s Peninsular War speaking of Wellington he says its certain …. exacted the confidence of his soldiers as a leader. It is not so certain that he ever gained their affections.[1] The barbarity of the English military code excited public horror. The inequality of promotion created public discontent, yet the General complained he had no …. reward or punish.[2] And he condemned alike the system and the soldier it produced. The latter were detested for everything but fighting and the officers were as culpable as the men.[3]
Deep unmitigated hatred of democracy was indeed the making of the English forces policy.[4] Napoleon was …. against, not as they pretended because he was a tyrant and usurper for he was neither; not because the invasion of Spain was unjust, but because he was the powerful and successful enemy of aristocratic privilege.[5]
29 Jan 1880
At Paris treason had done its work and Napoleon, the man of mightiest capacity, known for good …., who with minds enlarged with …. avarice and dissolution were at the very moment of triumph intent to defraud the people by whose strength and suffering they had conquered, the only reward they demanded was just Government.[6]
The Battle of Wellington was the making of a battering ram. Down went the walls …. The Battle of Napoleon was the …. and dash of a mighty …. before which the …. yielded and the healing flood poured onwards …. all.[7]
Napoleon the greatest man of whom history makes mention. Napoleon the most wonder commander. The most …. politician. The most …. statesman. Poland …. and Portugal, Spain and France fortune that …. Combinations of infinite …. war waiting for him. And with her aid the designs of man all at …. on a troubled Ocean. [8]
Feb 5, 1880
[1] History of the War in the Peninsula by William Napier, London: Thomas and William Boone, 1835
[2] The author is referring to the system of buying commissions in the British Army. Prior to the Cardwell
Reforms of 1871 promotions were mostly awarded on the ability to pay rather than merit. The inability to punish or reward is, I think, a reference to the inability of a commander to demote or promote based on merit.
[3] At the time of the Napoleonic Wars, Private soldiers in the British Army were generally uneducated and from impoverished backgrounds. Or, as Wellington is reputed to have said, they were ‘the scum of the Earth’.
[4] The author is suggesting that since only the rich could buy commissions, those who supported the system were protecting the interests of the aristocracy to the detriment of the ‘common man’. This is a sentiment that was rife during the time of the French Revolution. Promotion in the Grande Armée was on merit.
[5] The author’s comment resonates with an important strand of contemporary thinking. The British aristocracy were fearful that Napoleonic France would ignite revolutionary fervour amongst the working class. Napoleon was, after all, seeking to export the ideas that had emerged in France during the early days of the Republic.
[6] Here the author’s admiration for Napoleon is very apparent. He says that the it was the ‘common people’ who fought for Napoleon and they did so in order to secure a political voice. Sadly, this proved to be naive in the face of political reality.
[7] The author returns to his theme of Wellington compared with Napoleon. Wellington’s tactics were crude with a reliance on force of numbers whilst Napoleon was a skilled practitioner of warfare. His admiration for the latter is clear.
[8] This is the main point. Purity of thinking and high ideals being undone by hard realities. Despite being an exceptional leader (in the author’s eyes), Napoleon – in the end – disappoints.
Thankyou to Phil Curme for his time and knowledge in understanding these pages. Phil leads walking trips of battlefields throughout the globe and can be contacted through his website http://www.walkingthebattlefields.com
The Wild Red Deer of Exmoor
The wild red deer that roam freely across Exmoor can frequently be found browsing around Hoar Oak Cottage although with their excellent camouflage you often need sharp eyes to spot them. More often they see, hear or smell you first and your only view is of them running into the far distance. However, there is no lovelier sight, especially when watched through the old parlour window just as the shepherd families must have done all those years ago. For the shepherds, the deer would have been a mixed blessing. They would, no doubt, admire their beauty but it would be tempered with the thought of losses of the precious and limited crops they were able to grow in the garden.
Red deer live in separate sex herds for most of the year, they come together during the autumn for the rut when the stags fight one another for claim of the females, the hinds. The stags are at their most vocal then with a deep, guttural call (belling); this can be heard from some distance and helps would-be deer watchers to locate them. Stag fights usually consist of little more than intimidation – when they spar, the heads are lowered and the antlers lock together. It is mostly push and shove, a trial of strength, although the sound of antlers clashing can sometimes be heard. Injuries are fairly uncommon but not unknown. When the rut is over the herds separate once more. The hinds give birth in early summer to spotted and well-camouflaged calves. They are remarkably difficult to locate for the hind grazes some distance away and the calf remains concealed for much of the day.
A lesser known fact about the stags is that they shed their antlers each year to grow new, larger ones. The antlers are cast about April and begin to regrow immediately becoming fully grown three to four months later. During that time they are protected by a soft, membrane – the ‘velvet’ and any damage to the horn is very painful. By the time of the rut the antlers have shed their velvet and become hard and strong. It is possible to find the cast antlers but they are notoriously difficult to spot. Antler judging competitions are frequently held on the moor and is a good way of seeing close-up the difference in size and weight.
Exmoor is famed for its hunting and, although a contentious issue, continues to be a popular attraction whether on horse or as a car follower. Exmoor’s origin as a Royal Forest has meant that the deer have always been hunted and it is probably because of the restrictions imposed by the Crown until the mid-1800s that Exmoor’s red deer descend from completely wild stock. Whatever one’s opinion on the subject, the hunting records gives us much information including referrals to the Hoar Oak valley. We can be reasonably confident that on Saturday April 7th 1945 the Hoar Oak shepherd family would have been watching with some excitement as the staghounds “…cast right up to Hoar Oak running fast up the water nearly to the county boundary…”
The Wild Red Deer of Exmoor, part of a series of blog posts exploring the flora and fauna that surrounds Hoar Oak Cottage.
The Hoar Oak Tree
There has been a Hoar Oak Tree from time immemorial, marking the boundary between the Royal Forest of Exmoor and Brendon Common. The term ‘Royal Forest’ denoted a hunting ground or ‘waste’ belonging to the Crown; more often a treeless area and not as we understand the word forest to mean now. According to McDermot, writing in the early part of the twentieth century, the original tree fell in 1658 and a replacement was planted close by soon after. This survived until 1916 when the tree now standing was planted. Despite being over 100 years old this tree remains small and stunted due to the poor soil conditions and the harsh and exposed upland climate. However, despite its appearance it is healthy and remains in fine condition.
At the time of the First World War, Bill Hobbs was the shepherd living at Hoar Oak Cottage; when he went to war John Jones, his brother-in-law, temporarily took his place. There is no evidence that either men planted the replacement tree but they certainly would have been aware of its planting.
The Hoar Oak Tree, as has been seen, has a long and important history and is marked on several maps including the current Ordnance Survey. It also featured on the Ordnance Survey map of 1890 and before that (as Ore Oak) on the Benjamin Doon map of 1765. An even earlier reference to Whore Oake Ball dates to 1651.
Extensive, natural oak woods do thrive on Exmoor along the coastal belt and also at Horner. The coastal oak woods are renowned for their wildlife and rare plant communities; the relentless gales and poor growing conditions have also stunted their growth but in a very different way to that of the Hoar Oak Tree.
Oaks are a valuable resource for wildlife. One of the most common yet overlooked sights are the Spangle galls created by tiny parasitic wasps. Each gall hosts a larva that is feeding on the leaf tissue beneath it and a single leaf can carry very many galls. In the autumn the larvae fall to the ground before the leaves and complete their growth cycle protected by the leaf litter, emerging in early spring. Despite the huge numbers of galls an oak tree can carry the larvae do very little damage.
Regardless of its diminutive size, the Hoar Oak Tree continues to be an important Exmoor landmark. Situated just yards upstream, it also stands as a living link to the shepherds of Hoar Oak Cottage and their families.
The Hoar Oak Tree of Exmoor, part of a series of blog posts exploring the flora and fauna that surrounds Hoar Oak Cottage.
Heather on Exmoor
The vast tracts of open heather moorland are one of Exmoor’s glories. At the height of its flowering in August, the moors seem washed with purple although on closer inspection the flowers vary in colour from darker shades through to pale lavenders and pinks. The colour variation is partly due to the age of the flower but also to the species. On Exmoor, all three species can be found: Bell Heather Erica cinerea, Common Heather (also known as Ling) Calluna vulgaris and Cross-leaved Heath Erica tetralix.
For the Scottish shepherds of Hoar Oak Cottage, the view from the parlour window would have not been dissimilar to their home in the Southern Uplands. Was the sight of the heather hillside in full flower a comforting memory of a distant land or a trigger for home-sickness? Perhaps they brought with them their traditional uses for the plants – making brooms, stuffing mattresses or as a herbal remedy for coughs and as a general tonic. In the Highlands, heather was also used as roof insulation material but as the cottage was provided by their employer it is highly unlikely that this would have been carried out at Hoar Oak; no evidence of this was uncovered during the recent stabilising of the ruins.
To find out more of heather, or indeed many of the everyday aspects of the past life of Exmoor, it is often necessary to read through old books to glean information. One of our favourite sources is Red Deer, written by Richard Jefferies in 1884. About heather he mentions several things that we may have not appreciated such as how, when the weather is hot and dry, “the brittle, woody stems of the heather wear out the stoutest boots quickly.” He also describes the burning (“swaling”) of the heather each spring.
Swaling, which appears to be a West Country dialect word, is now tightly controlled by legislation but the principal of deliberate burning the moorland vegetation to promote regeneration dates back centuries. Recent research has found burnt deposits buried deep in the peat layers dating from the medieval period (source: ENPA). Swaling, like many other farming practices is carried out on a rotational basis over a number of years. In this way, there are heather plants ranging in age from the tasty, young growth of the newly burned providing food for the deer, ponies and sheep, and older growth giving cover and shelter to birds and other wildlife. For more information on swaling and the results of recent research visit this link.
Heather on Exmoor, part of a series of blog posts exploring the flora and fauna that surrounds Hoar Oak Cottage.
#SheepBite
It is said that Eskimos have a hundred words for snow. Exmoor shepherds may have had as many for sheep.
Some will have been in common use in Scotland and some on Exmoor, others used elsewhere in the country. It would be intriguing to know, when the Scottish shepherds brought their #SheepBite words with them, whether any of these new terms became adopted by the Exmoor farmers.
Many #SheepBite words can still be heard on the moor today. If you farm with sheep we’d love to know which ones you still use and what they mean.
Over the coming months we plan to add more and more – why not tell us which ones are your favourites and why you like them?
With thanks to Norah Solesbury for supplying many of the words used by Scottish shepherds.
#Husk or Hooze
A troublesome cough in lambs caused by lungworms most commonly during wet autumn months. Death is caused by anaemia and exhaustion, sometimes after many weeks of illness. When coughing, the lamb with expel large numbers of the parasites into their pasture where they can live for many months and infecting others grazing there. Shepherds used a mix of turpentine and milk with variable results. Husk in older sheep was caused by a different worm, not apparent before butchering. Now, regular worming of sheep prevents the disease.
#Braxy
Often just referred to as the Sickness, Braxy was once a common disease amongst hill sheep, usually affecting younger animals. It may have been the cause of many deaths during the winter months brought on by them eating frozen grass or root crops. With few signs of illness before death, the carcass decays more rapidly than is usual; despite this the meat was often eaten without ill effect to human or dog. Nowadays, sheep are vaccinated against it (see #Drench, below)
#Drench
Nothing to do with the shepherds getting wet! A drench is a liquid medicine given either as a preventative measure or as a cure.
#Drenching Horn (or, nowadays, Gun)
In the days before drenching (dosing) guns were invented, sheep drenches were given via drenching horns made from a sheep’s horn which had been cut lengthways to form a type of shallow spoon. The drenching gun resembles a large metal syringe with a tube which is inserted far into the sheep’s mouth. By this means a prescribed amount of the drench is released down the sheep’s throat.
#Fluke (Liver Fluke)
A parasitic flatworm that completes its life cycle within sheep causing liver damage and in severe cases, sudden death from haemorrhage. Most commonly found in wetter areas as the host is a minute mud snail and, as a consequence is normally more problematic in especially wet years – such as those of 1860-61 and 1879-1880 when over three million sheep died nationally. However, fluke can be transferred to drier pasture by infected animals. Now treated by drugs; in the past, herbal remedies may have been used with varying degrees of success. A cautionary note: watercress should not be gathered from fluke infested streams as they can infect humans when ingested.
#Buist (or Keel or Bust)
Pronounced ‘Bist’: to mark a sheep’s fleece with paint. One of the oldest forms of sheep identification. This would often be with the farmer’s initials and each farm would have its own colour. After shearing, of course, the sheep would need to be rebuisted. The image shows Exmoor Horn sheep belonging to the late Dick French of Brendon Barton, one of the closest farms to Hoar Oak Cottage. The initials A F were his father’s, the + usually denotes a glebe (or tithe) farm
#Buisting Iron
The marking iron used to apply paint to a fleece, sometimes individual letters, sometimes with the ‘complete’ branding mark; attached to a metal shank. There would often be a smaller iron for lambs. Occasionally they would be made from wood as shown in the photo below
#Keel Pot
The pot holding the paint (or paint/tar mix) into which the buisting iron would be dipped. Often sheep were marked with just a daub of paint using a wooden stick (‘keel’ or ‘paddle’)
#Hogg (or Hogget)
From August/September in the year of birth until the next summer when the fleece is sheared (clipped) off, the sheep is a ‘hogg’ (Scotland) or hogget (parts of England/Wales). Does Exmoor say hogg or hogget?
#Wethers (or Wedder Hoggs)
Tup (male) lambs which have been castrated and are being fattened for the market. If kept beyond the stage when they are lambs they become known as ‘wedder hoggs’
#Stell
Stells are open, circular pens – usually made from stone that sheep can wander into freely in bad weather. Still commonly seen in Scotland, Scottish shepherd Robert Tait Little brought his knowledge of them to Exmoor. Click here to find out about the one built at Hoar Oak Cottage
#Lamb
When does a lamb stop being a lamb? Young sheep born in Spring are known as lambs until their first August when they become #hoggs (or #hoggets)