Author: Bette Baldwin

In the Exmoor book by H.J.Marshall (1948) Exmoor:Sporting and Otherwise the story is related about how Shepherd Will Little’s knowledge of the countryside around and about Hoar Oak Cottage was ignored by the Exmoor Hounds when they were out hunting on the moor.

The book makes frequent mention of Hoaroak Cottage and the ancient boundary marker that is the Hoaroak Tree as well mentioning people linked to Hoar Oak Cottage. At the time Marshall was writing, the shepherd at Hoar Oak was William Little and H. J. Marshall tells the tale that Will Little was one of the few who knew the good ground between Exe Head, Chains Barrow, Ruckham Combe and on via Saddle Gate, to Chapman’s Barrows.

Marshall recounts this tale:
He (Will Little) was once on Exe Plain when the Hounds passed in full cry, a horse rode up to him and inquired his way . “Come with me and I will take you across the Chains” replied the shepherd. The horseman did not like the prospect.
“Is there a way around?” he inquired
“Yes” said the shepherd “You can ride down Hoccombe Combe, there in front of you, go past my cottage in the valley, then ride under the hill on sound heather. But ‘tis a long way round. Better come with me”
The rider shook his head.
“I’ll tell you what I’ll do” said the shepherd “ I’ll jog along quietly and be at Saddlers Stone a long while before you can gallop there!”
So it was settled. And the young shepherd jogged leisurely along over the bog and reached Saddlers Stone, well known to all hunters. He sat there for some time before the stranger came up, his horse covered in sweat from hard galloping.

There’s no doubt that Will Little, shepherd of the Hoar Oak herding and resident of Hoar Oak Cottage, not only knew his way around the moor but had stout legs and a good set of lungs!

This fascinating book is now out of print but it is worth tracking down a copy if only for Lionel Edward’s lovely pen and ink illustrations and the hand drawn map of Exmoor on the inside cover. The book recalls epic hunts crossing the moor from’ Bratton to Porlock Bay’ – referred to in the old Exmoor Hunting song of the same name and which has been captured in this YouTube clip

On March 29th 1878, Exmoor Head Shepherd Robert Tait Little (RTL) recorded in his diary:  “Great Snow Storm. Lost 290 Sheep after a fine winter.”

By the end of April, RTL is clearly in a better position to assess the damage and another page from his diary, shown below, details the losses from the great snow storm of 1878.

1878: sheep lost in a severe snow on the night of March 28th and morning of 29th March 1878.

Dead
A    21 Winstitchen
B   28 Simonsbath
C   40 Larkborough
D   28 Badgeworthy
E   13 Chains (Hoar Oak)
F   40 Cornham
G   55 Duredown
H   57 Pinkery
Total Dead 292

Dead from March 28th till April 27th 292 Sheep. Perhaps 260 would die owing to the storm. Weather good after. Snow all away by April 1st West wind and no rain. Winter good.

Note: The letters A, B, C etc relate to the code number Robert Tait Little had given each of the farms and herdings. Hoar Oak was also known as the Chains herding and was Code E. They lost 13 sheep at Hoar Oak in the bad weather. Elsewhere in the diaries RTL uses the just the code letters to record information about the farms – a sensible timesaving approach to record keeping avoiding writing out the long farm names.

This collection of information about how many sheep had died at the various Exmoor herdings would have been made over the two or three weeks following the dreadful storm of March 28th and 29th, 878. Although Robert Tait Little says the snow was ‘all away’ by April 1st it is likely that it would still have been difficult for him to get out to some of the most remote farms or for the shepherds to get to a village to report their losses from the great storm. The heavy snow and large drifts would have remained longer up on the high moor making it difficult to get about and, as is often the case in such conditions, the sheep can get buried in snow drifts only to emerge, still alive, some days or even weeks later.

As a consequence it is not until April 27th, nearly a month later, that RTL appears to be in a position to make a full tally of lost sheep over those 4 weeks and to write it up in his stock diary. It is interesting that he makes a judgement about how many he thought actually died from the storm – he says perhaps 260 would die owing to the storm. The reason for the other 30 deaths – other than usual winter losses one supposes – is not stated. It does seem, from RTL’s notes, that the weather before and after the great storm had been not too bad. No doubt a bitter irony.
Research by The Friends has shown that this snow storm was worthy of being recorded and mentioned in the annual Symons British Rainfall Records of 1878. This book contains an overview of weather throughout the British Isles on a month by month basis as well as recording rainfall including snow throughout the year.

Clearly this weather event was of sufficient importance and of such a devastating effect as to feature so strongly in both Robert Tait Little’s Diaries and in Symon’s British Rainfall book.
What was happening at Hoar Oak Cottage during the great storm of March 1878?   At this date Hoar Oak Cottage was occupied by William and Fanny Davidson. They had several children, a son born at Hoar Oak in 1872, a daughter in 1873, another son in 1877 and another daughter in 1879. Later in 1879 the family had moved on to Winstitchen and so during the Great Storm of 1878 it is very likely that the Davidson would be at Hoar Oak Cottage with 2 small children and a tiny baby. RTL’s diary records that 13 sheep were lost to the great storm from The Chains herding run by William Davidson. Was the experience of the great storm one of the factors which resulted in Shepherd Davidson taking on the Winstitchen herding? The farmhouse at Winstitchen is more substantial and much closer to the amenities of the village of Simonsbath – perhaps more desirable than being at Hoar Oak for a young family. We shall never know for certain but, other than the Johnstone family of Hoar Oak Cottage, few shepherd families stayed there once they had more than one or two children.
About Symon’s British Rainfall Guides
G.J. Symons first produced a four-page pamphlet English Rainfall, 1860 with information for over 150 stations. He next produced the first volume of British Rainfall to cover both 1860 and 1861, the series was initially known as Symons’s/Symons British Rainfall from 1860 – 1899 and was then continued as British Rainfall until 1968. It was produced by the British Rainfall Organization – an independent body managed first by George Symons and then in succession by Herbert Sowerby Wallis and Dr Hugh Robert Mill who instituted a broad of trustees. In 1919, the operational function of the British Rainfall Organization became a branch of the Meteorological Office. From 1961, monthly information from all stations was included for the first time. From 1969 – 1991 rainfall information was published in monthly and annual totals of rainfall.
More info on this link http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/archive/british-rainfall

Nicky Rowberry – one of the Friends of Hoar Oak Cottage – has been doing some archival research recently and found the following news item published in the North Devon Journal on July 24th, 1902:

It reads as follows:
On the representation of Mr. E.J.Soares, M.P. the Postmaster-General has granted a daily delivery of letters to Hoar Oak Cottage, Lynton. Badgeworthy Cottage and Tom’s Hill were included in the applications, but in these cases the Postmaster-General declined, as the cost would be too great.
For such a little news item it packs a punch for those interested in Hoar Oak Cottage and also raises some interesting questions.
• How did they get their post before this? Would they have walked into Lynton, Simonsbath or maybe to a nearby farm – Cheriton or Scoresdown for example – where their post might have been left for them?
• What happened in 1902 to bring about the change to a daily delivery?
• Did the postman really go all the way out to Hoar Oak Cottage every day from July 1902 onwards?
• Why did Badgworthy Cottage and Tom’s Hill have their requests for daily deliveries turned down by the Postmaster-General?
• And just how much post would they have been receiving to make this a worthwhile addition to the postal round!!
To try to get some answers we searched for sources of information and came across The British Postal Museum and Archive which can be found at www.postalheritage.org.uk. This is a very useful resource with a wonderful selection of pictures and information available on their website.

Many thanks go to Penny McMahon an archivisit at the British Postal Museum and Archive who has given us some of the answers but we will need to make a visit to the Postal Museum ourselves to do some more in-depth research. Here is some of the immediate information Penny was able to tell us:
• To find out which Post Office would have served Hoar Oak Cottage in 1902 we will need to look in the local authority archive – the Postal Heritage Museum doesn’t keep that info but it is likely to be Lynton or possibly Simonsbath.
• After 1897, under the so-called ‘Jubilee Concessions’ which were granted as part of Queen Victoria’s Jubilee celebrations, the Post Office agreed to guarantee delivery at standard postage rates to every house in the United Kingdom. Although this concession did not specify the frequency of delivery it was assumed to mean a minimum of one delivery weekly. Up until then the standard postage rate did not cover delivery to very outlying villages, hamlets, farms and cottages so this would have been a very useful concession for people who lived in remote spots such as Hoar Oak Cottage, Tom’s Hill and Badgworthy Cottage.
• Penny McMahon searched the index series under the following subject terms; Soares, Lynton and Simonsbath and was unable to find any information under the term Simonsbath. Under the search term Lynton, Penny found some references to salary increases for members of staff as well as increases in office expenses and suggested that these references might be worth chasing up as the new delivery out to Hoar Oak Cottage may have been the reason for granting these increases.
So, we still have more digging to do at the Postal Museum in order to try and find out a bit more but are very grateful to Penny for her help.
We do know that the post office was in Simonsbath in 1856. Orwin and Sellick record in their book The Reclamation of Exmoor Forest (publ 1929) that the shop and inn at Simonsbath was also the receiving point for letters…..letters arrived, from South Molton, at 12 noon on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, outgoing post being dispatched at 1.30pm. However, by 1902 it may be that Lynton was the centre for the post.
The reason that Hoar Oak Cottage but not Badgworthy or Toms Hill had the post delivered is most likely to be due to a simple matter of distances. If the post was coming from Lynton the latter two cottages were perhaps just a bit too far from the post office and the postman’s regular route and so prevented Queen Victoria from being able to fulfill her Jubilee Concession!! This rough sketch of the area helps to show that – as the crow flies – Hoar Oak Cottage was about 4 miles from Lynton whereas Badgworthy was about 5 ½ miles and Toms Hill around 6 miles.

Of course, the actual routes taken to get to each of these cottages would have been considerably more but this sketch does, nonetheless, help to give us a rough idea of the relative distances.
Thinking about how much post the families at Hoar Oak would have been receiving and whether, therefore, a dedicated delivery was worthwhile is an interesting question too. James and Sarah Maxwell Johnstone were the residents at Hoar Oak Cottage in 1902 and at that time the oldest of their 13 children would have been away from home working as farm labourers or, for the girls, in service. The post would have been an important way for those older children to keep in touch and perhaps send a little bit of their wages home to help their mother’s budget. And of course Sarah’s family were in North Wales and James’s were in Dumfrieshire – so sending news or gifts would have always been by post. Having a regular delivery would therefore have been an invaluable services for them out at Hoar Oak.