Category: Uncategorized

Exmoor Flora Nature Uncategorized

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.

 

 

Posted by Bette Baldwin
#SheepBite Agricultural History Exmoor Scottish Exmoor Links Sheep Farming Uncategorized

#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)

Posted by Bette Baldwin
Education & Schooling Exmoor Songs & Singing Uncategorized

1881 – A Fishy Tale Sung for Mr Codd!

The Barbrook school registers have given us a valuable insight into the lives of North Devon children including some that lived at Hoar Oak Cottage.  Their education was frequently interrupted by the needs of the farming calendar, by illness or by inclement weather.  These stories can be read on two earlier blogs: The School Teacher Speaks Out and Advice on Education From a Shepherd’s Wife, 1876.

The register also logs the frequent visits from the school inspectors and one entry dated Tuesday October 11th 1881 tells of the inspection made by H F Codd, Esq.  “Three songs were sung by the children viz:  1 The graves of a household  2. Rejoice Rejoice and 3 Dear mother said a little fish.”

The titles of these songs are intriguing.  The first sounds terribly sad, the second rather like a hymn and the third appears to be ungrammatical.  In an endeavour to try and find out a bit more the Friends contacted Cynthia Sartin, Honorary Librarian at Halsway Manor – the National Centre for the Folk Arts –  in Crowcombe, Somerset which holds a large collection of traditional folk music, songs, dance and folklore in its Kennedy Grant Library.

The Graves of a Household comes from a book of poems by Felicia Hemans (1793-1835) entitled Records of Woman: With Other, published in 1828 by William Blackwood of Edinburgh and London.    Cynthia has found the words of the poem, which had clearly been set to music in order for the little children of Barbrook school to be singing it to Mr. Codd the School Inspector.   They are such sad words but probably reflect the experience of many families whose grown children left home to try their luck in far flung lands and rarely, if ever, returned home to their ‘fond mother’.  The words are as follows:
They grew in beauty, side by side,
They fill’d one home with glee;–
Their graves are sever’d, far and wide,
By mount, and stream, and sea.
.
The same fond mother bent at night
O’er each fair sleeping brow;
She had each folded flower in sight,–
Where are those dreamers now?
.
One, midst the forests of the west,
By a dark stream is laid,–
The Indian knows his place of rest,
Far in the cedar shade.
.
The sea, the blue lone sea, hath one,
He lies where pearls lie deep;
He was the lov’d of all, yet none
O’er his low bed may weep.
.
One sleeps where southern vines are drest
Above the noble slain:
He wrapt his colours round his breast,
On a blood-red field of Spain.
.
And one–o’er her the myrtle showers
Its leaves, by soft winds fann’d;
She faded midst Italian flowers,–
The last of that bright band.
.
And parted thus they rest, who play’d
Beneath the same green tree;
Whose voices mingled as they pray’d
Around one parent knee!
.
They that with smiles lit up the hall,
And cheer’d with song the hearth,–
Alas! for love, if thou wert all,
And nought beyond, oh earth!
.
Click here for the digital link to where information and details of this song can be found.

Cynthia felt that the second song recorded, Rejoice Rejoice,  was very likely to be a hymn and, as there are many hymns which have those words in their title, it could be one of any number of potential hymns.  It is therefore difficult to be sure exactly of the words but we do hope that, for the children, this was a rather jollier song to sing than The Graves of a Household.

Finally, Dear Mother Said A Little Fish is an extraordinary title for a children’s song but, once again, Cynthia found it to be another Victorian poem which had been set to music for children to sing.  The actual title of the poem is The Little Fish That Would Not Do As It Was Bid and this full title gives a clue that it is likely to be another woeful and moralistic tale used to teach a child an important message.  Cynthia found it in Rhymes for the Nursery by Jane Taylor publsihed in 1831.  It can also be found in a new Project Gutenberg EBook of Aunt Kitty’s Stories, by various authors, follow this link.

We are extremely grateful to Paul James, the Chief Executive of Halsway Manor for passing our enquiry to Cynthia Sartin, and to her for her quick response and providing such interesting information.   If you would like to find out about the National Centre for the Folk Arts at Halsway Manor and their wonderful programme of activities click here for more information.

If you would like to find out more about Barbrook Mill School and Inspector Codd’s inspection reports there are many old records held in the North Devon Record Office in Barnstaple.  For example, have a look at Mr. H.F. Codd, H.M.I., Education … North Devon Record Office: Annual reports of Inspector   Reference:  3445A-1/PE 6 1876 – 1899 

 

Posted by Bette Baldwin
Agricultural History Education & Schooling Exmoor HistoryThroughStories Uncategorized

The School Teacher Speaks Out

In an earlier post we learnt through a report in the Exeter and Plymouth Gazette of 1876 how the school inspector upset the people of North Devon with his ideas for improvement to local education (click on the link here to read how he sought advice from an Exmoor’s Scottish shepherd’s wife).  It is often the written word that gives voice to the past and the records of the Barbrook Mill School Log* give yet another valuable insight into the education of the children of Exmoor: the voice of the school teacher.

The log shows all too clearly the day to day realities facing families and the school age children living in the Hoar Oak Valley as well as the responsibilities and frustrations felt by their teachers.  The claims on the children for potato planting and harvesting, lambing and shearing are made clear.  The impact of bad weather and ill health also takes its toll on the young ‘scholars’ attendance in class. 

The task facing the teacher is unenviable yet these abstracts (transcribed from a selection of entries in the Barbrook Mill School Log for 1872 up to October 1881) show true determination, dedication and willingness to do the very best for these children, many of whom had long journeys to school and often after being up early to do chores at home.

1872

January 8th to 12th  Opened school on Monday with 19 scholars. 

January 15th to 19th  Kept school only on Monday and Tuesday in consequence of illness.  Received six new scholars.

February 12th to 16th  Find the school to be getting into a better working frame,  things appear to go on smoother than at first, but home lessons not being so well attended to as they should be. Took means to remedy the evil..  Gave notice of my intention to hold a sort of Test examination  monthly, the day being the last Tuesday in the month.

March 11th to 15th  Some of the children are making fair progress in reading but others seem to have [got] into a slovenly habit from which it appears difficult to free them.  Geog and Grammar to Higher Standards. Reading Writing and Arithmetic to all.  Attendance rather thin.

March 18th to 22nd  The attendance this week has not improved.  Some of the children who ought to be most regular in their attendance are kept at home to plant potatoes and other such like things. 

May 13th to 17th  Received two new scholars and several who for some weeks have been absent have found their way back again.  Find it takes a little time for such ones to get into working trim. 

October 21st to November 1st  Highest weekly average yet made.  Several lessons to all.  Marked improvement in arithmetic. Received two new scholars.  Progress fair on the whole but the ill effect of the prolonged absence of many are felt.

November 11th to 15th  Weather very dry. Children consequently kept at home to dig potatoes. Fair progress is being made in the work of the Standards throughout.  Sewing on Thursday afternoon instead of Wednesday.  Taught the children to sing “O come come away” 

December 2nd to 6th  The classes have been chiefly at silent work this week in consequence of the teacher suffering from an attack of the quinsy.

December 9th to 13th   Very cold and wet week in consequence of which several of the children have come late in the mornings.  The usual lessons have been given throughout the school.  Made enquiries for C. Ralph and find that he had gone back to Lynton National School in order to be a participator in the Xmas treat there given.

Christmas hols and breaks

1874

February 3rd to 7th Low attendance this week in consequence of the snow storm of Sunday. 

February 17th to 21st  Attendance not so good as last week. Find on enquiry that several of the children are ill.

February 24th to 28th  Very low attendance this week in consequence of the snow storm of Monday.

March 9th to 13th  Small attendance this week because of the severity of the weather and the lambing season.

March 23rd to 27th  Attendance rather thin chiefly in consequence of the children being kept at home to assist in planting potatoes.  The general work of the school continues to make fair progress when the children attend regularly. 

March 31st to April 4th  The work of the school progress favourably.  Arithmetic of Standard II has considerably improved.  Called on the parents of some few of the elder boys who have not made quite the requisite number of attendances to qualify them for examination to ask that they might make the attendances necessary and was promised that they should be sent.

April 7th to 11th  Attendance very thin this week a few of the scholars being sick and others at home planting potatoes and doing other farm work. 

May 2nd to 6th  Fair progress throughout.  Usual school routine.

May 8th to 12th Attendance rather thin.  Several of the children at home weeding corn etc., usual lessons to those present.

June 9th to 13th  Find it requires pretty much tact and energy to get some of the children into working trim and to [get] them well at it.

June 15th to 19th  Attendance still thin.  Sheep shearing being the chief cause of absence.

June 16th to 20th  Very small attendance this week in consequence of sheep shearing etc.  Those present seem to do very fairly on the whole. Dictation seems to be satisfactorily done throughout the school. 

June 26th  Dismissed for summer holidays.

Summary of Inspectors Report 1874

This school has passed a successful examination.  The Arithmetic of the first class is very creditable.  The first standard work is not so good as that of the other.  Singing is very fair. 

July 13th Reopened school after holidays.

August 24th to 28th  Attendance still low in consequence of harvest operations.  Closed school evening in consequence of wife’s fathers illness.  (Master Mr. Veale)

Change of handwriting from this point onwards

September 7th to 11th   Took charge of the school in consequence of former master (who had left on account of his wife’s father’s illness) being unable to return.  Found the school in good working order but arithmetic of first and second standards requiring attention (J.W. Neill)

November 2nd to 6th  Attendance better this week. The bigger boys having returned from potato digging. 

November 30th to December 4th Usual course of lessons. Find it a hard matter to get the children to give the attention they ought to writing. 

1875

February 22nd to 26th  Very thin school owing to snow storms and the severe weather.

March 1st to 5th School is still rather thin owing to severe cold.  The “home lessons” are done very well on the whole.

March 22nd to 26th A rather thin attendance this week in consequence of the children being kept at home to assist in planting potatoes.  Usual work throughout the school.

March 29th to April 2nd  A small 1st class this week, most of the boys are at home planting potatoes etc.  Several have left to go to work for food.

April 19th to 23rd Usual course of lessons, throughout the school. Some  of the scholars read with great[er] ease and fluency than they did a short time back.  The arithmetic and writing on the average are carefully done.

April 26th to 30th Better attendance this week, admitted 3 new scholars.  Notice of the date fixed for Inspection was received on Tuesday.  The children throughout the school seem to make fair progress.  Holiday on Friday afternoon in order that the school might be cleaned.

June 7th to 11th  Small attendance this week owing to the wet weather and sickness, several children being absent with the whooping cough.  Received Inspectors report.

June 14th to 18th  The attendance is still small, sheep shearing has commenced which keeps many from attending.  Sickness also is keeping several at home.

June 21st to 25th  A very thin school. Sheep shearing has been going on all week. 

June  28th to July 1st  Better attendance this week. Sickness still keeps some away. Dismissed for summer holidays. 

Note: transcribing 1876 to 1880 still to be completed

1881

January 24th to 28th 1881  Owing to the consequence of the snow and rough weather school has been extremely thin this week.

February 7th to 11th In consequence of the heavy rain and wind on Monday only 24 children reached school (Average is 40)

March 14th to 18th  The attendance this week has been rather small many are at home on account of it being the lambing season.

April 4th to 8th  Visited on Monday morning by the school attendance officer.  Attendance this week small – average 38.6

August 8th to 12th On Friday the attendance was very small owing to the heavy and incessant rain.  Only 23 children present in the morning and 24 in the afternoon.

August 15th to 19th  Held test examination on Friday morning.

August 29th to September 2nd  Several children absent this week owing to harvest operations having commenced.  Many who have nearly – but not quite – completed their attendances for examination are still away while others who have completed their attendances come very irregularly. 

October 10th to 14th  Barbrook School was inspected on Tuesday October 11th by H.F. Codd Esq.  Three songs were sung by the children viz:  1 The graves of a household  2. Rejoice Rejoice and 3 Dear mother said a little fish.

The titles of these songs are intriguing.  The first sounds terribly sad, the second rather like a hymn and the third appears to be ungrammatical.  All will be revealed in the next blog!

 

*held in the North Devon Records office in Barnstaple  

Posted by Bette Baldwin
Education & Schooling Exmoor Shepherd Little The Womens Life Uncategorized

Advice on Education From a Shepherd’s Wife, 1876

Sometimes, when doing archival research, a snippet of information which is a bit fun and seemingly not terribly relevant pops up its head.  Suddenly you spot a word or phrase – in this case “Scotch [sic] shepherd’s wife” – and it becomes worthy of pursuing.  Here is just such a case – enjoy!

 

An article in the Exeter and Plymouth Gazette for Thursday April 20th, 1876 appears primarily to do with North Tawton* School.  It starts as follows:

“The Earl of Portsmouth was the means of conferring a great boon upon Devonshire when he initiated the foundation of the Middle-class School at Northtawton [sic] and he has obliged the country at large by inducing the Liberal ex-Minister of Education to come and speak at its anniversary this year, his lordship thereby proving himself instrumental in giving to the country the very important utterances which Mr. Forster delivered yesterday.”

A chummy, if somewhat dry, start to the article but a paragraph further on begins to get to the issue to hand.  It tells us:

“The speech made by Mr. Forster at Northtawton yesterday will send confusion and dismay, to be quickly followed by deep-seated resentment, into the camp of the Birmingham Leaguers.  Nothing could be clearer or more unmistakable than the right hon. gentleman’s pronouncement in favour of religious education.” 

Clearly, at the heart of this newspaper piece is the issue of non-denominational education and the concern that should ex-Education Minister Forster ever become re-elected Education Minister, a wave of worry will spread through the Secularists.  However, hard on the heels of this journalist concern comes the next paragraph (and the one that interests us)  which states:

“Mr. Forster imported a whole cargo of Scottish educational ideas into Northtawton yesterday.  Doubtless it is to the lessons received by the right hon. gentleman during his visit to “the land o’cakes” last year, supplemented by the impression made upon him by his conversation with the Scottish shepherd’s wife whose cottage he entered during a recent ramble over Exmoor, that we owe the glorification of Scottish education to which Mr. Forster treated his hearers at Northtawton yesterday.  In truth, his speech favoured a great deal too much of Caledonianism.”. 

Oh dear, Mr Forster – they weren’t liking what you were telling them!  And some more rhetoric along a similar line is followed by this critical warning:

“Devonshire people are not going to fall down and worship John Knox and adapt their modes of thought and actions to Scottish fashions, because Mr W. E. Forster happens to have been across the Border, and to have talked with a Scotch (sic) shepherd’s wife on Exmoor.  The right hon. gentleman’s reference, by-the-way, to the latter, did not seem very relevant to the eulogium of the Scottish school system in which it was introduced, seeing it appears that the good woman does not send her children to school at all, but instructs them at home.” 

So who was this ‘good woman’ quietly minding her business in her cottage on Exmoor when the Liberal ex-Minister for Education calls in and asks about how she educates her children!  Whatever did she think about it all? Did she know he was coming or did he literally just stroll by and drop in?  We know from first hand reports what one woman in a lonely cottage out on the moor did when a stranger came by. Perhaps Mr. Forster caught this one unawares?  And which Scottish shepherd’s wife might it have been?

In 1876, it could have been Mrs Tait Little – she arrived on the moor around 1872 to join her husband Robert Tait Little.  They already had 2 children born in Scotland and by the 1881 census had two more so very likely to be home-educating them.  Jane Little (below) looks potential ‘home teacher’ material.

Or maybe it was Mrs Fanny Davidson, wife of Scottish Shepherd William Davidson, out at Hoar Oak. By 1876 when this article was written they already had three children (four more were to follow) and were living at Hoar Oak Cottage. Perhaps Mr Forster had strolled out to see the Hoar Oak Tree on the Devon/Somerset boundary and stumbled across the family at Hoar Oak Cottage?  Unfortunately, we have no photo of Fanny – if any of our readers are connected to the Davidsons and can tell us more we will be delighted to hear from them.

* the ancient town of North Tawton lies some forty miles to the south-west of Hoar Oak Cottage

 

Posted by Bette Baldwin
Exmoor North Devon Ramblers Uncategorized Walk

Walk to Hoar Oak Cottage, Sunday 6th May 2018

If you have always wanted to visit Hoar Oak Cottage but been wary of going there on your own – or you just fancy some company with like-minded people – North Devon Ramblers are organising a walk on Sunday 6th May.  Friends of Hoar Oak Cottage have been warmly invited to join them.

The eight mile walk will encompass some of Exmoor’s finest moorland scenery leaving Dry Bridge (Brendon Common) at 10.30am (grid reference SS 759 451).  There is plenty of roadside parking.

From Dry Bridge the walk will take you over the moor and include Cheriton Ridge, Hoar Oak Water and Farley Water arriving for a lunch stop (bring your own!) at Hoar Oak Cottage about 12.30.

Bette Baldwin, Will Bowden and John Shortland of Friends of Hoar Oak Cottage are planning to be at the cottage to welcome you and answer any questions you might have about the cottage and the valley’s interesting history.

As with all hill walks it is essential to wear suitable clothing and stout shoes or walking boots.

To find out more about the Hoar Oak Cottage walk, possible car sharing and a contact number for enquiries visit the North Devon Ramblers by clicking on the link here.

Posted by Bette Baldwin
Uncategorized

Season’s Greetings To You All

Welcome to our 2017 Seasons Greetings Newsblog
And what better way to start than by sharing this lovely painting of Hoar Oak Cottage as Santa’s Hideaway by 5 year old Maisy Smallman of Lynton.

 

We loved seeing a very cheery Mr and Mrs Claus and all the reindeers in their hideaway at Hoar Oak Cottage and if you look closely you can see, parked up behind the cottage, Santa’s sleigh ready for the off on Christmas Eve.  Santa will certainly be starting in the darkest of dark skies over Exmoor on his trip all around the world.  Maisy was one of four children winning prizes in this year’s Hoar Oak Cottage writing and drawing competition.  You can see Zoe and Mya Oxenham’s wonderful paintngs of the cottage on this link.  And you can read Ben Stevens fabulous 500 word story about Hoar Oak on this link.   They were all awarded £10 Book Tokens.  Well Done and Happy Christmas to you all.

 
A successful joint venture this summer……… 
……..involved the Friends of Hoar Oak Cottage teaming up with the North Devon Ramblers and Lynton Library to put on an exhibition about walking on Exmoor and walking to Hoar Oak Cottage.  It received many visitors and our friends at Lynton Library asked for it to be kept up through to the end of October when many still come to visit and walk on Exmoor.

 

The North Devon Ramblers run series of led walks throughout the year.  Their Winter walking festival is still on and you can find out more on this link. http://www.ramblers.org.uk/north-devon

 

 

And a date for your diary is a Walk and Talk to Hoar Oak Cottage on Sunday May 6th, 2018.  Tony Trick will be leading the walk for North Devon Ramblers and Bette Baldwin will be coming along from the Friends of Hoar Oak Cottage to talk about the history of the cottage and those who once lived there.
St John The Baptist, Lynmouth, Flower Festival…….
and it was great to be asked once again to take part in the Lynmouth Flower Festival and this year The Friends contributed two displays for this year’s theme – Lynmouth History in Flowers.  The first was commemorating the Overland Launch (below left) and the second a tribute to the Lynmouth Herring Fishing Industry (below right).  Great to celebrate St John’s new lease of life with a secure roof and wonderful new community facility thanks to the Heritage Lottery Fund and generous contributions for the public.  The flower festival raised a tidy sum too.  It all helps to keep this lovely church open and serving its community.

The Lynton Herring Fishing Industry remembered in flowers.
WW1 Commemorations…….
had a special meaning for The Friends of Hoar Oak Cottage in 2017 as this year marked the centenary of the death of Thomas Johnstone –  born at Hoar Oak Cottage in 1894 and who died on 16th August, 1917 in Belgium.   Thomas was a Corporal in the 5th Battalion of the Dorsetshire Regiment and a holder of the Military Medal.  He lost his life during a ferocious battle – an advance on the village of Langemarcke – which was part of the 3rd Battle of Ypre, also known as Passchendaele.  Thomas was remembered with a visit to Belgium in 2017 and thanks to the researches of Jim Baldwin and military historian Jeremy Banning it was possible to go to the precise field, next to the Steenbeek canal, where records show Thomas fell during that terrible battle.  Thomas’s body was never recovered and it is almost certainly the case that his remains still lie, along with many other fallen comrades, in that quiet field in Flanders.  It was a moving and emotional visit and a poppy and cross were placed in the field in his memory.

You can read more about the Johnstones on this link   about Thomas in the Hoar Oak Roll of Honour on this link and his WW1 story, told through the letters sent to his mother after his death,  on this link . 

 
Visitors from New Zealand
The Friends are very lucky to be contacted by people from all around the world who have links back to the Exmoor shepherds of old.  Our researches in to the Scottish shepherds who migrated to Exmoor  in the 1800s are, in particular, often ‘alighted’ upon when people are googling for their ancestors’ names.  Jill and Don Johnson from New Zealand are a case in point and they are descended from Don’s Howatson/Hewitson ancestors who came from Scotland to Badgeworthy on Exmoor.  You can read more of that story on this link.

This year Jill and Don made the long journey from their home in NZ to visit Scotland and Exmoor and really wanted to try and get out to see the remains of Badgeworthy Cottage.  As some of you will know it is a very long walk, there is no easy path and no chance of a Land Rover ride out to Badgeworthy.  But thanks to Donald Graham – another descendant of the Scottish shepherds and a great chum to the Friends of Hoar Oak Cottage – Jill and Don realised their dream when, guided and supported by Donald and his friend Pete, they made the long walk to Badgeworthy and saw where Don’s family had come from all those years ago.  And here they are – Donald Graham on the left and Jill and Don Johnson on the right – looking a bit wet but very happy to have made it to, as Jill described it, “the back of beyond”.

Skating on Pinkery Pond and drinks served by Shepherd Little
Nicky Rowberry, the trusty researcher and excellent genealogist for The Friends of Hoar Oak Cottage recently discovered this newspaper clipping from 1893 which talks about Mr. Little from Pinkery Farm.  This is the same Shepherd Little whose son, Bill, married Dorothy Jones and went to live and work at Hoar Oak Cottage.  We thought you might enjoy this charming newspaper item from 125 years ago about skating on Pinkery Pond and the kindness of Shepherd Little.  It was published in the Western Morning News on January 4th, 1893.

It reads…….
Skating on Exmoor
It is many years since the frost has been so severe as to make a safe sheet of ice over Pinkerry (sic) Pond, a lonely pier of water mong the bogs of Exmoor and situated about five miles from Lynton.  Tradition says there is a hot spring in it that will prevent a dog swimming across and that this portion never freezes, while it has gained a sinister character from the fact of a farmer named Gammon having drowned himself in it a few years ago.  However, a fine sheet of ice has been in evidence from some days and several skating enthusiasts have sallied forth from Lynton in search of enjoyment.  On New Year’s day a party of five had a very pleasant day on the pond.  The intense cold was somewhat temperd by the bright sunshine, and the advent of Mr Little the Scotch shepherd with a kettle and other signs of tea was very welcome.  The bright wood fire and the figures round it with a couple of collie dogs made a very pretty picture in the gathering twilight amon such wild and romantic surroundings.  The party started homewards after the moon was up and shared the fate of so many who essay to find a path across Exmoor.  However, the bogs being all frozen, there wa no danger and after walking rather more than an hour the light of a farmhouse was received with general cheer and the right road to Lynton was soon found after partaking of Farmer Watts’s hospitality.
 Love the phrase ‘so many who essay to find a path across Exmoor’.  It was true then and is true now!

 
A pale Exmoor pony on the night of the full moon – meet Lady Luna

As part of this year’s Simonsbath Festival a guided walk across Exmoor led to the discovery – just by Hoar Oak Cottage – of a dead mare and her barely alive and very weak foal.  It was a beautiful pale Exmoor pony foal and thanks to the kindness of Exmoor farmers the baby was saved, restored to health and now happily living amongst other rescued Exmoors.  You can read the amazing story – which incidentally got Hoar Oak Cottage mentioned in the national press!! – about who saved her and how she has got on since on this link.    And keep an eye out for 2018’s Simonsbath Festival when – on Wednesday June 13th, 2018 – there will be a talk about Hoar Oak Cottage.  All are welcome.  Tickets are £5 in advance and £10 on the door.  You can follow Simonsbath Festival on their website http://www.simonsbathfestival.org.uk and we will be posting information on our Facebook and Twitter page.

 
And finally, we leave you with a seasonal photo of Hoar Oak Cottage in the snow…..
Wishing you Seasons Greetings and Very Best Wishes for 2018

You can find out more about Hoar Oak Cottage on these links:
Website:  www.hoaroakcottage.org

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/friendsofhoaroakcottage

Twitter:   https://twitter.com/hoaroakcottage

And if you fancy reading short stories about life at Hoar Oak as told by the Cottage try the  HoarOakTalkingBlog:  https://hoaroaktalking.wordpress.com/about/

 

 

 

Posted by Bette Baldwin
Uncategorized

Hoar Oak Cottage Kids Paintings – 2017

We were so thrilled to have these two lovely entries into the Hoar Oak Cottage Drawing Competition at Lynton Library this year.

Two sisters, Zoe and Mya Oxenham from Lynmouth, had clearly spent a lot of time on their paintings which were beautiful interpretations of the cottage when it would have been lively with people and ponies and sheep.

We loved how the sheep were given beautiful woolly coats carefully made out of cotton wool and how the ponies looked like proper Exmoors with pale faces and long wild manes and tails.

The cottage looked really lovely with ivy growing up the walls and surrounded by the beech trees which offer shelter from the wild winds of Exmoor.   Well done to both girls who have been awarded a £10 book token for their hard work and artistry.

Keep an eye out for the announcement of our final prize winner this year – Maisy Smallman and her amazing drawing of Hoar Oak Cottage imagined as – well something to do with Christmas.  Sorry folks but you’ll have to wait until our Christmas Newsletter to see Maisy’s fabulous drawing!!

 

Posted by Bette Baldwin
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Remembering Ruth Sedgebeer

Ruth was the youngest child of Agnes Johnstone who was the youngest child of Sarah and James Maxwell Johnstone  who lived and worked at Hoar Oak Cottage at the turn of the 19th century.  The Johnstones had 13 children including  Agnes who was born at Hoar Oak Cottage. When Ruth died in 2010 she left a small amount of money.  She had no direct descendants and had not left a will so her meagre estate became the subject of a legal search for beneficiaries –  any living descendant of the 13 Johnstone children from Hoar Oak Cottage.

That search resulted in the identification of over 52 beneficiaries and became the topic of an episode of the intriguing TV programme ‘Heir Hunters’ all about Ruth and Hoar Oak Cottage.   The full programme airs on TV occasionally but Flame TV, the production company, have allowed The Friends a copy to share with those who might have family links and would like to view it on CD.  Please get in touch if you’d like to borrow it.  The edition of the programme – which covers two family stories – is now also available as a transcript and makes an interesting read.  Here is the link.  

The search for Ruth’s family also resulted in some very ‘long lost’ second and third Johnstone cousins meeting up for the first time and ultimately to the setting up of the Friends of Hoar Oak Cottage to try and save the heritage and fabric of the old cottage. .

Ruth was a kind and sweet but strong willed woman who was loved and respected in her local community of Gunn in North Devon.  She was a stalwart of the local church, had once been a children’s nurse, the local school’s cook and in later life the school crossing lady.  We remember her with great love and affection.

Posted by Bette Baldwin
Heritage Howatson/Hewitson New Zealand Scottish Exmoor Links Uncategorized WW1

Howatsons/Hewitsons of Badgeworthy

As part of the Friends of Hoar Oak Cottage’s researches for other Scottish shepherds on Exmoor   we were contacted by Jill and Don Johnson from New Zealand who had Hewitson/Howetson family links back to Scotland and Exmoor.  They did their own investigations and told us the story shared below. There are several ways of spelling the name and we have come across Hewitson, Howatson, Howetson/Howitson and Hoatson.  They family in New Zealand use the Hewitson version.

William Howeston (sic) is mentioned in Heritage of Exmoor by Roger Burton who records William as the Badgworthy shepherd in and around the late 1870s early 1880s.  The photograph, below, shared by his New Zealand descendants shows a remarkable gentleman with the large bushy beard so often seen on ‘our’ Scottish Exmoor shepherds and wearing a cap with what might be sporting either a Gordon Highlanders badge or a Clan Donald badge.  The Hewitsons are a sept or subgroup of the Clan Donald.

William was born around 1841 (he appears on the 1841 census), at Loch Broom, Rosshire. His wife Martha Bradford, born 1848, came from Wigtownshire.  William and Martha were married in 1872 in Stranraer and by the 1881 census they can be found living at Badgeworthy Cottage near Brendon, North Devon.  Badgeworthy is one of the cottages used by shepherds employed by Frederic Knight and was built to service one of the remotest sheep herdings south of the Doone Valley and north of the River Barle.  It is shown in the photograph below.

 

The birth dates of William and Martha’s children would suggest that they moved down to Exmoor around 1877 between the birth of son Samuel in Scotland in 1876 and the birth of daughter Janet in Brendon, Exmoor in 1878.  It is worth remembering that another Scottish shepherd – William Johnstone – had been at Badgeworthy from 1872 and it may well be the case that, as with so many others of the Scottish shepherds, there was a family link between the Johnstones and the Hewitsons.

William and Martha Hewitson’s  children are:

Martha (b1874) Scotland
Samuel (b1876) Scotland
Janet (b1878) Brendon
Elizabeth (b1880) Brendon
William (b Q3 July-September 1883) Brendon

The New Zealand descendants were able to share Elizabeth’s birth certificate shown below:

The birth was registered on the 19th February 1880 and the Registrar was Philip Taylor. Care must be taken in thinking that the 19th of February, 1880 is close to Elizabeth’s actual birthdate.  The winters on Exmoor were notoriously bad and the Badgeworthy family may well have not been able to get to register little Elizabet’s birth until sometime after the actual birth date.

The photograph below of Badgeworthy Cottage was also provided by the Hewitson descendants in New Zealand – it says Doone Valley “The Shepherds Cott”.   It is remarkably similar to the photo at the beginning of this item and demonstrates just how remote Badgeworthy Cottage is.

The cottage was built on, and out of the stones of, the old medieval village which is recorded on the same site on Ordnance Survey maps and which became famous as the fictious hideout for the highwayman featured in the R.D.Blackmore book Lorna Doone.  The cottage was destroyed in the 1950s as it was used for gunnery practice by an Army Tank Regiment.  Some past residents of Badgeworthy are recorded as saying it was a place full of ghosts and not a comfortable place to live.  Who knows?  William and Martha Hewitson and their children may well have had something to say on the matter!

 

William and Martha and their family moved back to Scotland sometime after William Junior’s  birth and William seems to have been worked as a shepherd to Earl of Lindsay for at least 2 years.  This interesting document, below, is a testimonial written for William Hewitson (spelt Howetson) in September 1886.

It is written by John Flockart who, in the 1881 and 1891 censuses, lived in the Bank House, Kilconquhar, Fife and described himself as Factor and Bank Agent.  As the Lindsay Estates were in Fife it seems likely that Flockhart wrote this ‘to whom it may concern’ testimonial for William Hewitson/Howetson to show to prospective employers after he left the Earl’s employment.

It says:

Commercial Bank of Scotland, Edinburgh Life, 3rd Sept. 1886

This is to certify that William Howatson has been shepherd to the Earl of Lindsay for nearly two years.  He is a good shepherd and thoroughly understanding his work.  He can be safely trusted with the management of stock and is a sober man.   Xxxxxxxxx a total abstinence.  I may mention that he is leaving Lord Lindsay’s employment for no fault but owing to his Lordship having let nearly all his grass land and dispensing with the service of a shepherd. 

This document tells us that by 1886 William Howatson (sic) had been working for 2 years for the Earl of Lindsay but then moved on through ‘no fault of his own’.  The 1891 census records the Howitsons living at Drumain Farm House, Leslie, Fife.

Below is a Family Tree drawn up by Nicky Rowberry, Geneaologist and Research Officer for the Friends of Hoar Oak Cottage.

 

What happened to the Hewitson children?

Janet died on February 9th, 1900.

William and Samuel Hewitson went to New Zealand in 1913.
Martha also went to New Zealand but we don’t know exactly when.
Elizabeth married Hugh Philp in St Andrews and had two children – Martha Bradford Philp and Hugh Philp Junior – and also went to New Zealand after Hugh was killed in WW1.

Here is a photo of Elizabeth, Martha and Bill Hewitson taken in Palmerston, New Zealand.

 

Elizabeth’s husband Hugh Philp joined the army in WW1 and was Private 40767 in the Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) 8th Battalion.  He died, aged 36 on the 9th of April 1917.   He is commemorated in the Arras Memorial, France where 35,000 who died in the Arras sector between April 1916 and August 1918 and who have no known grave. The most conspicuous event during this two year period was the Arras Offensive during April and May 1917 during which Hugh Philp died. The 8th Battalion of the Black Watch was formed in Perth Scotland in August 1914. They trained in Aldershot and were landed at Bolougne in March 1915 as part of the 9th (Scottish) Division.  Below is the memorial for Hugh Philp with a picture of the Arras Memorial.

It records that he is the son of Thomas and Helen Philps, of Boarhills, St Andrews, Fife and the husband of Elizabeth Philp of Palmerston South, Otago, New Zeland.

Poor widowed Elizabeth clearly decided to go and join her brothers and sisters in New Zealand.  Research has shown that Elizabeth, accompanied by Martha (age 7) and Hugh (age 6), sailed from Liverpool, England on 24th March 1920 on board the SS Paparoa.  The ship was bound for Port Chalmers (South Island) via Auckland.  The records show that the ship berthed at Port Chalmers (Dunedin) just over two months later on 28th May 1920.  Elizabeth’s details were found on a  transcription of one page of the Paparoa’s passenger list and a copy of an original typed page of the passenger manifest tells us that Elizabeth, Martha and Hugh were travelling in 3rd Class in Cabin 104.

An image of the SS Paparoa taken a few years later – around 1924/1925 – is given below.

It truly does not look a large ship for a two month journey half way around the world and it would be interesting to learn more about Elizabeth’s trip. Their arrival at Port Chalmers ties in with the address in nearby Palmerston given for Elizabeth on her deceased husband Hugh’s First World War memorial page shown above.

Elizabeth Bradford Hewitson circa 1900
The photo below is of Martha Hewitson with granddaughter Martha Bradford Philp c 1913 – photo possibly taken in Strathmilgo, Fife.  Martha’s daughter Elizabeth and this grandchild Martha went to New Zealand in 1917 after Elizabetha’s husband Hugh Philp was killed in WW1.

And the photo below is of her husband William Hewitson with unknown child. Possibly a slightly older grandchild then in the photo of Martha above?  The wall and seat look similar.

William Hewitson died sometime between 1911 and 1915 as when his wife Martha died, in 1915, she was described as a widow.  Their’s was a life full of interest.  Marriage followed by their Exmoor adventure, 5 children, a return to Scotland, the death of a child and the loss of a son-in-law to WW1 as well as waving farewell to 3 of their children to new lives in New Zealand.  A little snippet shared with us by their descendants would also seem to indicate that their’s was a love story.  The pages below are from a little diary written by Martha over a hundred years ago.

On the second to last page of the book and with a picture of William pasted into the final page is written this poem:

O bonny fair boy

I love you dear

As no else knows

You are in my thoughts

By day by night

Your love with mine combines

Thank you to William and Martha for their wonderful story and to their descendants Bill and Beryl, Don and Jill Johnson in New Zeland, for sharing it with The Friends to help with the search for the Scottish connections to Exmoor.

If you would like to find out more, perhaps have information to share or would like to be put in touch with the New Zealand descendants of William and Martha please get in touch.

Posted by Bette Baldwin