Simonsbath House

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Simonsbath House
SimonsbathHouseExmoor.jpg
Location Simonsbath, Somerset
Coordinates 51°08′21″N3°45′24″W / 51.13917°N 3.75667°W / 51.13917; -3.75667 Coordinates: 51°08′21″N3°45′24″W / 51.13917°N 3.75667°W / 51.13917; -3.75667
BuiltMid-17th century
Listed Building – Grade II
Official nameSimonsbath House Hotel
Designated6 April 1959 [1]
Reference no.1058031
Somerset UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location of Simonsbath House in Somerset
Setting of Simonsbath House in the valley of the River Barle, looking upstream Simonsbath House Hote.jpg
Setting of Simonsbath House in the valley of the River Barle, looking upstream
Lintel over fireplace of Old Kitchen, Simonsbath House, into which is carved the date "1654", taken to have been carved by James Boevey on completion of the building of the house SimonsbathHouseFireplaceLintelDated1654.jpg
Lintel over fireplace of Old Kitchen, Simonsbath House, into which is carved the date "1654", taken to have been carved by James Boevey on completion of the building of the house

Simonsbath House is a historic house in Simonsbath on Exmoor in Somerset, England. The Grade II listed building is now the Simonsbath House Hotel, [1] [2] and outdoor activity centre. [3] It lies in the valley of the River Barle and on the Two Moors Way footpath.

Contents

History

The house was built in the mid-17th century by the merchant, lawyer and philosopher James Boevey (1622-1696), the warden of the Royal forest of Exmoor, and for 150 years his was the only house in the forest. [1] [4] After the death of Boevey and his wife the house was sold with the Exmoor estate to Robert Siderfin of Luxborough. Siderfin used the grazing rights he gained on the estate but let the house to tenants, one of which was John Dennicombe, who allowed the house to fall into disrepair, and was eventually evicted, but only after he had burnt much of the wood panelling and other fixtures within the house. [4] During the second half of the 18th century and the early part of the 19th century the wardens of the forest were the Acland baronets who leased the house, and it was licensed as an inn. [4]

After the Inclosure Acts the house was bought, with the accompanying farm and about 70,000 acres (280 km2), [5] the remaining portion of the former Royal Forest belonging to the Crown Estate, by John Knight of Worcestershire in 1818 for the sum of £50,000. [6]

Knight set about converting the Royal Forest, now known as Exmoor National Park, into agricultural land. [7] He and especially his son Frederick, who assumed management in 1841, [8] erected most of the large farms in the central section of the moor and built 22 miles (35 km) of metalled access roads to Simonsbath. He built a 29 miles (47 km) wall around his estate, much of which still survives. [6]

Shortly after 1879 Hugh Fortescue, 4th Earl Fortescue (1854–1932) of nearby Castle Hill, Filleigh in Devon, Master of the Devon and Somerset Staghounds 1880/81–87, acquired the reversion of the whole of the former Royal Forest of Exmoor after the death of Frederick Winn Knight. This was largely done to further his passion for staghunting. [9] When Castle Hill was largely destroyed by a fire in 1934, the Fortescue family moved to Simonsbath House whilst rebuilding was in progress. The 4th Earl's granddaughter and eventual heiress, Lady Margaret Fortescue (1923-2013), devoted much time to attempting to put the Exmoor estate onto a profitable footing. [10]

The house was altered by the Fortescues, [1] including the building of one of the first Squash Courts in England in 1929. [4] A 16th century heraldic chimney piece was brought by the Fortescues from their secondary seat at Weare Giffard Hall in Devon, and survives in today's hotel. During World War II the house was used as a school, and afterwards was as a hotel under the name "Diana Lodge Hotel" (in reference to the Roman goddess of hunting), which had several owners during the ensuing decades. In 1969 the name reverted to Simonsbath House. [4]

Architecture

The house, which consists of several bays, has white painted walls and slate roofs. Outside are several agricultural buildings which have been adapted to provide accommodation.

The interior includes a fireplace with a chamfered lintel which dates from 1654, panelling and a 17th-century overmantel with a painted coat of arms which was brought from Weare Giffard Hall, near Bideford, a secondary seat of the Earls Fortescue. [1]

Heraldic overmantel

Fortescue family 17th-century heraldic overmantel from Wear Giffard Hall SimonsbathHouseHeraldicChimneypiece.jpg
Fortescue family 17th-century heraldic overmantel from Wear Giffard Hall

Above the fireplace in the lounge of Simonsbath House is a late 16th-century heraldic overmantel relating to the Fortescue family and brought by them from Weare Giffard Hall, Devon. A framed handwritten explanatory note written c. 1900 by a member of the Fortescue family identifies the arms as follows, Shields from left to right:

The 3rd and 4th shields thus represent (3rd): the father of Hugh Fortescue (1545-1600), Sheriff of Devon in 1585, who died at Wear Giffard, and (4th): the father of his wife Elizabeth Chichester. [11] and suggest that the overmantel was made to his order between 1570, when he succeeded his father and his death in 1600. A modern heraldic overmantel also exists in the bar, showing 19th century Fortescue family arms.

Related Research Articles

Earl Fortescue is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain that was created in 1789 for Hugh Fortescue, 3rd Baron Fortescue (1753–1841), a Member of Parliament for Beaumaris and Lord-Lieutenant of Devon.

Hugh Fortescue, 1st Earl Fortescue

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Hugh Fortescue, 4th Earl Fortescue

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Simonsbath Human settlement in England

Simonsbath is a small village high on Exmoor in the English county of Somerset. It is the principal settlement in the Exmoor civil parish, which is the largest and most sparsely populated civil parish on Exmoor, covering nearly 32 square miles (83 km2) but with a population, at the time of the 2001 census, of 203 in 78 households, reducing to 156 at the 2011 Census. The River Exe rises from a valley to the north, and the River Barle runs through the village and is crossed by a triple-arched medieval bridge that was extensively repaired after floods in 1952.

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Devon and Somerset Staghounds

The red deer of Exmoor have been hunted since Norman times, when Exmoor was declared a Royal Forest. Collyns stated the earliest record of a pack of Staghounds on Exmoor was 1598. In 1803, the "North Devon Staghounds" became a subscription pack. In 1824/5 30 couples of hounds, the last of the true staghounds, were sold to a baron in Germany. Today, the Devon and Somerset is one of three staghounds packs in the UK, the others being the Quantock Staghounds and the Tiverton Staghounds. All packs hunt within Devon and Somerset. The Chairman as of 2016 is Tom Yandle, who was previously High Sheriff of Somerset in 1999.

John Chichester (died 1569)

Sir John Chichester (1519/20-1569) of Raleigh in the parish of Pilton, near Barnstaple in North Devon, was a leading member of the Devonshire gentry, a naval captain, and ardent Protestant who served as Sheriff of Devon in 1550-1551, and as Knight of the Shire for Devon in 1547, April 1554, and 1563, and as Member of Parliament for Barnstaple in 1559, over which borough his lordship of the manor of Raleigh, Pilton had considerable influence.

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Bremridge Historic estate in Devon, England

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John Knight (Exmoor pioneer)

John Knight (1765-1850) of Lea Castle, Wolverley, of 52 Portland Place in London, and of Simonsbath House, Exmoor, Somerset, was an agricultural pioneer who commenced the reclamation of the barren moorland of the former royal forest of Exmoor in Devon and Somerset, England.

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Hugh Fortescue, 1st Earl Clinton

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Historic England. "Simonsbath House Hotel (1058031)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 2007-11-27.
  2. ↑ Burt, Paddy (2004-09-18). "Room service: Simonsbath House Hotel, Exmoor". Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 29 April 2010.
  3. ↑ "Simonsbath House Outdoor Activity Centre". Simonsbath House Outdoor Activity Centre. Retrieved 29 April 2010.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "History". Simonsbath House Hotel. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
  5. ↑ Worth, F.G.S; Worth, C R N (1879). Tourist's Guide To North Devon And The Exmoor District - With Map. Edward Stanford. p. 94.
  6. 1 2 "Simonsbath". Whatsonexmoor. Retrieved 2007-11-27.
  7. ↑ Havinden, Michael (1982). The Somerset Landscape. The making of the English landscape. London: Hodder and Stoughton. pp. 126–129. ISBN   0-340-20116-9.
  8. ↑ Stebbing, E.P. (1931). "Review of "The reclamation of Exmoor Forest" by C.S. Orwin". The Economic Journal. 41 (161): 119. doi:10.2307/2224155. JSTOR   2224155.
  9. ↑ Exmoor Oral History Archive, Dulverton and District Civic Society, 2001
  10. ↑ Exmoor Oral History Archive
  11. ↑ Vivian, Heralds Visitations of Devon, 1895
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