The South West Heritage Trust is excited to announce the launch of the new Exmoor Oral History Archive website, which for the first time makes the full audio recordings available to listen to online. You are also able to read summaries of the recordings and view photographs of the contributors.
Capturing Rural Life on Exmoor
The archive details many aspects of life, from agriculture and engineering to hunting and heath burning – and even mentions a Mars-bar-eating llama! The archive records memories going back to before the First World War and shows the changes on Exmoor from then up to the 2000s, a period which included pivotal moments for Exmoor’s history. These include both World Wars, the formation of the Exmoor National Park Authority and the devastating Lynton and Lynmouth flood disaster of 1952. But daily life of farming, tourism and work also features. For many, their childhood ended at fourteen when they entered the world of work and interviewees describe jobs which are now lost, such as life in service, whortleberry picking and catching moles. The recordings also highlight the strong community ties, centred on institutions such as the church, the Young Farmers’ Club, and local politics.
Preserving Community Stories
Those interviewed all have strong connections to the area, many having lived on Exmoor for all of their lives, and their love for and commitment to their community shines through their words. The interviewees include a Town Clerk and local councillors, farmers, a rural Doctor, teachers, a carpenter, local business owners, a local historian, a butcher, a postman, and an AA patrolman – people from all walks of life.
Soon after the recordings were completed, photographer Mark Rattenbury visited the contributors to capture images of them in their homes or in their favourite Exmoor location. The photographs are wonderfully evocative and capture the personalities of this generation of Exmoor. These photographs can be seen on the website.
Creating the Archive
The Exmoor Oral History Archive was recorded by Birdie Johnson between 2000 and 2002, as part of a Dulverton and District Civic Society project to capture for posterity life in this rural community at the turn of the 20th century. It contains seventy-eight interviews with a total of 205 hours of recording covering both the North Devon and West Somerset sides of the national park. The archive also includes sixteen earlier recordings, several of which were recorded in 1994 as part of Winsford parish council’s celebration of their centenary.
The interviews, summaries and photographs were deposited at the then Somerset Record Office and at the North Devon Record Office, making sure this important snapshot of life in Exmoor was preserved for future generations. Soon after deposit, as part of the original project, a website was created which featured audio clips from the recordings, the summaries, and photographs. The Exmoor Oral History Archive was digitised as part of the British Library’s National Heritage Lottery funded project Unlocking Our Sound Heritage which ran from 2017-2022.
- The archive is also available to view on the Devon archive catalogue and the Somerset archive catalogue, or at the North Devon Record Office or at the Somerset Heritage Centre.
- A few copies of Reflections-Life Portraits of Exmoor the publication which accompanied the original project are also still available please contact somersetarchives@swheritage.org.uk for more information.