'The result never quite equalled the promise': risk, reward and reclamation on Exmoor, 1840-1897

Abstract

Nineteenth-century agricultural observers became increasingly disenchanted with land reclamation. Enormous expenditure by landlords such as the duke of Sutherland estates failed to create extensive, permanent ‘improvements’. Other schemes to bring in external expertise and farming capital also appeared to stall, such as the Knight family’s reclamation of the royal forest of Exmoor. Although the reclamation of Exmoor is well-known, we argue that its tale of unfulfilled expectations reflects only part of the story. The existing account, published first by Orwin in 1929, concentrates on the landlord’s perspective, and the records of the estate stewards and elite observers. Our research on Exmoor depicts a ‘bottom-up’ reclamation process by local farmers that differed markedly from the estate’s earlier ‘high farming’ ideals. This study concentrates on identifying the actual agents of change – the tenant-farmers, using censuses and the estate rentals, and looks beyond the years of intense (and largely unsuccessful) change by outsiders. We suggest that this process of assimilation by local tenants explains why reclamation endured on Exmoor and failed in Sutherland.