History - Exmoor National Park

Experience unique and historic Exmoor and the Victorian holiday towns of Lynton and Lynmouth,  through experienceDevon’s tailor-made vacation planning. Explore off the beaten track to find an English heritage with charming towns, a beautiful coast and a National Park.

Exmoor, also known as Doone Country, is one of 14 National Parks in the UK and was set up as such in 1949. Its 265 square miles has some of the most beautiful landscape for hiking, including coast, wooded combes, heather moorland and farmed landscape. The ‘Forest’ – the name for an area kept to preserve game and provide Royal hunting ground for William The Conqueror has been in existence since the Norman Conquest. Exmoor was sold in 1818 to John Knight who created Exmoor as we see it today – creating farm land and building roads and settlements bringing prosperity to the area.

Today the National Park is owned by the National Trust and much of it is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. It is the only place in England where wild red deer still roam, their ancestors providing game for hunting. Indeed they have lived on the Moor since prehistoric times. Elsewhere they have become extinct, but there are still several thousand living in North Devon and its border county of West Somerset.

Exmoor has a number of historical sites, including Iron Age enclosures and hillforts, Roman Fortlets and inscribed memorial stones.