South West Heritage Trust Exmoor Oral History Trails in Dulverton, as part of t​he Unlocking Our Sound Heritage Project headed by the British Library.

 

These trails are a gentle amble through the town in the company of residents recorded around the turn of the millennium.

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On these two trails you will hear the voices of locals whose memories reach back into Dulverton’s’ past. Recollections of blizzards and confetti fetes, of rabbit roasts and world wars. Reflections which connect us to the times of the servant classes and great estates of Pixton and Northmoor. Where the hunting classes would holiday with their horses, and at times even muck in with the harvest.

 

Many of these recordings are from residents who have now sadly passed away, but thankfully their voices and recollections live on, as of 2021, the full recordings have been archived by the South West Heritage Trust and The British Library. Now a great portion of the 200 hours of interviews by Birdie Johnson are available for all to access on line for the first time.

 

Both trails are gentle circular ambles around the town, one clockwise the other anti-clockwise and both start and end at the bronze statue of Lorna Doone which can be found close to Exmoor Lawns. The trail is mainly on well-maintained paths with some road sections with no steps but a few curb stones with simple diversions for stroller’s and wheel chairs.

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The portrait photographs of those interviewed to the left were taken by Mark J Rattenbury between 1998 and 2002, photographer for the Exmoor oral history project. 

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