A DIGITAL Exmoor oral history archive has been launched by the South West Heritage Trust making full audio recordings available online for the first time.
The audio recordings, mostly made between 2000 and 2002, are available to listen to via a new website, offering easy access to a unique and personal collection of voices from Exmoor.
The archive was originally recorded as part of a Dulverton and District Civic Society project to capture for posterity life on Exmoor at the turn of the century.
It features nearly 80 interviews with people, some of whom have since died, totalling more than 200 hours, and covers both the North Devon and West Somerset sides of the national park.
Included in the recordings are memories stretching back to before the First World War, offering insights into local life and work, which for many began at the age of 14 years.
Topics range from farming, engineering, hunting, and mole catching to whortleberry picking, the devastating Lynmouth flood disaster of 1952, peace protests, and the formation of the new national park authority.
The newly launched website features full recordings, searchable summaries, and black-and-white portraits by photographer Mark J Rattenbury.
Taken shortly after the interviews, Mr Rattenbury’s evocative portraits capture the personalities of each contributor, either in their home or their favourite Exmoor location, and form an attractive gallery from which to explore the archive.
Heritage trust archivist Liz Grant said: “The contributors, farmers, doctors, teachers, postmen, local councillors, and more, reveal a deep connection to Exmoor, with recollections that highlight strong community ties that revolved around institutions such as the church, the young farmers’ club, and local politics.
“It is incredibly exciting that we have been able to create this new platform celebrating Exmoor’s unique stories and heritage, and to know that the archive, embedded in our digital preservation system, will now be safeguarded, not only for future generations but forever.”
Interviewer and project consultant Birdie Johnson, who criss-crossed the national park to make the original recordings, said: “I could not be more delighted that the contributors to the archive have been acknowledged in this way.
“Inevitably, with the passing of the years, many of them are no longer with us, but I salute them all.
“Their voices will now live on, reflecting a moment in time in this special place.”
Dulverton contributor Chris Nelder, who served for many years on the town council, was recorded in 2002 and now at 90 years old, said he felt privileged to have been part of the project.
Mr Nelder said: “It is wonderful to know that the archive is now there for everybody to see.
“It is history.
“If we had not been asked, there would not be an archive.”
Originally held on CD in the Somerset Heritage Centre and North Devon Record Office, the recordings were digitised as part of the British Library’s National Lottery Heritage Fund project ‘Unlocking Our Sound Heritage’, which ran from 2017 to 2022.
The recordings can be used for private research and educational use only.