Exmoor Oral History Archive
The Exmoor Oral History Archive is a collection of over 200 hours of recordings giving a unique insight into the life on the moor during the twentieth century.
On behalf of the Dulverton and District Civic Society, Birdie Johnson travelled throughout Exmoor with her recorder, listening to people's life stories. Whatever their profession, whether blacksmith, chambermaid, farm worker or landed gentry, Exmoor's older generation shared their lives with us.
The archive is accompanied by the book Reflections, life portraits of Exmoor, in which photographer Mark Rattenbury's intuitive photographs capture an element of the contributors' personalities.
The website (see the link below) provides an introduction to the Exmoor oral history project, and the rich archive it has created. It includes audio clips of each of the recordings. An audio CD with longer extracts from a number of the recordings is included in the book.
The full set of recordings are held at the Somerset Record Office. To make an appointment to listen to them please telephone 01823 337600.