Project ID: 964
| Description | Transcription of the Knight Family Archives |
| Topics | Social history |
| Type | U3A-led research (SLP) |
| U3A | Minehead U3A |
| Organization/partner | Exmoor National Park Authority (ENPA) |
| Year started | 2019 |
| Source of reference | In 2016, a wealth of documents, which included letters, accounts and legal papers, was given into the care of the Exmoor National Park Authority (ENPA). Most of these documents have been scanned and the originals are now deposited at the Somerset Heritage Centre, Taunton. Scans of the papers were undertaken prior to storage. These have been made available to members of the U3A research team. The Head of Conservation at the ENPA, Rob Wilson-North has written an outline biography of John Knight and this is also available to assist in the transcription of some of the letters. In addition, one U3A member is tackling the substantial multi page ‘Exmoor Abstract' which is a summary document from actual account books of expenditure 1819 to 1820. |
| Output | The project is part of a greater study on the history of the Knight family and their activities in the reclamation of the former Exmoor Royal forest and the transformation of this desolate landscape into a vast agricultural enterprise. John Knight purchased the Forest in 1820. Letters have been transcribed on to agreed, standard forms, which have been uploaded on to a database at the ENPA. These documents will form the basis of more in depth studies into the history of Exmoor, in terms of physical remains and of documentary history in the Nineteenth century, conducted by researchers based at ENPA and the University of Exeter. |
| Notes | There are hundreds of documents to be transcribed and to date over 400 hundred letters have been completed. It was felt that in order to comply with the definition of a 'Shared learning Project', the work should be divided into distinct 'phases', limited to 6 to 12 months each. Phase 1 was commenced in October/November 2019 and was further subdivided into Parts A and B. Part A represents the transcription of correspondence from 1840 to 1888 and was completed in September 2020. Part B involved the transcription of the Exmoor Abstract 1819 - 20 and was completed in February 2021. Phase 2 consisted of a batch of 150 documents, mainly letters, dating from 1867 and was completed between October 2020 and February 2021. Phase 3 involved a further batch of 150 documents, dating from 1820s to 1840s and which was completed in November 2021. Progression into the final Phase 4 is continuing. The 'correspondence' documents have been completed and the team is looking at the remaining documents. These include Frederick Knight's Parliamentary related documents, mining related documents, some accounts books and further mixed bundles of documents. In March 2022, an account of the research was presented at a Special Interest morning of Minehead and District u3a. Shorter presentations have also been given to the u3a's local history group. In addition, some members were present at an open day of the Exmoor National Park Authority where some of the transcriptions were available for display to the public. |