Located on the northern edge of the town of Wiveliscombe, Langley Moor has probably been intensively used for many centuries. At the same time its low lying nature and the clay pan which sits just below the surface will have meant that drainage was a constant challenge which restricted the types of crops that could be grown.
The 1840 Tithe Map of Wiveliscombe shows Langley Moor heavily sub-divided into about 20 plots.
The Richard Beadon Sales Catalogues (1834 and 1838) list a significant number of the plots and shows it being used for a combination of meadow, pasture and orchard. The plots have names which are possibly revealing. One is called Coney-gear, coney being the old word for rabbit and gear (or gar) being a garden or tools, so it is possible that part of the area had been used as a rabbit farm.
At the Langley end there were buildings, possibly a farmhouse. Part of a stone wall is still visible in the hedge. There’s even an old bedstead which possibly came from the house; what tales it could tell.
At the southern end some of the plots are referred to as ‘The Farm’ so it is possible that there were more buildings there. The map shows the stream with a different route.
Part of the field, where the willows are now planted, is unnumbered in the sale catalogue. It is possible that this was once common land, or the last remnants of a larger area of common land.
Close to the northern end of the footpath there is a derelict building – an open sided barn locally known as a linhay. Local residents tell of playing in the hayloft above when they were children. The round bricks were so shaped to prevent the folds in the cow’s skin from dislodging them from the wall. The barn is thought to date from the Georgian period.
The stream which runs through the field is fed at the top where there was once a track known as ‘Watery Lane’. The old line of the track still floods in winter. Meanwhile in the banks of the stream further into the field there are still areas of laid stonework, perhaps indicating the footings for a crude bridge.
By the end of the nineteenth century the OS maps show Langley Moor as just one holding with an area of marshland near the linhay and orchards at the Langley end.
Langley Moor was put over to pasture probably from the early twentieth century.
In the mid twentieth century the government drive to increase food production led to farmers being encouraged to lay field drains. There are a number of these, although ultimately it was a forlorn task with the clay pan underneath the field resisting attempts to provide comprehensive drainage.
Cattle and sheep grazed the field until the foot and mouth outbreak in 2001, after which only sheep grazed the grass.
We bought Langley Moor in 2019 which was the last time it was grazed. Since then the grass has been cut annually for hay and silage.
With the help of 30-40 volunteers, 1,000 trees (rowan, beech, oak, alder and willows) were planted in March 2021 with funding from the Environment Agency aiming to hold back the flow of water to the Somerset Levels.