North Devon Ramblers go in search of a forgotten Exmoor village

When you are thinking about a deserted medieval village on Exmoor, understandably  the first name that comes to mind would probably be Badgworthy and its  association with Lorna Doone. 

However, there is another deserted  village — called Clicket. This little hamlet is far less known and more difficult to find, tucked away at the bottom of a steep-sided valley between  Timberscombe and Churchtown.  

Clicket is not marked on Google maps but is clearly identified, but not  necessarily easy to find, on OS maps. 

Whichever way you approach the village there are numerous finger posts guiding you but nothing to tell  you ‘this is Clicket’. 

Winter is the best time to visit; with less vegetation it is easier to identify the ruins as mother nature strips back the trees and bushes to reveal the crumbling ruins.  

Very little is known about the community and the families that once  chose to live in this rural part of Somerset but thanks to the dedication of  some local experts, some of Clicket’s lost history is rising to the surface.  

Early official records for Clicket are almost non-existent, due to the area  being economically deprived, but a medieval lay subsidy dates one farm building, Thorn Farm, and a mill building back to the 14th century and it  is shown as a small settlement on the Tithe Map of 1844. The records then go quiet until the early 1840s when school, tax and church  documents can officially place families living in Clicket.  

Up until the end of the 19th century it was a thriving community. It had a  corn mill that serviced local farms, a chapel and several quarries that  provided lime. 

These lime quarries were situated on what is now  Allercott Farm and two lime kilns still survive. One is in good condition, one is poor. 

The kiln was served by a tramway which terminated at the kiln  head. Some rusting sections of rail can still be seen at the top of the kiln. Typically, a kiln took a day to load, three days to fire, two days to cool and a day to unload. 

Clicket had no church, shop or school and residents would have  travelled to nearby Timberscombe or Luxborough for church services. 

A  large house in Clicket was reputed to have been used for meetings, religious or otherwise. A Christians’ magazine mentions a congregation of 70 at one gathering.  

School children had a difficult walk through the valley to Timberscombe,  sometimes in poor weather. In snow, travel must have been arduous and possibly dangerous. 

Attendance of some of the children at school  was sporadic, especially at harvest time when they would have been  expected to help out.  

Towards the end of the 19th century economic changes affected many  rural communities. Competition from more efficient mills making use of  mechanisation, coupled with Clicket’s poor access without carts, meant  that the mill was abandoned by 1900. 

By the start of the 20th century it  had been all but abandoned and there were just three people living  there, with the rest of the villagers having already left to seek a better life  elsewhere. 

The coming of the railway to Somerset in the late 19th century gave  people choice.  

The last people to live in Clicket, albeit unofficially after it had been  deserted, were an elderly couple. Desperate to avoid going to a  poorhouse after being evicted from their cottage, they moved into the  derelict mill despite it having no windows or doors. It is thought that the  woman had no choice but to go to the poorhouse when her husband  died about a year later.  

There are occasional guided walks to Clicket. Check out Exmoor  National Park, Exmoor Society and local rambling groups for coming  events.