The Moretonhampstead Local History Society was founded in 1965 as a small research group and has, since then, been involved with all aspects of Moreton's history. One of the early Chairmen was Mrs Leadbitter, wife of Moreton's Rector, who contributed a considerable amount to our archive material. Other notable researchers have been Richard Heath, author of Sparrowhawk, Ken and Ann Theobald, and George Friend, a long time Committee member and author of Memories of Moreton.
From its humble beginnings the Society has grown so that it now has about one hundred members. It holds monthly lectures and field trips in the wider historical sphere, not just Moretonhampstead. (See here for the year's programme.) In addition to lectures on local history the Society gathers archival material in original form and in copies, and publishes works on local history themes.
The historical information on this website is partly from publicly held archives an dpartly from our local history holdings. It was originally compiled as a Millennium Project by the members of the Society, funded by a Lottery "Awards for All" grant together with financial help from the Dartmoor National Park. In 2001/2 the Heritage Lottery Fund further supported the activities of the Society by funding the establishment of the website. The initial work on the site was done by Adam Sexton, a ICT student at the University of Exeter, and edited for public access by the current Chairman of the Society, Ian Mortimer.
The Society issues a monthly neswletter to members. Click on the link in the panel on the left to access the current and past issues. Dr Mortimer's annual reports as chairman, delivered annually at the AGM (October), are available for 2005, 2006 and 2007.
A rough list of the Society's archives is available here. (Note: these items are not easily accessible to members of the public. In the first instance, contact the Society's Secretary at the address below.)
Further information about the Society and its activities may be sought from:
The Secretary
Moretonhampstead History Society
c/o The Information Centre
New Street
Moretonhampstead
Devon TQ13 8NF