[6] Thomas Westcote, in his View of Devonshire in 1630, preserved a local tradition that "Simon" was a great hunter and Robin Hood-like figure who had his stronghold at Symonsburrow, at the highest point of the Blackdown Hills, a barrow that pre-dates even a medieval legend associated with it.

[10] After the Forest had been split into allotments and these had been conveyed to the persons who formerly possessed rights over the Forest, 12⁄22nds of the whole remained the property of the King,[11] which equated to 10,262 1⁄4 acres, and was formally allotted to him as his personal property in the same way as the other shares went to the traditional graziers and owner of the tithes (Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 10th Baronet (1787–1871), of Holnicote, who received 1⁄8th of the total[12]), etc.

In 1818 the following sales particulars were published by HM Commissioners of Woods, Forests and Land Revenues:[13]

Knight set about converting the Royal Forest, covering land now within the Exmoor National Park, into a huge industrial mining complex with canals and railways together with an agricultural estate.

[16] However, progress was slow, and Richard Nicholls Worth stated in 1879 in his "Tourist's Guide to North Devon and the Exmoor district":[17] "The mansion was never finished; cultivation has not spread far from the farmstead centres; the walls bother the sportsman more than the deer; and the bogs are as deep, the inner recesses of the moors as wild and solitary, and the coarse grass, and the bracken, and the heathers supreme in their occupancy mile after mile, as if no effort had ever been made to redeem its mingled wildness and sterility."

The small hamlet developed in the 19th century, when more houses were built along with St Luke's Church (1856), providing a centre for the population.

[20][21] The reversion of the Simonsbath estate, (referred to also as the "Exmoor estate" by the Fortescues) comprising about 20,000 acres of Exmoor, was purchased from Sir Frederick Knight, following the early death of his only son Frederick Sebright Winn Knight, JP, Deputy Lieutenant of Somerset, in 1879, aged only 28, by Viscount Ebrington, the future Hugh Fortescue, 4th Earl Fortescue (1854–1932), whose family's principal seat was Castle Hill, Filleigh, ten miles SW of Simonsbath.

It is thought he was mainly motivated in his purchase by his great fondness for stag-hunting; he served as master, and later chairman, of the Devon and Somerset Staghounds.

When Castle Hill burned down in 1934, the 5th Earl Fortescue resided with his wife and two young daughters at Simonsbath House, previously only used by the family as a hunting box, then named Diana Lodge after the Roman goddess of the hunt, moving back to the rebuilt Castle Hill in May 1936.

Lady Margaret Fortescue expressed very fond memories of her childhood at Simonsbath, where she lived between the ages of 11 and 13, having been brought up at Ebrington Manor in Gloucestershire until the family's move to Castle Hill in 1932 on the death of her grandfather the 4th Earl.

She recalled in 2001 that Diana Lodge then had panelled rooms downstairs, still in existence, with primitive bedrooms upstairs, linoleum on the floor and one bathroom between the whole family.

[24] Much of her time was spent hunting on Exmoor with the rest of her family and her young cousins, the children of her uncle Hon.

In 1989 Lady Margaret handed over the family estates to her daughter the Countess of Arran, who, later on, sold the remainder of the Simonsbath estate, namely the Barton and Cornham, to John Ewart, a keen follower of the Staghounds, whilst Exmoor National Park purchased much of the moorland.

[28] The sawmill is situated a hundred yards in front of Simonsbath House, close to the River Barle, from which a leat extends to drive the machinery.

In 1996 it was bought by Exmoor National Park Authority and was restored in 2002–03 with Heritage Lottery Funding, with the intention of using it to make gates and footpath signposts.

[29] The civil parish of Exmoor has its own parish council which has responsibility for local issues, including setting an annual precept (local rate) to cover the council's operating costs and producing annual accounts for public scrutiny.

It was formed by damming the River Barle, in the 19th century by John Knight and his son, and was originally intended to be 7 acres (2.8 ha).

It lies on peaty soils over rocks dating from the mid Devonian (to which this area gave its name) to early Carboniferous periods.

When known as the William Rufus Inn, it was said to be the haunt of the noted Exmoor Highwayman Tom Faggus, who married 'Girt Jan Ridds' sister whose exploits are recorded in 'Lorna Doone'.