[4] After the Inclosure Acts the house was bought, with the accompanying farm and about 70,000 acres (280 km2),[5] the remaining portion of the former Royal Forest belonging to the Crown Estate, by John Knight of Worcestershire in 1818 for the sum of £50,000.

[7] He and especially his son Frederick, who assumed management in 1841,[8] erected most of the large farms in the central section of the moor and built 22 miles (35 km) of metalled access roads to Simonsbath.

The 4th Earl's granddaughter and eventual heiress, Lady Margaret Fortescue (1923-2013), devoted much time to attempting to put the Exmoor estate onto a profitable footing.

The interior includes a fireplace with a chamfered lintel which dates from 1654, panelling and a 17th-century overmantel with a painted coat of arms which was brought from Weare Giffard Hall, near Bideford, a secondary seat of the Earls Fortescue.

[1] Above the fireplace in the lounge of Simonsbath House is a late 16th-century heraldic overmantel relating to the Fortescue family and brought by them from Weare Giffard Hall, Devon.