7-9 Fore Street, Dulverton - 01398 323 841 NPCDulverton@exmoor-nationalpark.gov.uk

The name Dulverton was first recorded in 1084 as dieglaford-tun meaning "hidden ford"-tun. The Domesday Book records it as Dolvertune and suggests it was a royal manor before the Norman Conquest.

The town lies below the Iron Age hillforts of Oldberry Castle, Mounsey Castle and Brewer's Castle.

The manor was granted to the Turbervilles by William I and in the late 12th century they gave the church and some land to Taunton Priory. The remainder of the manor passed to the Shete family. The parish of Dulverton was part of the Williton and Freemanners Hundred.

The Middle Ages saw continued growth and the establishment of fairs and markets, with several small industries based upon the traditions of upland farming and the wool trade. These include related works such as laundries; originally used for the washing of sheep fleeces in the leats feeding the wide and fast-flowing River Barle, the surviving 19th-century industrial laundries continue to provide a service to surrounding businesses. The market house in Fore Street, which is believed to date from 1760, was converted into the town hall in 1866, with the porch and external double staircase being added in 1930 by Sir Albert Richardson.

The manor of Dulverton was purchased in 1568 by the Sydenham family seated at Combe House, on the opposite side of the River Barle to Dulverton, a junior branch of the ancient de Sydenham family which originated at the manor of Sydenham, near Bridgwater in Somerset, of which other branches were seated in Somerset at Combe Sydenham, Orchard Sydenham (later called Orchard Wyndham) and Brympton d'Evercy, which latter remained the seat of the Sydenham baronets, which title was created in 1641. In 1858 the Sydenhams sold the manor to the Earl of Carnarvon of Pixton Park, Dulverton. George Sydenham Clarke, 1st Baron Sydenham of Combe (1848-1933) took his title from Combe, Dulverton.

Exmoor House was built as the Dulverton Union Workhouse in 1855. It is now the headquarters of the Exmoor National Park Authority.

Private housing stock generally ranges from medium-size to substantial Georgian to late Victorian family houses, with a small estate of post-war modern houses and bungalows towards the north of town.