Knight and his son Col. Sir Frederick Winn Knight (1812-1897), KCB, MP, who assumed management in 1841, built most of the large farms in the central section of the moor and laid down of metalled access roads to Simonsbath. He built a stone wall around his estate, parts of which still survive. However, progress was slow, and Richard Nicholls Worth stated in 1879 in his Tourist's Guide to North Devon and the Exmoor district: