Dunkery Beacon is the summit of
Dunkery Hill, and the highest point on
ExmoorExmoor is a National Park situated on the Bristol Channel coast of South West England. The park straddles two counties, with 71% of the park located in Somerset and 29% located in Devon. The total area of the park, which includes the Brendon Hills and the Vale of Porlock, covers of hilly open...
and in
SomersetSomerset is a county in South West England. The county town is Taunton, which is in the south of the county. The ceremonial county of Somerset borders the counties of Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west...
, England.
The site is part of the
North ExmoorNorth Exmoor is a 12005.3 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Devon and Somerset, notified in 1954.This site is within Exmoor National Park and includes the Dunkery Beacon and the Holnicote and Horner Water Nature Conservation Review sites, and the Chains Geological...
Site of Special Scientific InterestA Site of Special Scientific Interest or SSSI is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based...
(SSSI), is part of the Dunkery & Horner Woods National Nature Reserve and is a candidate for
Special Area of ConservationA Special Area of Conservation is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive , also known as the Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora...
, Section 3 Moor and Heath and Common Land status.
Dunkery is composed of
DevonianThe Devonian is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era spanning from . It is named after Devon, England, where rocks from this period were first studied....
sedimentary rock, as can be seen in the red soil.
There are several
Bronze AgeThe Bronze Age of a culture is the period when the most advanced metalworking in that culture utilised bronze. This could either have been based on the local smelting of copper and tin from ores, or trading for bronze from production areas elsewhere...
burial mounds at or near the summit: two of the larger ones are Joaney How and Robin How.
Dunkery Beacon is the summit of
Dunkery Hill, and the highest point on
ExmoorExmoor is a National Park situated on the Bristol Channel coast of South West England. The park straddles two counties, with 71% of the park located in Somerset and 29% located in Devon. The total area of the park, which includes the Brendon Hills and the Vale of Porlock, covers of hilly open...
and in
SomersetSomerset is a county in South West England. The county town is Taunton, which is in the south of the county. The ceremonial county of Somerset borders the counties of Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west...
, England.
The site is part of the
North ExmoorNorth Exmoor is a 12005.3 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Devon and Somerset, notified in 1954.This site is within Exmoor National Park and includes the Dunkery Beacon and the Holnicote and Horner Water Nature Conservation Review sites, and the Chains Geological...
Site of Special Scientific InterestA Site of Special Scientific Interest or SSSI is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based...
(SSSI), is part of the Dunkery & Horner Woods National Nature Reserve and is a candidate for
Special Area of ConservationA Special Area of Conservation is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive , also known as the Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora...
, Section 3 Moor and Heath and Common Land status.
History
Dunkery is composed of
DevonianThe Devonian is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era spanning from . It is named after Devon, England, where rocks from this period were first studied....
sedimentary rock, as can be seen in the red soil.
There are several
Bronze AgeThe Bronze Age of a culture is the period when the most advanced metalworking in that culture utilised bronze. This could either have been based on the local smelting of copper and tin from ores, or trading for bronze from production areas elsewhere...
burial mounds at or near the summit: two of the larger ones are Joaney How and Robin How. However these have been damaged over many years and plans have been made to restore and protect them.
Dunkery Beacon was given to the
National TrustThe National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
in 1935 by Sir
Thomas AclandSir Thomas Dyke Acland, 10th Baronet was a British politician and baronet.-Background:Born in London, he was the eldest son of Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 9th Baronet and his wife Henrietta Anne Hoare, daughter of Sir Richard Hoare, 1st Baronet...
, Colonel Wiggin and Allan Hughes along with the rest of the
Holnicote EstateHolnicote Estate is a National Trust property consisting of 5026 hectares of Exmoor National Park situated in West Somerset, England . The property has been in the ownership of the National Trust since 1932....
an event commemorated by the summit memorial
cairnA cairn is a manmade pile of stones, often in a conical form. They are usually found in uplands, on moorland, on mountaintops or near waterways.-Purpose:...
.
Location
At Dunkery Beacon is the highest
geographical point in Somerset, although the tip of the
Mendip TV MastThe Mendip transmitting station is a broadcasting and telecommunications facility, situated on the summit of Pen Hill, part of the Mendip Hills in Somerset, England, at above sea level. The mast is located in St Cuthbert Out civil parish in Mendip district. It includes a tall mast, which was...
is higher above sea level at . Based on the formula 'distance of hill from its nearest higher neighbour in km squared, multiplied by its height in metres', Dunkery is ranked 23rd in the UK in terms of dominance, and is a
Marilyn. The nearest higher hill is
Yes TorYes Tor is the second highest point on Dartmoor, Devon, South West England, at above sea level. Together with nearby High Willhays they are the only two peaks above south of the English Peak District National Park....
away. It is the highest point in southern England outside of
DartmoorDartmoor is an area of moorland in the centre of Devon, England. Protected by National Park status, it covers .The granite upland dates from the Carboniferous period of geological history. The moorland is capped with many exposed granite hilltops , providing habitats for Dartmoor wildlife. The...
.
It lies just from the
Bristol ChannelThe Bristol Channel is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales from Devon and Somerset in South West England, and extending from the lower estuary of the River Severn to the North Atlantic Ocean...
at
PorlockPorlock is a coastal village in Somerset, England, situated in a deep hollow below Exmoor, west of Minehead. The village has a population of 1,377 .-History:East of the village is Bury Castle an Iron age hill fort....
. The shortest route of ascent goes from the car park at Dunkery Gate, and is just long. There are extensive views from the summit, including both the
BristolThe Bristol Channel is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales from Devon and Somerset in South West England, and extending from the lower estuary of the River Severn to the North Atlantic Ocean...
and
English ChannelThe English Channel is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest, to only in the Strait of Dover...
coasts, the
Brecon BeaconsThe Brecon Beacons is a mountain range in South Wales. It forms the central section of the Brecon Beacons National Park , one of Wales's three National Parks.-Range:...
including
Pen Y Fan|}Pen y Fan is the highest peak in South Wales, situated in the Brecon Beacons National Park. At 886 metres above sea-level, it is also the highest peak in Britain south of the Snowdonia mountain range...
,
Bodmin MoorBodmin Moor is a granite moorland in northeastern Cornwall, UK, in size, dating from the Carboniferous period of geological history.The name "Bodmin Moor" is relatively recent, being an Ordnance Survey invention of 1813...
,
DartmoorDartmoor is an area of moorland in the centre of Devon, England. Protected by National Park status, it covers .The granite upland dates from the Carboniferous period of geological history. The moorland is capped with many exposed granite hilltops , providing habitats for Dartmoor wildlife. The...
, the
Severn BridgeThe Severn Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the River Severn between South Gloucestershire, just north of Bristol, England, and Monmouthshire in South Wales, via Beachley, a peninsula between the River Severn and River Wye estuary. It is the original Severn road crossing between England and...
s and
Cleeve HillCleeve Hill is the highest point both in the Cotswolds and in the county of Gloucestershire, at . It commands a clear view to the west, over Cheltenham and the racecourse, over the River Severn and into Wales; and to the north over Winchcombe. It is a conspicuous outcrop on the edge of the...
away in
GloucestershireGloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
.
Ecology
The hill is blanketed in
heatherEricaceae, the heath family or the heather family is a plant family, comprising mostly calcifuge plants that thrive in acidic soils. Many well-known plants of the Ericaceae live in temperate climates, such as cranberry, blueberry, various heaths and heathers , huckleberry, azalea and rhododendron...
and in the summer this gives it a deep purple colour. Ling and bell heather,
gorseGorse, furze, furse or whin is a genus of about 20 species of spiny evergreen shrubs in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae, native to western Europe and northwest Africa, with the majority of species in Iberia.Gorse is closely related to the brooms, and like them, has green stems...
,
sessile oakThe Sessile Oak , also known as Durmast Oak, is a species of oak native to most of Europe, and into Anatolia.-Description:...
,
ashFraxinus , common name Ash, is a genus of usually medium to large trees, mostly deciduous though a few subtropical species are evergreen. Genus Fraxinus are the true ashes, and are in Oleaceae, the olive family, along with olives and lilacs. The leaves are opposite , and mostly pinnately-compound,...
,
rowanThe rowans or mountain-ashes are shrubs or small trees. They are native throughout the cool temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with the highest species diversity in the mountains of western China and the Himalaya, where numerous apomictic microspecies occur...
,
hazelThe hazels are a genus of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate northern hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family Betulaceae, though some botanists split the hazels into a separate family Corylaceae.They have simple, rounded leaves with double-serrate margins...
,
brackenBrackens are a genus comprising several species of large, coarse ferns. Ferns are vascular plants that have alternating generations, large plants that produce spores and small plants that produce sex cells . Brackens are in the family Dennstaedtiaceae, which are noted for their large, highly...
, mosses, liverworts, lichens and
fernA fern is any one of a group of about 20,000 species of plants classified in the phylum or division Pteridophyta, also known as Filicophyta. The group is also referred to as Polypodiophyta, or Polypodiopsida when treated as a subdivision of tracheophyta...
s all grow here or in surrounding woodland, as well as some unique
whitebeamThe whitebeams are members of the Rosaceae family, in genus Sorbus subgenus Aria. They are deciduous trees with simple or lobed leaves, arranged alternately. They are related to the rowans , and many of the endemic restricted-range apomictic microspecies of whitebeam in Europe are thought to derive...
species.
Exmoor poniesThe Exmoor pony is the oldest and most primitive of the British Isles native ponies, as well as the purest, and some still roam as semi-feral livestock on Exmoor, a large area of moorland in Devon and Somerset in southwest England...
,
red deerThe Red Deer is one of the largest deer species. The Red Deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Asia Minor and parts of western and central Asia. It also inhabits the Atlas Mountains region between Morocco and Tunisia in northwestern Africa, being the only species of deer to...
, pied flycatchers,
wood warblersThe Wood Warbler Phylloscopus sibilatrix is a common and widespread leaf warbler which breeds throughout northern and temperate Europe, and just into the extreme west of Asia in the southern Ural Mountains....
,
lesser spotted woodpeckersThe Lesser Spotted Woodpecker is a member of the woodpecker family Picidae. It was previously assigned to the genus Dendrocopos , and often still is, but it appears to be closer related to the Downy Woodpecker.The range of the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker is the Palearctic region, but several...
,
redstartsThe Common Redstart or just Redstart is a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a member of the Thrush family , but is now more generally considered to be an Old World flycatcher ....
,
dippersThe White-throated Dipper is an aquatic passerine bird found in Europe and the Middle East, also known as the European Dipper or just Dipper. The species is divided into several subspecies on colour differences, especially of the pectoral band.The nominate Black-bellied Dipper, C. c. cinclus, has...
,
snipeThe Common Snipe , also called a Fantail Snipe, European Sandpiper, or weet-weet, is a small, stocky shorebird....
,
skylarkThe Skylark is a small passerine bird species. This lark breeds across most of Europe and Asia and in the mountains of north Africa. It is mainly resident in the west of its range, but eastern populations are more migratory, moving further south in winter. Even in the milder west of its range,...
s and
kestrelThe Common Kestrel is a bird of prey species belonging to the kestrel group of the falcon family Falconidae. It is also known as the European Kestrel, Eurasian Kestrel, or Old World Kestrel. In Britain, where no other brown falcon occurs, it is generally just called "the kestrel".This species...
s are some of the fauna to be found here and in nearby Horner Woods. Horner Woods are also the home to 14 of the 16 UK
batBats are flying mammals in the order Chiroptera . The forelimbs of bats are webbed and developed as wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums and colugos, glide rather than...
species, which include
barbastelleThe Barbastelle , also known as the Western Barbastelle, is a European bat. It has a short nose, small eyes and wide ears.It is rare throughout its range...
and
Bechstein's batsBechstein's Bat is a species of vesper bat in the Vespertilionidae family.It can be found in the following countries: Austria, Armenia, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Iran, Italy, Liechtenstein, Republic of Macedonia,...
.
External links