Visit Blackdown Hills Places

Welcome to Visit Blackdown Hills Places
The Walkfo guide to things to do & explore in Blackdown Hills

  

Blackdown Hills Places Overview: History, Culture & Facts about Blackdown Hills

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Blackdown Hills history

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Paleoenvironmental studies have shown that organic material began to accumulate on the Blackdown Hills in the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods with areas of open meadow, grass land with small woodland components being identified. There are several Bronze Age burial sites including Robin Hood’s Butts near Otterford. Notable archaeological sites include the Iron Age hill forts at Membury Castle, Hembury and Castle Neroche. Hembury is a Neolithic causewayed enclosure near Honiton. It dates to the late fifth and early fourth millennia BC and is believed to have been the capital of the Dumnonii tribe. The fort is situated on a promontory to the north of and overlooking the River Otter, Devon at approx 178 m (584 ft) above sea level. It has given its name to some of the earliest Neolithic pottery in southern Britain. An Iron Age hill fort was later built on the same site. There has been archaeological evidence found on the site of Roman military occupation, suggesting a fort within the existing Iron Age site. It is now a Scheduled Ancient Monument. Fourteen hill slope enclosures, dating from the Iron Age have been identified on the Blackdown Hills, and prehistoric remains, from about 100 BC, have been found in Hemyock. Castle Neroche is a Norman motte-and-bailey castle on the site of an earlier hill fort near Staple Fitzpaine. The hill rises to 260 metres (853 ft) on the northern escarpment of the Blackdown Hills. The castle was probably built by Robert of Mortain in the 11th century and probably went out of use in the 12th century. Around the crossroads at Staple Fitzpaine there are several large sandstone boulders. They are called devilstones and are said to have been thrown by the Devil from Castle Neroche. According to legend if you prick them with a pin they draw blood. English word ‘Stapol’ means pillar or post and it is thought likely that this gave the village the first part of its name. The second part of the name comes from the Fitzpaine family who owned the manor between 1233 and 1393. A Roman bath house and Edwardian folly in the village of Whitestaunton were excavated by the archaeological television programme Time Team. There is also evidence of iron workings in the Romano-British period, at Dunkeswell, which radiocarbon dating has placed in the 2nd century. It has been suggested that these and other iron-based technologies gave the hills a fairly industrial landscape during the Romano-British period, providing a source of the name Blackdown Hills. Local iron ores were smelted at Hemyock in small bloomeries (furnaces) to produce pure iron until the Middle Ages. At Simonsburrow a battle between the native Britons and King Ine’s Saxon army, put an end (temporarily) to the Kings expansion to the west. In 710, Ine and Nothhelm fought against Geraint of Dumnonia, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle; John of Worcester states that Geraint was killed in this battle. Ine’s advance brought him control of what is now Devon, the new border with Dumnonia being the river Tamar. Just to the north of Culmstock, at Culmstock Beacon, is one of a chain of Elizabethan beacons built to warn of possible invasion by the Spanish Armada. On 5 November 1380, King Richard II granted Sir William and Lady Margaret Asthorpe a licence to crenellate the Hemyock manor house, meaning the permission to fortify it. Over the centuries, Hemyock Castle had many notable owners including Lord Chief Justice Sir John Popham. During the English Civil War it was held for Parliament, subjected to a brief but brutal siege and eventually slighted to destroy its military value. Parts of the castle walls, towers and moat still remain. They are a scheduled ancient monument and include displays of history and archaeology. The castle was also owned by General Sir John Graves Simcoe the first lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada in 1792. He is buried at Wolford Chapel near Dunkeswell. The chapel is now owned by the Province of Ontario. Early attempts were made by Charles I to enclose parts of the Blackdowns in the 1630s however this was opposed by the local lord and the commoners. He managed to enclose 1.634 acres (6,610 m) and soon sold these, but many of the hedges and fences were removed during the English Civil War. This was followed by further attempts at enclosure in 1658 but again only about a third was successfully enclosed, which remained the situation until 1833 when the rest of the hills were enclosed. Coldharbour Mill was built around 1800 to exploit the available water power of the River Culm and was used for wool and yarn production until its commercial closure in 1981. It is now managed by an educational trust and plays a role in telling the industrial history of the area. The Wellington Monument is located on Wellington Hill at grid reference ST137171, 3 km (1.9 mi) south of Wellington, Somerset. It was erected to celebrate the Duke of Wellington’s victory at the Battle of Waterloo. The foundation stone was laid in 1817, on land belonging to the Duke, but the monument was not completed until 1854. Its design was inspired by an Egyptian obelisk, but in the shape of the type of bayonet used by Wellington’s armies. It is now owned by the National Trust, and is floodlit at night. The artist Robert Polhill Bevan worked in the Blackdown Hills from 1912–1925 as a guest of landowner and amateur artist Harold Harrison. Until the end of his life Bevan continued to paint in the Bolham valley and nearby Luppitt his angular style sitting well with the strong patterning of the landscape. Many of the images that he produced in the area are now in national museums. In the Second World War, airbases were built at Dunkeswell, Upottery and Culmhead. Dunkeswell Aerodrome (IATA: N/A, ICAO: EGTU) was built in the Second World War by the RAF, briefly used by the USAF, and then the Fleet Airwing 7 of the USN. It was the only American Navy air base commissioned on UK soil during the Second World War. According to local legend, the Holman Clavel Inn is the home of a hearth spirit called Chimbley Charlie.

Blackdown Hills geography / climate

The Blackdown Hills AONB covers an area of 370 square kilometres (143 sq mi) The hills reach their highest point of 315 metres (1,033 ft) above sea level at Staple Hill in Somerset. The River Culm rises at a spring near Culmhead and flows west through Hemyock, then Culmstock to Uffculme before joining the River Exe.

You can visit Blackdown Hills places with Walkfo Blackdown Hills to hear history at Blackdown Hills’s places whilst walking around using the free digital tour app. Walkfo Blackdown Hills has 19 places to visit in our interactive Blackdown Hills map, with amazing history, culture & travel facts you can explore the same way you would at a museum or art gallery with information audio headset. With Walkfo, you can travel by foot, bike or bus throughout Blackdown Hills, being in the moment, without digital distraction or limits to a specific walking route. Our historic audio walks, National Trust interactive audio experiences, digital tour guides for English Heritage locations are available at Blackdown Hills places, with a AI tour guide to help you get the best from a visit to Blackdown Hills & the surrounding areas.

“Curated content for millions of locations across the UK, with 19 audio facts unique to Blackdown Hills places in an interactive Blackdown Hills map you can explore.”

Walkfo: Visit Blackdown Hills Places Map
19 tourist, history, culture & geography spots

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Blackdown Hills historic spots	Blackdown Hills tourist destinations	Blackdown Hills plaques	Blackdown Hills geographic features
Walkfo Blackdown Hills tourism map key: places to see & visit like National Trust sites, Blue Plaques, English Heritage locations & top tourist destinations in Blackdown Hills

  

Best Blackdown Hills places to visit

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Blackdown Hills has places to explore by foot, bike or bus. Below are a selection of the varied Blackdown Hills’s destinations you can visit with additional content available at the Walkfo Blackdown Hills’s information audio spots:

Culm Davy Culm Davy is a historic manor and present-day hamlet within the parish of Hemyock in Devon . It is located in the historic parish of the same name .

Wellington A.F.C. Wellington Association Football Club are a football club based in Wellington, Somerset, England. They are currently members of the Western League Premier Division and play at the Playing Field.

Sampford Arundel Sampford Arundel is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England. It is situated near Wellington and 10 miles (16.1 km) south west of Taunton. The village has a Junior School, an interesting church and an old telephone box.

Gerbestone Manor Gerbestone Manor in West Buckland, Somerset, was largely rebuilt in the late 16th century. The main two-storey chert stone building is accompanied by various outbuildings including barns and mill.

Blackdown Hills The Blackdown Hills are a range of hills along the Somerset-Devon border in south-western England. They were designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in 1991. The plateau is dominated by hard chert bands of Upper Greensand with some remnants of chalk.

Hemyock Castle Hemyock Castle was built by Sir William Asthorpe after 1380 to a quadrangular design. By the 16th century it had fallen into ruin and, following its use during the English Civil War in the mid-17th century, it was pulled down. In the 21st century the site is occupied by fragments of the original castle; and Castle House, an 18th-century house built within the site, and restored as private home at the end of the 20th century.

Visit Blackdown Hills plaques