Quantock Hills
Standing atop the windswept heather-covered dome of Will’s Neck, a superb patchwork of West Country farmland stretches out below. In the distance, the Bristol Channel and Wales come into view, the horizon punctuated by the just-visible Severn River suspension bridges. Gazing eastwards, there are views of Bridgewater, the Somerset Levels, Glastonbury Tor and the Mendip Hills.At 386 metres above sea level, Will’s Neck is the highest point in the Quantock Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), and is reputed to offer views of nine counties on a clear day. Stretching from the Vale of Taunton Deane to the Bristol Channel, the Quantock Hills form an impressive 19-kilometre ridge of sandstone that was England’s first AONB – and the UK’s second – declared shortly after the Gower Peninsula in Wales in May 1956.The name Quantock is thought to derive from the Celtic word cantuc, meaning rim or circle – a reference to the slightly curved line of these hills. The hilltops themselves are largely covered by upland heath – the western gorse and bell heather that grow there in profusion turn the hilltops yellow and purple during late summer. The heathland descends into areas of broadleaved woodland containing sessile oak, ash, hazel and others, forestry land and farmland used for both grazing and agriculture. Many combes – short valleys or deep hollows – each with distinct characteristics and harbouring a wealth of wildlife, cut into the side of the hills and several picturesque villages and hamlets are dotted around their lower slopes.
With a total area of 100 square kilometres, Quantock Hills is one of the more compact AONBs, but despite this, an array of fauna has made the Quantocks its home. Four species of deer can be spotted, as can semi-wild ponies, adders and badgers. In terms of birdlife, skylarks, buzzards (from which the AONB takes its emblem), snipe, reed bunting, warblers, chats and many others live in and around the area. The land that makes up the AONB is largely divided into privately owned farms and estates, with Somerset County Council, the National Trust and Forest Enterprise England owning the remainder. The land within the AONB’s borders is criss-crossed by an extensive network of public footpaths and bridleways, which last year were trodden or ridden on by 500,000 people. According to Barbara Child, chairman of West Somerset District Council, many come from nearby villages and towns. “The Quantocks is a popular area,” she says. “It doesn’t really need promoting as we have a number of local visitors who regularly use and love the hills.”
Chris Edwards, the AONB’s manager, has lived in nearby Taunton for ten years. “The area has several other protection statuses in addition to being an AONB,” he explains. ”The Quantocks’ coastline on the Bristol Channel, for example, has the same underlying geology as the Jurassic Coast World Heritage site in Dorset and East Devon and is an SSSI [Site of Special Scientific Interest], and the hilltop heathland areas, which are a mixture of gorse heathland and upland oakwood, also have SSSI status, as well as being a Special Area of Conservation under the EU’s habitats directive.” Combined, these serve to protect a landscape that contains habitat of international importance: nearly ten per cent of the world’s maritime heathland lies within the Quantocks SSSI and the coast between the villages of St Audries and Kilve is considered to be of international geological importance. Jurassic marine deposits, alternating layers of limestone and shale known as lias, exist here, containing some of the earliest fossil ammonites recorded in Britain. A characteristic and prominent feature of the Quantock Hill’s landscape are beech hedgebanks. These typically consist of earth banks – some reinforced by stone laid in decorative chevron patterns – topped by a row of beech trees. The trees traditionally acted as a boundary between fields and property capable of containing livestock, but today, many are growing freely. The hedgebanks date back 3,000 years to the Iron Age, but they continue to provide shelter for livestock and crops, support valuable wildlife habitats for moths, butterflies and bats, and provide a small window into agricultural activities of the past.
Several flint tools from the Iron Age have been excavated in the Quantock Hills, and Dowsborough Camp, near the eastern edge of the AONB, was the site of an Iron Age hill fort, enclosing an area of some three hectares. Elsewhere, Bronze Age barrow cemeteries are visible – look for small mounds of earth on the hill tops and high ridges. Although it’s the panoramic views that draw many visitors to the AONB, they soon discover that it contains a surprising variety of landscapes within a small area – upland heath, forest, farmland and coast, as well as interesting archaeological sites. Edwards’s favourite spot in the Quantocks incorporates many of those elements. “I’d probably say that my favourite place in the Quantocks is a spot at Higher Hare Knap next to a Bronze Age burial mound and a scraggy thorn bush. Once there, you’re surrounded by a bowl of hills. It’s absolutely gorgeous.”
Paving the way to the future
The Quantock Hills’ 50th-anniversary celebrations saw the opening of the newly developed West Somerset Coast Path. This 40-kilometre path stretches from Steart in Sedgemoor to Minehead in West Somerset, crossing the northern end of the AONB and closing a gap between the South West Coast Path national trail and the River Parrett Trail. It’s now possible to walk the West Somerset Coast Path to the South West Coast in Minehead, all the way round the coast to West Bay in Dorset, along the Brit Valley Way to Cheddington and finally on the River Parrett Trail back to Steart. This circular walk covers a distance of 1,030 kilometres – more than twice the length of the Pennine Way – and was originally conceived to bolster tourism to the area in the wake of the foot and mouth outbreak of 2001.
Quantock Hills and surrounds miscellany
• Poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge lived for a short time in the village of Nether Stowey just outside the AONB, where it’s reputed that he wrote The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan. The village marks the start of the 58-kilometre Coleridge Way, opened in 2005.
• According to Anthony Trollope-Bellew, chairman of the Quantock Hills Joint Advisory Committee, sheep introduced to the Quantock Hills that have been bred elsewhere have trouble adapting. “It seems that only sheep bred on these hills survive, others perish due to the mineral deficiencies or tick-borne diseases,” he says.
• The West Somerset Railway runs for 23 kilometres between Bishop’s Lydeard and Minehead, making it the UK’s longest ‘heritage’ railway.
• The Quantocks were to form part of Exmoor National Park when it was designated in 1954, but were omitted because they were “separated from the main body of Exmoor by a tract of country which was not of sufficient scenic quality to be included,” according to the chairman of the National Parks Commission, Sir Patrick Duff.
The Quantocks and hunting
The red deer, the most common deer in the Quantocks, is inextricably linked with the area’s recent history, having been introduced to the hills in 1862 for hunting. The deer thrived, but began causing significant damage to crops. Hunting became a widely accepted method of keeping numbers down (it was previously only undertaken for sport), and several small businesses grew up around it, making a significant contribution to the local economy. A 2003 study commissioned by the Exmoor National Parks Authority and local councils found that 584 jobs and £9.5million would be lost in Exmoor and the Quantocks if hunting was banned. The 2000 Burns Inquiry, which investigated the impact of hunting with dogs, also supported hunting in the region, stating: “It is generally accepted that red deer numbers in Devon and Somerset [principally Exmoor and the Quantocks] need to be controlled. Hunting with dogs presently accounts for about 15 per cent of the annual cull needed to maintain the population. However, because of widespread support and consequent tolerance by farmers of deer, hunting at present makes a significant contribution to management of the deer population in this area.” Despite the introduction of a hunting ban in 2005, it is, according to the AONB, still legal for no more than two dogs to be used to flush deer from cover to be shot. This, combined with natural deaths, shooting by farmers and landowners, and road casualties now keeps the population at a healthy level.
January 2007
With a total area of 100 square kilometres, Quantock Hills is one of the more compact AONBs, but despite this, an array of fauna has made the Quantocks its home. Four species of deer can be spotted, as can semi-wild ponies, adders and badgers. In terms of birdlife, skylarks, buzzards (from which the AONB takes its emblem), snipe, reed bunting, warblers, chats and many others live in and around the area. The land that makes up the AONB is largely divided into privately owned farms and estates, with Somerset County Council, the National Trust and Forest Enterprise England owning the remainder. The land within the AONB’s borders is criss-crossed by an extensive network of public footpaths and bridleways, which last year were trodden or ridden on by 500,000 people. According to Barbara Child, chairman of West Somerset District Council, many come from nearby villages and towns. “The Quantocks is a popular area,” she says. “It doesn’t really need promoting as we have a number of local visitors who regularly use and love the hills.”
Chris Edwards, the AONB’s manager, has lived in nearby Taunton for ten years. “The area has several other protection statuses in addition to being an AONB,” he explains. ”The Quantocks’ coastline on the Bristol Channel, for example, has the same underlying geology as the Jurassic Coast World Heritage site in Dorset and East Devon and is an SSSI [Site of Special Scientific Interest], and the hilltop heathland areas, which are a mixture of gorse heathland and upland oakwood, also have SSSI status, as well as being a Special Area of Conservation under the EU’s habitats directive.” Combined, these serve to protect a landscape that contains habitat of international importance: nearly ten per cent of the world’s maritime heathland lies within the Quantocks SSSI and the coast between the villages of St Audries and Kilve is considered to be of international geological importance. Jurassic marine deposits, alternating layers of limestone and shale known as lias, exist here, containing some of the earliest fossil ammonites recorded in Britain. A characteristic and prominent feature of the Quantock Hill’s landscape are beech hedgebanks. These typically consist of earth banks – some reinforced by stone laid in decorative chevron patterns – topped by a row of beech trees. The trees traditionally acted as a boundary between fields and property capable of containing livestock, but today, many are growing freely. The hedgebanks date back 3,000 years to the Iron Age, but they continue to provide shelter for livestock and crops, support valuable wildlife habitats for moths, butterflies and bats, and provide a small window into agricultural activities of the past.
Several flint tools from the Iron Age have been excavated in the Quantock Hills, and Dowsborough Camp, near the eastern edge of the AONB, was the site of an Iron Age hill fort, enclosing an area of some three hectares. Elsewhere, Bronze Age barrow cemeteries are visible – look for small mounds of earth on the hill tops and high ridges. Although it’s the panoramic views that draw many visitors to the AONB, they soon discover that it contains a surprising variety of landscapes within a small area – upland heath, forest, farmland and coast, as well as interesting archaeological sites. Edwards’s favourite spot in the Quantocks incorporates many of those elements. “I’d probably say that my favourite place in the Quantocks is a spot at Higher Hare Knap next to a Bronze Age burial mound and a scraggy thorn bush. Once there, you’re surrounded by a bowl of hills. It’s absolutely gorgeous.”
Paving the way to the future
The Quantock Hills’ 50th-anniversary celebrations saw the opening of the newly developed West Somerset Coast Path. This 40-kilometre path stretches from Steart in Sedgemoor to Minehead in West Somerset, crossing the northern end of the AONB and closing a gap between the South West Coast Path national trail and the River Parrett Trail. It’s now possible to walk the West Somerset Coast Path to the South West Coast in Minehead, all the way round the coast to West Bay in Dorset, along the Brit Valley Way to Cheddington and finally on the River Parrett Trail back to Steart. This circular walk covers a distance of 1,030 kilometres – more than twice the length of the Pennine Way – and was originally conceived to bolster tourism to the area in the wake of the foot and mouth outbreak of 2001.
Quantock Hills and surrounds miscellany
• Poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge lived for a short time in the village of Nether Stowey just outside the AONB, where it’s reputed that he wrote The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan. The village marks the start of the 58-kilometre Coleridge Way, opened in 2005.
• According to Anthony Trollope-Bellew, chairman of the Quantock Hills Joint Advisory Committee, sheep introduced to the Quantock Hills that have been bred elsewhere have trouble adapting. “It seems that only sheep bred on these hills survive, others perish due to the mineral deficiencies or tick-borne diseases,” he says.
• The West Somerset Railway runs for 23 kilometres between Bishop’s Lydeard and Minehead, making it the UK’s longest ‘heritage’ railway.
• The Quantocks were to form part of Exmoor National Park when it was designated in 1954, but were omitted because they were “separated from the main body of Exmoor by a tract of country which was not of sufficient scenic quality to be included,” according to the chairman of the National Parks Commission, Sir Patrick Duff.
The Quantocks and hunting
The red deer, the most common deer in the Quantocks, is inextricably linked with the area’s recent history, having been introduced to the hills in 1862 for hunting. The deer thrived, but began causing significant damage to crops. Hunting became a widely accepted method of keeping numbers down (it was previously only undertaken for sport), and several small businesses grew up around it, making a significant contribution to the local economy. A 2003 study commissioned by the Exmoor National Parks Authority and local councils found that 584 jobs and £9.5million would be lost in Exmoor and the Quantocks if hunting was banned. The 2000 Burns Inquiry, which investigated the impact of hunting with dogs, also supported hunting in the region, stating: “It is generally accepted that red deer numbers in Devon and Somerset [principally Exmoor and the Quantocks] need to be controlled. Hunting with dogs presently accounts for about 15 per cent of the annual cull needed to maintain the population. However, because of widespread support and consequent tolerance by farmers of deer, hunting at present makes a significant contribution to management of the deer population in this area.” Despite the introduction of a hunting ban in 2005, it is, according to the AONB, still legal for no more than two dogs to be used to flush deer from cover to be shot. This, combined with natural deaths, shooting by farmers and landowners, and road casualties now keeps the population at a healthy level.
January 2007
