Lewesdon Hill is a hill in west

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

, England. With a maximum elevation of , it is the highest point in Dorset.Muir, Johnny, ''The UK's County Tops'', Milnthorpe: Cicerone, 2011, p. 26.

Geography

Location

Lewesdon Hill stands about 4 km west of

Beaminster Beaminster ( ) is a town and civil parish in Dorset, England, situated in the Dorset Council administrative area approximately northwest of the county town Dorchester. It is sited in a bowl-shaped valley near the source of the small River ...

, 1½ km south of Broadwindsor, 2 miles south of Mosterton, 1½ km west-northwest of Stoke Abbott and 3 km east of another hillfort-topped eminence,

Pilsdon Pen Pilsdon Pen is a 277-metre (909 ft) hill in Dorset in South West England, situated at the north end of the Marshwood Vale, approximately west of Beaminster. It is Dorset's second highest point and has panoramic views extending for many m ...

. To the south of the hill is the

Marshwood Vale The Marshwood Vale (or Vale of Marshwood) is a low-lying, bowl-shaped valley of Lower Lias clay, in the western tip of the county of Dorset in south-west England. It lies to the north of the A35 trunk road between the towns of Bridport and Lyme R ...

and to the north is the valley of the River Axe.

Summit

Lewesdon is the

county top The mountains and hills of the British Isles are categorised into various lists based on different combinations of elevation, prominence, and other criteria such as isolation. These lists are used for peak bagging, whereby hillwalkers attempt ...

of Dorset. Its summit is an elongated ridge surrounded by beech woods. The actual summit is a low grassy mound at the east end of the ridge.''Lewesdon Hill''
at www.hill-bagging.co.uk. Retrieved 18 Jun 2017. For many years, nearby

(277 m) was thought to be Dorset's highest hill, until modern survey revealed that Lewesdon Hill was 2 metres higher. Dorset's third highest point is Bulbarrow Hill (274 m). Lewesdon's

topographic prominence In topography, prominence (also referred to as autonomous height, relative height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop or relative height in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contou ...

of 185 metres qualifies it as a Marilyn.

Geology

The hill is formed from upper

greensand Greensand or green sand is a sand or sandstone which has a greenish color. This term is specifically applied to shallow marine sediment that contains noticeable quantities of rounded greenish grains. These grains are called ''glauconies'' and co ...

which is more resistant to

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is dis ...

than the surrounding

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

History

Like many of the high hills in Dorset, including its neighbour

, it is the site of an

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...

hillfort A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...

. Parts of the original

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

and

ditch A ditch is a small to moderate divot created to channel water. A ditch can be used for drainage, to drain water from low-lying areas, alongside roadways or fields, or to channel water from a more distant source for plant irrigation. Ditches ar ...

are still visible although they have been disturbed by gravel quarrying and timber removal.''Lewesdon Hill''
at www.dorsetforyou.gov.uk. Retrieved 18 June 2017 The remains of the hillfort are a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

. Lewesdon was also the site of one of the Armada Beacons in 1588 used to warn of impending attack by Spain.

Access

It is a

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

property. There are two main footpaths leading up to the summit, one from the village of Broadwindsor, and one from Coombe Lane (off the B3162 between Broadwindsor and Bridport, just before the Four Ash crossroads). The Coombe Lane footpath leads to the hill via another, smaller hill, Crabb's Hill, which is privately owned. The east–west footpath is part of the Wessex Ridgeway. OS ''Landranger'' 193, 1:50,000 series.

References

Gallery

File:Lewesdon Hill from the south.jpg, Lewesdon Hill from the south File:Lewesdonhilldorset.jpg, View of Lewesdon Hill from Leweston Farm in 1963 {{Iron Age hillforts in England Hills of Dorset Hill forts in Dorset Marilyns of England Highest points of English counties National Trust properties in Dorset