Beacon Fell is a

fell A fell (from Old Norse ''fell'', ''fjall'', "mountain"Falk and Torp (2006:161).) is a high and barren landscape feature, such as a mountain or Moorland, moor-covered hill. The term is most often employed in Fennoscandia, Iceland, the Isle o ...

in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

Goosnargh Goosnargh ( ) is a village and civil parish in the City of Preston district of Lancashire, England. The village lies between Broughton and Longridge, and mostly lies in the civil parish of Whittingham, although the ancient centre lies in ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, England. The high ground, which rises to , has been a

country park A country park is a natural area designated for people to visit and enjoy recreation in a countryside environment. United Kingdom History In the United Kingdom, the term ''country park'' has a special meaning. There are around 250 recognised coun ...

since 1970. It is situated within the south westerly part of the

Forest of Bowland The Forest of Bowland, also known as the Bowland Fells and formerly the Chase of Bowland, is an area of gritstone fells, deep valleys and peat moorland, mostly in north-east Lancashire, England, with a small part in North Yorkshire (however ro ...

, an

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is an area of countryside in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of thei ...

Location

Beacon Fell is an isolated hill south of the main range of hills in the

. Although, at above sea level, small compared with the neighbouring fells, its position offers commanding views over the flat plain of

the Fylde The Fylde () is a coastal plain in western Lancashire, England. It is roughly a square-shaped peninsula, bounded by Morecambe Bay to the north, the Ribble estuary to the south, the Irish Sea to the west, and the foot of the Bowland hills t ...

and

Morecambe Bay Morecambe Bay is a large estuary in northwest England, just to the south of the Lake District National Park. It is the largest expanse of intertidal mudflats and sand in the United Kingdom, covering a total area of . In 1974, the second larges ...

to the west, as well as the Ribble valley to the south. From Beacon Fell there are extensive views * to the west, of the whole of the Fylde, including

Blackpool Tower Blackpool Tower is a tourist attraction in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, which was opened to the public on 14 May 1894. When it opened, Blackpool Tower was the List of tallest buildings in the British Empire and the Commonwealth, tallest man m ...

; * to the north-west, the southern part of Morecambe Bay; * to the north and north-east, of the Forest of Bowland hills, particularly

Fair Snape Fell Fair Snape Fell is one of the larger hills in the Forest of Bowland in Lancashire, England. It occupies a position in the very south of the main range of fells, alongside and just to the north of Parlick, to which it is joined by a ridge. The m ...

and

Parlick Parlick (also known as Parlick Pike) is an approximately cone-shaped steep-sided hill at the extreme south of the main range of Bowland fells in Lancashire, England. Its bog-free sides make it more popular with walkers than the shallow boggy h ...

; * to the east, of Chipping,

Pendle Hill Pendle Hill is in the east of Lancashire, England, near the towns of Burnley, Nelson, Colne, Brierfield, Clitheroe and Padiham. Its summit is above mean sea level. It gives its name to the Borough of Pendle. It is an isolated hill in the Pe ...

Longridge Fell Longridge Fell is the most southerly fell in England, near the town of Longridge, Lancashire. It lies at the southern end of the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. As its name suggests, it takes the form of a long ridge which r ...

and

Longridge Longridge is a market town and civil parish in the borough of Ribble Valley in Lancashire, England. It is situated north-east of the city of Preston, at the western end of Longridge Fell, a long ridge above the River Ribble. Its nearest neigh ...

; * to the south, of

Preston Preston is a place name, surname and given name that may refer to: Places England *Preston, Lancashire, an urban settlement **The City of Preston, Lancashire, a borough and non-metropolitan district which contains the settlement **County Boro ...

. On a clear day the Welsh hills, the

Lake District The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes, forests, and mountains (or ''fells''), and its associations with William Wordswor ...

hills and the

Isle of Man ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...

may be visible.

History

The high visibility of the fell made it an ideal location for a beacon. A beacon on the fell has been recorded as early as 1002."Your Lancashire – View Points"
''Lancashire County Council'', accessed 29 May 2012 The fell formed part of a chain of beacons to warn of the approach of the

Spanish Armada The Spanish Armada (a.k.a. the Enterprise of England, es, Grande y Felicísima Armada, links=no, lit=Great and Most Fortunate Navy) was a Spanish fleet that sailed from Lisbon in late May 1588, commanded by the Duke of Medina Sidonia, an aris ...

in 1588,Freethy, Ron (8 April 2009)
"Walks in the Lake District: Beacon Fell walk"
''Lancashire Telegraph'', accessed 29 May 2012 and of French forces between 1795 and 1815. More recently, beacon chains have been lit in celebration of coronations and jubilees. In 1909,

Fulwood Urban District Fulwood was an urban district of Lancashire, England. It was subject to some changes in its boundaries:http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/relationships.jsp?u_id=10137019&c_id=10001043 *1 April 1934: lost to County Borough of Preston *1 April ...

Council bought the fell, which until then had been farmland, as a water supply. Under the provisions of the Fulwood and Whittingham Water Act of 1882, water from the fell was collected in the existing Barnsfold Reservoirs, to the south-west, and from there piped to Fulwood and Whittingham Asylum via Horns Dam Reservoir in

parish and a small covered reservoir in

Haighton Haighton is a civil parish in the City of Preston, Lancashire, England. It is a rural area north east of the urban city of Preston, beyond Fulwood and Brookfield. Geography Haighton also contains the hamlets of Haighton Green and Haighton T ...

. Conifer woodland was planted on the fell to help manage drainage. From 1959, the fell was no longer required for water, and was left to fall into disrepair.(14 October 2010
"News : Beacon Fell Country Park is 40 years-old"
''Lancashire County Council'', accessed 29 May 2012 The reservoirs at Barnsfold are now used for angling.

Country park

Lancashire County Council Lancashire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire, England. It consists of 84 councillors. Since the 2017 election, the council has been under Conservative control. Prior to the 2009 La ...

acquired the site in 1969 and opened it, in October 1970, as one in the first tranche of

s in the United Kingdom. A new road was built connecting the existing single-track roads on the fell to form a circular route around the fell, to be operated as a

one-way One-way or one way may refer to: *One-way traffic, a street either facilitating only one-way traffic, or designed to direct vehicles to move in one direction *One-way travel, a trip that does not return to its origin Music *One Way (American ban ...

system. Car parks were added, and on the site of a farmhouse a visitor centre was built. The park is popular with visitors. It has a network of well-maintained footpaths through largely

coniferous Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All extant ...

woodland. The Bowland Visitor Centre provides information about the fell and the Forest of Bowland, and serves refreshments. Wildlife that may be observed on the fell includes

rabbit Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit speci ...

hare Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores, and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The ge ...

roe deer The roe deer (''Capreolus capreolus''), also known as the roe, western roe deer, or European roe, is a species of deer. The male of the species is sometimes referred to as a roebuck. The roe is a small deer, reddish and grey-brown, and well-adapt ...

stoat The stoat (''Mustela erminea''), also known as the Eurasian ermine, Beringian ermine and ermine, is a mustelid native to Eurasia and the northern portions of North America. Because of its wide circumpolar distribution, it is listed as Least Conc ...

weasel Weasels are mammals of the genus ''Mustela'' of the family Mustelidae. The genus ''Mustela'' includes the least weasels, polecats, stoats, ferrets and European mink. Members of this genus are small, active predators, with long and slender bo ...

red fox The red fox (''Vulpes vulpes'') is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the Order (biology), order Carnivora, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe ...

badger Badgers are short-legged omnivores in the family Mustelidae (which also includes the otters, wolverines, martens, minks, polecats, weasels, and ferrets). Badgers are a polyphyletic rather than a natural taxonomic grouping, being united b ...

hedgehog A hedgehog is a spiny mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, in the eulipotyphlan family Erinaceidae. There are seventeen species of hedgehog in five genera found throughout parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in New Zealand by introducti ...

mole Mole (or Molé) may refer to: Animals * Mole (animal) or "true mole", mammals in the family Talpidae, found in Eurasia and North America * Golden moles, southern African mammals in the family Chrysochloridae, similar to but unrelated to Talpida ...

grey squirrel The eastern gray squirrel (''Sciurus carolinensis''), also known, particularly outside of North America, as simply the grey squirrel, is a tree squirrel in the genus ''Sciurus''. It is native to eastern North America, where it is the most prodi ...

and the

otter Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine, with diets based on fish and invertebrates. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which also includes wea ...

. Eleven species of

dragonflies A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of true dragonfly are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threa ...

and

damselflies Damselflies are flying insects of the suborder Zygoptera in the order Odonata. They are similar to dragonflies, which constitute the other odonatan suborder, Anisoptera, but are smaller and have slimmer bodies. Most species fold the wings along ...

have been found around the fell's tarn. Charges were introduced in the car parks nearest to the visitor centre in 2011.

Art installations

The fell features a number of sculptures by local artist

Thompson Dagnall Thompson Dagnall is a British sculptor. Born in Liverpool on 15 February 1956, he attended Liverpool Polytechnic, Liverpool and University of Brighton, Brighton Polytechnics before gaining an Master of Arts, MA at Chelsea College of Art and Desig ...

, ''Black Tiger and Kissing Seat'' (2006), ''Walking Snake'' (1998), ''Spruced up Heron'' (1996) and ''Orme Sight'' (1996) however the ''Owl'' (2013) which eplaced ''Hanging Bat'' (1998)was not carved by Thompson Dagnall.Thompson Dagnell: List of Works
, accessed 11 July 2008 Lancaster artist

Richard Shilling Richard Shilling (born 1973) is a British artist and photographer working in the field of land art and sculpture in the North West of England. He is currently artist in residence at The Middlewood Trust, Roeburndale. Shilling is known for his ...

is artist in residence who creates short-lasting sculptures from surrounding materials.

Cheese

Beacon Fell Traditional Lancashire Cheese Lancashire is an English cow's-milk cheese from the county of Lancashire. There are three distinct varieties of Lancashire cheese. Young ''Creamy Lancashire'' and mature ''Tasty Lancashire'' are produced by a traditional method, whereas ''Crumbly ...

, named after the Fell, and currently manufactured in

and

Garstang Garstang is an ancient market town and civil parish within the Wyre borough of Lancashire, England. It is north of the city of Preston and the same distance south of Lancaster. In 2011, the parish had a total resident population of 4,268 ...

, has

Protected Designation of Origin The protected designation of origin (PDO) is a type of geographical indication of the European Union and the United Kingdom aimed at preserving the designations of origin of food-related products. The designation was created in 1992 and its main ...

status. Only cheeses made with milk from

or the

area, and conforming to the published method of production, may use this name.DEFRA - Beacon Fell Traditional Lancashire Cheese
accessed 12 November 2008

References

External links

Walking Lancashire - Country Parks
{{Authority control Hills of the Forest of Bowland Parks and commons in the City of Preston Mountains and hills of Lancashire Country parks in Lancashire Goosnargh