Ham Hill, Somerset
Scenic point Somerset, England
About Ham Hill, Somerset
Ham Hill sits about 260 feet above the Somerset Levels, roughly six miles northwest of Yeovil, and the view from its war memorial takes in the Mendip Hills, the Quantocks, the Blackdown Hills, and the Dorset Downs — Glastonbury Tor is visible on a clear day. The hill is one of the largest Iron Age hillforts in Britain, its ramparts built somewhere between 600 and 100 BC and still very much readable in the landscape. People have been here far longer than that — occupation goes back to the Neolithic — and the Romans later used the site as a military base and began quarrying its distinctive honey-coloured limestone, called hamstone. That quarrying carried on hard through the Victorian era, leaving behind the lumpy, pockmarked terrain that makes walking the hill feel unlike most country parks. The stone itself built much of the surrounding area; you'll see it in village walls and church towers for miles around. Two quarries still operate here, both owned by the Duchy of Cornwall.
Location & details
- Category
- Scenic point
- Region
- Somerset, England, United Kingdom
- Coordinates
- 50.95178, -2.74108
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