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Golden Cap

Sacred Hill

Fieldnotes

Ok so perhaps it's gratuitous to write yet another fieldnote for this place, but I LOVE IT SO MUCH. We were up here several hours but the time just raced by. You can spread yourself out in the sun and feel supported by the weight of the huge cliff beneath you, drink in the sunshine, be lulled by the sound of the waves on the distant shore below. The ground is carpeted with gorgeous seaside plants like thrift and sea campion, but also heathy things like heather - it's a lovely mix. For such a sunny sunday the place should have been heaving with people but there was hardly a soul up here, it was gloriously calm.

This visit perhaps I was more aware of the surrounding landscape - there are so many strangely shaped hills topped with earthworks and I spotted a hill with a perfectly placed barrow. You're on top of the world - not lording over it, just excellently placed to appreciate it spreading out around you. (By the way, I was less convinced by Julian's theory about the landscape figure* - the head would be at a rather cricked angle. But maybe..)

Visit - you will not be disappointed. And if you want to freak yourself out a bit afterwards, head for (the imaginatively titled) Seatown, where you can see from the beach just how monstrous the cliff you've just been peering over really is. Also you'll deserve the beer/icecream you can buy there after your exertions.


*he is talking about the long Langdon Hill. To add to the area's hidden landscape, J. Harte in the Third Stone 29 article 'Hidden Laughter' talks of a fairy sighting on the Langdon Hill - Chideock footpath in the 1940s...
Rhiannon Posted by Rhiannon
30th June 2003ce
Edited 28th October 2005ce

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