Dunkery Beacon

Nearest town:
Minehead (10km NE)
OS reference:
SS892415
OS sheet:
181
Latitude:
51° 9' 41.18 N
Longitude:
3° 35' 5.03 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Dunkery Beacon (Cairn(s)) by thelonious

22/03/2017 – Plodding along towards Dunkery Beacon from Great Rowbarrow. It’s a fine focal point in the landscape.

thelonious
thelonious Mar 26, 2017
Image of Dunkery Beacon (Cairn(s)) by thesweetcheat

The possible/probable cairn to the SE of the main summit cairn.

Image credit: A. Brookes (23.12.2011)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Dec 27, 2011
Image of Dunkery Beacon (Cairn(s)) by thesweetcheat

The disturbed cairn to the west of the largest summit cairn.

Image credit: A. Brookes (23.12.2011)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Dec 27, 2011
Image of Dunkery Beacon (Cairn(s)) by thesweetcheat

The large summit cairn, with modern commemorative cairn on top. This is the highest point in Somerset and I have never been to a more god-forsaken spot. The direction of the photo is roughly south, the only direction that the driving wind and near-horizontal rain wasn’t making photography entirely impossible.

Image credit: A. Brookes (23.12.2011)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Dec 27, 2011
Image of Dunkery Beacon (Cairn(s)) by thesweetcheat

Sitting in the comparative shelter of the modern summit cairn, on top of the largest bronze age cairn, looking southeast. The light green mound beyond the topograph is another possible/probable cairn.

Image credit: A. Brookes (23.12.2011)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Dec 27, 2011
Image of Dunkery Beacon (Cairn(s)) by morfe

Dunkery Beacon viewed from Wilmersham Common.

Image credit: morfe & scott
morfe
morfe Feb 9, 2008

Articles

Dunkery Beacon

Bronze Age Monument Vandalised

Kammer
Kammer Feb 11, 2003

From an article on the BBC News Web site, published 10th February 2003:

The Bronze Age cairns at Dunkery Beacon on Exmoor have been daubed with pro-hunting graffiti and a viewpoint indicator has been damaged.

The words “no hunt-no deer” were sprayed over the cairns, between mid-afternoon on Sunday and early Monday morning.

More ...

Dunkery Beacon

thelonious
thelonious Mar 26, 2017

22/03/2017 – Fine walk from Porlock to Wheddon Cross via Dunkery Beacon today. For anyone interested in routes, access etc we went

Porlock -> Hawkcombe Woods -> Porlock stone circle -> Alderman’s Barrow -> Almsworthy stone setting -> Bendels Barrows -> Great Rowbarrow -> Dunkery Beacon -> Dunkery Bridge -> Mansley Combe -> Wheddon Cross

Took all day with our slow plodding but it was a good way to get a feel for Exmoor, a place I hadn’t been to before. Mostly on good tracks/roads, a bit wet underfoot today. The weather was changeable to say the least, snowing in the morning then lovely sun and blue skies in the afternoon.

Dunkery Beacon really does catch your eye from far away. A strong feature in the landscape. We were lucky to get the top to ourselves today but I guess it’s a busy spot in the summer months. The cairns at the summit are a fair size with the main one having a modern commemorative cairn on top. If you like a trigpoint, sad to say Dunkery Beacon’s is long gone. Very good views today as the weather was kind (I was thinking of TSC’s battle against the elements whilst there and thanked my lucky stars).

If you like an upland cairn with a view you can’t go wrong with this place. Lots to see and do in the area as well. Top day out.

Folklore

Dunkery Beacon
Cairn(s)
Rhiannon
Rhiannon Aug 10, 2006

Mr J Ll W Page, in his ‘Exploration of Exmoor’ (pub 1895), wrote :- “One of the most beautiful of Easter customs still survives. Young men have not yet ceased, on the Resurrection morning, to climb over the nearest hill top to see the sun flash over the dark ridge of Quantock, or the more distant line of Mendip.

“The sight of the newly risen luminary on this particular morning is to them an augury of good luck, as it was to the white robed Druid in the ages that are past. Early in the [19th] century, Dunkery, probably because it is the highest land in Somerset, was favoured above all surrounding hills, and its sides, says Miss King, were covered with young men, who seemed to come from every quarter of the compass and to be pressing up towards the Beacon.”

From ‘Calender of Customs, Superstitions, Weather Lore, Popular Sayings and Important Events Connected with the County of Somerset’, by W G Willis Watson, 1920.

Folklore

Dunkery Beacon
Cairn(s)
Rhiannon
Rhiannon Aug 3, 2005

Ruth Tongue was told in 1944 by a Person from Porlock that people used to climb to the top of Dunkery Beacon to see the sun rise on Easter Sunday, ‘for good luck’.

(Somerset Folklore, 1965)

Miscellaneous

Dunkery Beacon
Cairn(s)
Chance
Chance Dec 17, 2014

Details of cairns on Pastscape

Five cairns of probable Bronze Age date are visible on the summit of Dunkery Beacon. The cairns were surveyed by English Heritage in August 2004 in response to a request by The National Trust and have been transcribed as closely as possible during the Exmoor National Mapping Programme survey. The group was previously recorded as both UID 35995 and 35990, but have now been combined into 35990 utilizing Grinsell’s numbering scheme and with a concordance with the Scheduled Monument numbers.

Miscellaneous

Dunkery Beacon
Cairn(s)
Kammer
Kammer Feb 11, 2003

I’ve not visited this site, but I understand that at 519 metres, Dunkery Beacon is the highest point on Exmoor (that’s 1,706 feet if you’re still using old money). The beacon is capped with two Bronze Age cairns.

Kammer x

Topics

Exmoor Cairns to get protective covering 8
I
Ishmael
Jul 2005
Bronze Age monument vandalised 24
Pete G
Pete G
Feb 2003

Sites within 20km of Dunkery Beacon

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