- Eggardon Hill
Eggardon Hill is located on chalk uplands approximately four miles to the east of
Bridport , in the English county ofDorset . It stands 250 metres (820 feet) above sea level, and provides panoramic views to the south, north and west. The southern half of the hill is owned and maintained by The National Trust (which permits free public access throughout the year) with the northern part in private ownership.Eggardon Hill is first documented in the
Domesday Book of1086 . From about300 BC , it was used as ahill fort — anIron Age defended settlement. It is usually held that such forts were captured and forcibly vacated by the Romans during the of43 AD, although there is only indirect evidence for this; Eggardon Hill itself has never been excavated by archaeologists. The presence of several tumuli (or "barrows") on the hill provides another indication of prehistoric use.Latterly, notorious smuggler
Isaac Gulliver (1745 -1822 ) (who owned Eggardon Hill Farm) is reputed to have planted a stand of pine trees on Eggardon Hill, to provide an aid to navigation for his ships as they approached the Dorset coast. Although the trees were later felled on government orders, the octagonal earthworks used to protect them from the elements is still visible today, and marked onOrdnance Survey maps of the area.The name Eggardon is derived from an Old English place name, meaning "the hill belonging to Eohhere".
External links
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