43042 (The National Parks of Great Britan), страница 4

33 km² (8154 acres) of wet heathland

84 km² (20756 acres) of tree plantations (“inclosures”) established since the 18^th century, including 80 km² (19768 acres) planted by the Forestry Commission since the 1920s.

It is drained to the south by two rivers, the Lymington and Beaulieu.

7. Exmoor

Exmoor is a National Park situated on the Bristol Channel coast of south west England. The park straddles two counties, with 71% of the park located in Somerset and 29% located in Devon. The total area of the park, which includes the Brendon Hills and the Vale of Porlock, covers 267 square miles (691.5 km²) of hilly open moorland and includes 34 miles (55 km) of coast. It is primarily an upland area with a dispersed population living mainly in small villages and hamlets. The largest settlements are Porlock, Dulverton, Lynton, and Lynmouth, which together contain almost 40% of the National Park population. Lynton and Lynmouth are combined into one parish and are connected by the Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway.

Prior to being a park, Exmoor was a Royal Forest and hunting ground, which was sold off in 1818. Exmoor was one of the first British National Parks, designated in 1954, under the 1949 National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act, ^[1] and is named after the main river that flows out of the district, the River Exe.

Several areas of the moor have been declared a Site of Special Scientific interest due to the flora and fauna. This title earns the site some legal protection from development, damage, and neglect. In 1993 Exmoor was also designated as an Environmentally Sensitive Area.

History

There is evidence of occupation of the area by people from times, onward. In the Neolithic period, people started to manage animals and grow crops on farms cleared from the woodland, rather than act purely as hunters and as gatherers It is also likely that extraction and smelting of mineral ores to make metal tools, weapons, containers and ornaments started in the late Neolithic, and continued into the bronze and iron ages. An earthen ring at Parracombe is believed to be a Neolithic henge dating from 5000-4000 BC, and “Cow Castle", which is where White Water meets the River Barle, is an Iron Age fort at the top of a conical hill. ^[25] Tarr Steps are a prehistoric (circa 1000 BC) clapper bridge across the River Barle, about 2.5 miles (4 km) south east of Withypool and 4 miles (6 km) north west of Dulverton. The stone slabs weigh up to 5 long tons (5,080 kg) apiece and the bridge has been designated by English Heritage as a grade I listed building, to recognise its special architectural, historical or cultural significance. There is little evidence of Roman occupation apart from two fortlets on the coast

Holwell Castle, at Parracombe, was a Norman motte and bailey castle built to guard the junction of the east-west and north-south trade routes, enabling movement of people and goods and the growth of the population Alternative explanations for its construction suggest it may have been constructed to obtain taxes at the River Heddon bridging place, or to protect and supervise silver mining in the area around Combe Martin. It was 131 feet (40 m) in diameter and 20 feet (6 m) high above the bottom of a rock cut ditch which is 9 feet (3 m) deep. It was built, in the late 11^th or early 12^th century, of earth with timber palisades for defence and a one or two storey wooden dwelling. It was probably built by either Martin de Tours, the first lord of Parracombe, William de Falaise (who married Martin’s widow) or Robert FitzMartin, although there are no written records to validate this. The earthworks of the castle are still clearly visible from a nearby footpath, but there is no public access to them. During the Middle Ages, sheep farming for the wool trade came to dominate the economy. The wool was spun into thread on isolated farms and collected by merchants to be woven, fulled, dyed and finished in thriving towns such as Dunster. The land started to be enclosed and from the 17^th century onwards larger estates developed, leading to establishment of areas of large regular shaped fields. During the 16^th and 17^th centuries the commons were overstocked with agisted livestock, from farmers outside the immediate area who were charged for the privilege. This led to disputes about the number of animals allowed and the enclosure of land. During this period a Royal Forest and hunting ground was established, administered by a warden, so that king Charles I could benefit from the fines and rents.

In the mid-17^th century John Boevey was the warden. He built a house at Simonsbath, and for 150 years it was the only house in the forest. The Royal Forest was sold off in 1818. The Simonsbath House was bought along with the accompanying farm by John Knight for the sum of £50,000. Knight set about converting the Royal Forest into agricultural land. He and his family built most of the large farms in the central section of the moor, and built 22 miles (35 km) of metalled access roads to Simonsbath. He built a 29-mile (47 km) wall around his estate, much of which still survives.

In the mid-19^th century a mine was developed alongside the River Barle. The mine was originally called Wheal Maria, then changed to Wheal Eliza. It was a copper mine from 1845-54 and then an iron mine until 1857, although the first mining activity on the site may be from 1552 At Simonsbath, a restored Victorian water-powered sawmill, which was damaged in the floods of 1992, has now been purchased by the National Park and returned to working order; it is now used to make the footpath signs, gates, stiles, and bridges for various sites in the park

Geology

Exmoor is an upland of sedimentary rocks classified as gritstones, sandstones, slate, shale and limestone, siltstones, and mudstones depending on the particle size. They are largely from the Devonian and early Carboniferous periods (the name Devonian comes from Devon, as rocks of that age were first studied and described here). As this area of Britain was not subject to glaciation, the plateau remains as a remarkably old landform. Quartz and iron mineralisation can be detected in outcrops and subsoil. The Glenthorne area demonstrates the Trentishoe Formation of the Hangman Sandstone Group. The Hangman Sandstone represents the Middle Devonian sequence of North Devon and Somerset. These unusual freshwater deposits in the Hangman Grits, were mainly formed in desert conditions. The underlying rocks are covered by moors and supported by wet, acid soil. The highest point on Exmoor is Dunkery Beacon; at 1,704 feet (519 m) it is also the highest point in Somerset.

Coastline

Exmoor has 34 miles (55 km) of coastline, including the highest cliffs in England, which reach a height of 1,350 feet (411 m) at Culbone Hill. However, the crest of this coastal ridge of hills is more than a mile (1.6 km) from the sea. If a cliff is defined as having a slope greater than 60 degrees, the highest cliff on mainland Britain is Great Hangman near Combe Martin at 1,043 feet (318 m) high, with a cliff face of 800 feet (244 m). Its sister cliff is the 716 feet (218 m) Little Hangman, which marks the edge of Exmoor.

Exmoor’s woodlands sometimes reach the shoreline, especially between Porlock and The Foreland, where they form the single longest stretch of coastal woodland in England and Wales. The Exmoor Coastal Heaths have been recognised as a Site of Special Scientific Interest due to the diversity of plant species present.

The scenery of rocky headlands, ravines, waterfalls and towering cliffs gained the Exmoor coast recognition as a Heritage Coast in 1991. With its huge waterfalls and caves, this dramatic coastline has become an adventure playground for both climbers and for explorers. The cliffs provide one of the longest and most isolated seacliff traverses in the UK. The South West Coast Path, at 630 miles (1,014 km) the longest National Trail in England and Wales, starts at Minehead and runs along all of Exmoor’s coast. There are small harbours at Lynmouth, Porlock Weir, and Combe Martin. Once crucial to coastal trade, the harbours are now primarily used for pleasure; individually owned sail boats and non-commercial fishing boats are often found in the harbours

Flora

Dunkery Beacon, with heather in bloom

Uncultivated heath and moorland cover about a quarter of Exmoor landscape. Some moors are covered by a variety of grasses and sedges, while others are dominated by heather. There are also cultivated areas including the Brendon Hills, which lie in the east of the National Park. There are also 32.4 square miles (84 km²) of woodland, comprising a mixture of broad-leaved (oak, ash and hazel) and conifer trees. Horner Woodlands and Tarr Steps woodlands are prime examples. The country’s highest beech wood, 1, 200 feet (366 m) above sea level, is at Birch Cleave at Simonsbath. At least two species of whitebeam tree: Sorbus subcuneata and Sorbus ‘Taxon D’ are unique to Exmoor. These woodlands are home to lichens, mosses and ferns. Exmoor is the only national location for the lichens Biatoridium delitescens, Rinodina fimbriata and Rinodina flavosoralifera, the latter having been found only on one individual tree.

Fauna

A herd of Exmoor pony foals

Sheep have grazed on the moors for more than 3,000 years, shaping much of the Exmoor landscape by feeding on moorland grasses and heather. Traditional breeds include Exmoor Horn, Cheviot and Whiteface Dartmoor and Greyface Dartmoor sheep. Devon ruby red cattle are also farmed in the area. Exmoor ponies can be seen roaming freely on the moors. They are a landrace rather than a breed of pony, and may be the closest breed to Equus ferus remaining in Europe. The ponies are rounded up once a year to be marked and checked over. In 1818 Sir Richard Acland, the last warden of Exmoor, took thirty ponies and established the Acland Herd, now known as the Anchor Herd, whose direct descendants still roam the moor. In the Second World War the moor became a training ground, and the breed was nearly killed off, with only 50 ponies surviving the war. The ponies are classified as endangered by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust, with only 390 breeding females left in the UK. In 2006 a Rural Enterprise Grant, administered locally by the South West Rural Development Service, was obtained to create a new Exmoor Pony Centre at Ashwick, at a disused farm with 17 acres (6.9 ha) of land with a further 138 acres (56 ha) of moorland.

Red deer have a stronghold on the moor and can be seen on quiet hillsides in remote areas, particularly in the early morning. The moorland habitat is also home to hundreds of species of birds and insects. Birds seen on the moor include Merlin, Peregrine Falcon, Eurasian Curlew, European Stonechat, Dipper, Dartford Warbler and Ring Ouzel. Black Grouse and Red Grouse are now extinct on Exmoor, probably as a result of a reduction in habitat management, and for the former species, an increase in visitor pressure.

Beast of Exmoor

The Beast of Exmoor is a cryptozoological cat (see phantom cat) that is reported to roam Exmoor. There have been numerous reports of eyewitness sightings, however the official Exmoor National Park website lists the beast under “Traditions, Folklore, and Legends”,and the BBC calls it “the famous-yet-elusive beast of Exmoor. Allegedly." Sightings were first reported in the 1970s, although it became notorious in 1983, when a South Molton farmer claimed to have lost over 100 sheep in the space of three months, all of them apparently killed by violent throat injuries. It is reported as being between 4 and 8 feet (1.2 and 2.4 m) from nose to tail. Descriptions of its colouration range from black to tan or dark grey. It is possibly a Cougar or Black Leopard which was released after a law was passed in 1976 making it illegal for them to be kept in captivity outside zoos. In 2006, the British Big Cats Society reported that a skull found by a Devon farmer was that of a Puma, however, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) states, “Based on the evidence, Defra does not believe that there are big cats living in the wild in England. ”

Places of interest