Exmoor

About Exmoor in brief

Exmoor is an area of hilly open moorland in west Somerset and north Devon in South West England. It is named after the River Exe, the source of which is situated in the centre of the area, two miles north-west of Simonsbath. Exmoor was once a Royal forest and hunting ground, covering 18,810 acres, which was sold off in 1818. It was designated a National Park in 1954, under the 1949 National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act. There is evidence of human occupation from the Mesolithic for agriculture and extraction of mineral ores into the bronze and Iron Ages. The highest point on Exm Moor is Dunkery Beacon; at 519 metres it is also the highest point in Somerset. The largest settlements are Porlock, Dulverton, Lynton, and Lynmouth, which together contain almost 40 per cent of the park’s population. The area has been designated as a national character area by Natural England, the public body responsible for England’s natural environment. In 1993 an environmentally sensitive area was established within the park. Several areas within the Ex moor National Park have been declared Sites of Special Scientific Interest due to their flora and fauna. The Beast of ExMoor, a cryptozoological cat roaming Exmur, has also been reported to roam the moor. It has been reported that it has been seen in the area since the 1970s, and is believed to have been killed by a stray dog.

The park has 55 kilometres of coastline, which was recognised as a heritage coast in 1991. It includes the Brendon Hills, the East Lyn Valley, the Vale of Porlock and 55 km of the Bristol Channel coast. The upland area is underlain by sedimentary rocks dating from the Devonian and early Carboniferous periods with Triassic and Jurassic age rocks on lower slopes. Its highest cliff is the Hangman Sandstone Formation at 318m high, with a face of 250 m. Its sister sister is the Little Hangman 200m high cliff, which marks a remarkably old landform, which is covered by moor landform. The name of the geological period and system, ‘Devonian’, comes from Devon, as rocks of that age were first studied and described here. With the exception of a suite of Triassic. age rocks forming the lower ground between Porlock. and Timberscombe and from Minehead to Yarde, all of the solid rocks ofexmoor are assigned to the Exmoore Group. The highest sea cliff on mainland Britain is Great Hangman near Combe Combe, at 318 m high, which has a sister cliff face with a 250m high face of Little Martin Combe. The Devon Redlands are to the south and the Vale. of Taunton and Quantock Fringes to the east. The Exmooor National Park is primarily an upland. area with a dispersed population living mainly in small villages and hamlets.