Langdon Hill Walk
1. From the car park go through the gate signposted towards Golden Cap. Follow the main path around the side of the hill. The clearings on the left as you get to the bench give magnificent views over Chidock and the surrounding countryside. Seatown lies where the River Winniford meets the coast and Thorncombe Beacon stands on the cliffs beyond.
2. Take the second path that leads off the main track and follow the way-markers towards the right. Continue on the path below to the main track. From the seaward side it is possible to see Golden Cap, the highest point on the south coast, reaching a towering 188 meters. It gets its colour from minerals in the rock that glisten a rusty-gold when exposed in the sunlight.
3. Continue on this lower path until the path naturally goes uphill to the main track. As you walk on this path look down into the lower fields. This a great place to look for farm birds like the lapwing, linnet and skylark.
4.When you get back up to the main track, take a seat on the bench and have a look at the hill in front of you. This is Hardown Hill. It used to be quarried by local villagers to make roads. Follow the way-marker and continue on the main track back towards the car park.
Features
An ancient landscape
Langdon Hill was open downland in the 19th century and the earliest maps show that the land was divided between two farms - Filcombe and Langdon. At the beginning of the walk after only a few hundred metres look out for the large bank andditch that once divided the hill. The place name Chideock is pre-Saxon in originandin 1086 the manor was owned directly by the king.
Burial mounds brought into military service
Five bronze-age burial mounds on the cliff top at Golden Cap were built 4000 years ago. More recently, the Cap has been used for military purposes, probably as early as 1539. Two-hundred years ago a signal station was built to watch for invasion by Napoleon’s armies. After 1814, brick signal houses were constructed.
War Burials
The lower network of fields were formed over many centuries. Hardown Hillused to be quarried by local villagers to make the main road. A group ofmounds on the hilltop contained warrior burials dating to the early Saxon period1400 years ago.