MEM24552 - 19th Century viewpoint in Yearnor Woods (Monument)

SS 84784 48294. A viewpoint is at the junction of two drives on a path between Ashley Combe and Culbone Church. A semi circular flat topped mound, 16 metres east to west, 4 metres north to south and 1 metre high, with a drystone retaining wall on its north side and a drystone wall on its south side, enhances a naturally occurring promontory. A small, subrectangular platform with a drystone wall at its west side on the northeastern side of the promontory may have been for a seat. The 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map [1] shows most but not all of the 19th Century drives and paths between Ashley Combe and Culbone; the tunnels are also depicted on the map. Documentary evidence suggests that the drives were laid out in the 1840s and perhaps largely completed by the early 1850s, when Lord King travelled abroad following his wife’s death in 1852. [2]