MEM24553 - 19th Century viewpoint in Yearnor Woods (Monument)

SS 8448148346. A viewpoint is located on a path between Ashley Combe and Culbone Church, where the drive turns sharply to the SW to make the descent into Culbone. A flat topped mound, 8.2 metres long, 3.3 metres wide and up to 1.3 metres high, has a yew tree and a strawberry tree growing on it. A retaining drystone wall lies on the south side of the platform. The other side of the drive has a retaining wall and the drive has the effect of being sunken below the viewpoint. 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]