Coombe Hill, Buckinghamshire
Encyclopedia
Coombe Hill is a hill in The Chilterns
, located next to the hamlet of Dunsmore, Buckinghamshire
, England
, near the small town of Wendover
, and overlooking Aylesbury Vale
. It is not to be confused with another Coombe Hill on the flank of Haddington Hill
, some two miles (3 km) to the north-east.
The majority of the hill (an area of 106 acres (43 ha)) once formed part of the Chequers
Estate but was presented to the National Trust
by the United Kingdom
government when they were given the Estate in the 1920s. The summit of the hill is 852 feet / 259.7 m above sea level.
According to Computer-generated virtual panoramas, there is a rare significance that seven county tops are visible from the summit. These are Arbury Hill
(Northamptonshire), Dunstable Downs
(Bedfordshire), Haddington Hill
in Wendover Woods (Buckinghamshire), Pavis Wood
cannot be seen as this is on the southern facing side of the woods, but also included are Bushey Heath (Middlesex), Botley Hill
near Westerham Heights (Greater London), Leith Hill
(Surrey) and the Uffington White Horse
(Oxfordshire). Although this claim can be misleading as it does not include the southern and eastern woodland obscuring the view and therefore only north western views are obtainable. In relation to this, it is very unlikely that Ivinghoe Beacon
and Dunstable Downs are visible because of the woodland in Wendover Woods
.
The view overlooks Chequers
, the country home of the Prime Minister.
The monument was erected in 1904, by public subscription, in memory of 148 men from Buckinghamshire who died during the Second Boer War
. Coombe Hill Monument was almost totally destroyed by lightning in 1938 and was rebuilt in the same year. The original bronze plaque and decorations were stolen in 1972 and replaced with a stone plaque and iron flag. The new stone plaque was also inscribed with the additional names of nine men believed to have been missing on the original. The monument was again badly damaged by a lightning strike in the early 1990s and spent several months in repair. It is now equipped with conductors to prevent the mishap happening again. The monument and a few square yards of surrounding land are owned by Buckinghamshire County Council.
with funds raised by the Coombe Hill Monument Appeal Committee. The committee consisted of:
The Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire
, Sir Henry Aubrey Fletcher Bt JP (Patron);
Major General Stuart Watson CBE (Chairman);
Mark Bailey, Buckinghamshire County Council
(Project Manager);
Lt Col (Retd) Ingram Murray, Honorary Secretary of the Friends of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry
;
Patricia Birchley, Elected Member, Chiltern Ridges;
Johanna Sienkiewicz, local resident, Project Researcher;
Chris Arnold, Ellesborough
Parish Council;
Pam Priestley, Elected Member Wycombe District Council;
Paul Rogerson, Elected Member, Buckinghamshire County Council
; and
Neil Harris, The National Trust
A new plaque corrects spelling errors in the original and adds 2 names that were previously omitted
. The memorial was deep-cleaned, weathered joints were replaced, fresh gold leaf has been applied to the finial, and the county crest and bronze flags above the plaque have been restored
.
trig point
and it is topped with a metal plaque donated in 1988 that points to true north
and to the following distant features: The Cotswolds (53 miles), Brill
Hill (13 miles), Waddesdon Manor
(10 miles), Calvert
Chimneys (15 miles), Aylesbury
Church (5 miles), Mursley
Water Tower (15 miles), Wingrave
Church (8 miles), Leighton Buzzard
(12 miles), Mentmore
(9 miles), Edlesborough
Church (11 miles) and Ivinghoe Beacon
(9 miles).
— including Red Kite
s, Yellowhammer
s and Firecrests — as well as the rare Chiltern gentian. It also holds the habitat to many rare plants, such as heather and orchids. The acid moorland is a Site of Special Scientific Interest
(SSSI), because of its rarity.
origin and means "hollow
".
Computer Generated Panoramas - Coombe Hill http://www.viewfinderpanoramas.org/panoramas/ENGP/COOMBE%20HILL.png
Chiltern Hills
The Chiltern Hills form a chalk escarpment in South East England. They are known locally as "the Chilterns". A large portion of the hills was designated officially as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1965.-Location:...
, located next to the hamlet of Dunsmore, Buckinghamshire
Dunsmore, Buckinghamshire
Dunsmore is a hamlet in the parish of Ellesborough, in Buckinghamshire, England. It occupies a hilltop position in the Chiltern Hills about 2 miles south of Wendover...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, near the small town of Wendover
Wendover
Wendover is a market town that sits at the foot of the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, England. It is also a civil parish within Aylesbury Vale district...
, and overlooking Aylesbury Vale
Aylesbury Vale
The Aylesbury Vale is a large area of flat land mostly in Buckinghamshire, England. Its boundary is marked by Milton Keynes to the north, Leighton Buzzard and the Chiltern Hills to the east and south, Thame to the south and Bicester and Brackley to the west.The vale is named after Aylesbury, the...
. It is not to be confused with another Coombe Hill on the flank of Haddington Hill
Haddington Hill
Haddington Hill is a hill in The Chilterns, and the highest point in the English county of Buckinghamshire. On the north-eastern flank is Coombe Hill, not to be confused with another Coombe Hill 4 kilometres to the south-west....
, some two miles (3 km) to the north-east.
The majority of the hill (an area of 106 acres (43 ha)) once formed part of the Chequers
Chequers
Chequers, or Chequers Court, is a country house near Ellesborough, to the south of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, England, at the foot of the Chiltern Hills...
Estate but was presented to the National Trust
National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty
The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
by the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
government when they were given the Estate in the 1920s. The summit of the hill is 852 feet / 259.7 m above sea level.
Coombe Hill Monument - Second Boer War
For most of human history, war memorials were erected to commemorate great victories; remembering the dead was a secondary concern. Coombe Hill Monument is one of the first and largest examples of a war memorial erected to honor the names of individual men who fell whilst fighting for their country. The monument is an iconic Buckinghamshire landmark and a Grade II Listed monument. At 260m above sea level, it sits on one of the highest and most striking spurs of the Chilterns, commanding a wide view of the Vale of Aylesbury. On a clear day it can be seen from the Berkshire Downs and Salisbury Plain to the south-west and the Cotswolds to the west.According to Computer-generated virtual panoramas, there is a rare significance that seven county tops are visible from the summit. These are Arbury Hill
Arbury Hill
Arbury Hill, at 225 m , is the highest point in the English county of Northamptonshire.It is southwest of the town of Daventry. The River Nene rises nearby.-Earthworks:...
(Northamptonshire), Dunstable Downs
Dunstable Downs
Dunstable Downs are part of the Chiltern Hills, in southern Bedfordshire in England. They are a chalk escarpment forming the north-eastern reaches of the Chilterns...
(Bedfordshire), Haddington Hill
Haddington Hill
Haddington Hill is a hill in The Chilterns, and the highest point in the English county of Buckinghamshire. On the north-eastern flank is Coombe Hill, not to be confused with another Coombe Hill 4 kilometres to the south-west....
in Wendover Woods (Buckinghamshire), Pavis Wood
Pavis Wood
Pavis Wood is an area of woodland on a hill located near Hastoe in Tring, north-western Hertfordshire,England. A point on its eastern slopes is the highest point in the county of Hertfordshire at 244 m . The area is often considered as ancient woodland containing a wide variety of plants such...
cannot be seen as this is on the southern facing side of the woods, but also included are Bushey Heath (Middlesex), Botley Hill
Botley Hill
Botley Hill is a hill in Surrey located on the North Downs with a height of . It is the highest point on the North Downs excluding the roughly parallel Greensand Ridge to the south...
near Westerham Heights (Greater London), Leith Hill
Leith Hill
Leith Hill to the south west of Dorking, Surrey, England, reaches above sea level, the highest point on the Greensand Ridge, and is the second highest point in south-east England, after Walbury Hill near Hungerford, West Berkshire, high....
(Surrey) and the Uffington White Horse
Uffington White Horse
The Uffington White Horse is a highly stylised prehistoric hill figure, 110 m long , formed from deep trenches filled with crushed white chalk...
(Oxfordshire). Although this claim can be misleading as it does not include the southern and eastern woodland obscuring the view and therefore only north western views are obtainable. In relation to this, it is very unlikely that Ivinghoe Beacon
Ivinghoe Beacon
Ivinghoe Beacon is a prominent hill and landmark in the Chiltern Hills, standing 233 m above sea level. It is situated close to the villages of Ivinghoe, Aldbury in Buckinghamshire, the Ashridge Estate, and the village of Little Gaddesden in Hertfordshire, and is managed and owned by the...
and Dunstable Downs are visible because of the woodland in Wendover Woods
Wendover Woods
Wendover Woods is an area of woodland on the north edge of the Chiltern Hills in England. Named after the nearby town of Wendover, the woods are owned by the Forestry Commission....
.
The view overlooks Chequers
Chequers
Chequers, or Chequers Court, is a country house near Ellesborough, to the south of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, England, at the foot of the Chiltern Hills...
, the country home of the Prime Minister.
The monument was erected in 1904, by public subscription, in memory of 148 men from Buckinghamshire who died during the Second Boer War
Second Boer War
The Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State...
. Coombe Hill Monument was almost totally destroyed by lightning in 1938 and was rebuilt in the same year. The original bronze plaque and decorations were stolen in 1972 and replaced with a stone plaque and iron flag. The new stone plaque was also inscribed with the additional names of nine men believed to have been missing on the original. The monument was again badly damaged by a lightning strike in the early 1990s and spent several months in repair. It is now equipped with conductors to prevent the mishap happening again. The monument and a few square yards of surrounding land are owned by Buckinghamshire County Council.
The 2010 Restoration
On 21 October 2010 the monument was rededicated after substantial restoration work. The work was done by Buckinghamshire County CouncilBuckinghamshire County Council
Buckinghamshire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Buckinghamshire, in England, the United Kingdom. Its area of control does not include Milton Keynes, which is a unitary authority...
with funds raised by the Coombe Hill Monument Appeal Committee. The committee consisted of:
The Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire
Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire
There has been a Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire almost continuously since the position was created by King Henry VIII in 1535. The only exception to this was the English Civil War and English Interregnum between 1643 and 1660 when there was no king to support the Lieutenancy...
, Sir Henry Aubrey Fletcher Bt JP (Patron);
Major General Stuart Watson CBE (Chairman);
Mark Bailey, Buckinghamshire County Council
Buckinghamshire County Council
Buckinghamshire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Buckinghamshire, in England, the United Kingdom. Its area of control does not include Milton Keynes, which is a unitary authority...
(Project Manager);
Lt Col (Retd) Ingram Murray, Honorary Secretary of the Friends of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry
Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry
The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry was an infantry regiment of the British Army.The regiment was formed as a consequence of Childers reforms, a continuation of the Cardwell reforms, by the amalgamation of the 43rd Regiment of Foot and the 52nd Regiment of Foot , forming the 1st...
;
Patricia Birchley, Elected Member, Chiltern Ridges;
Johanna Sienkiewicz, local resident, Project Researcher;
Chris Arnold, Ellesborough
Ellesborough
Ellesborough is a village and civil parish in Wycombe district in Buckinghamshire, England. The village is at the foot of the Chiltern Hills just to the south of the Vale of Aylesbury, two miles from Wendover and five miles from Aylesbury. It lies between Wendover and the village of Little Kimble...
Parish Council;
Pam Priestley, Elected Member Wycombe District Council;
Paul Rogerson, Elected Member, Buckinghamshire County Council
Buckinghamshire County Council
Buckinghamshire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Buckinghamshire, in England, the United Kingdom. Its area of control does not include Milton Keynes, which is a unitary authority...
; and
Neil Harris, The National Trust
National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty
The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
A new plaque corrects spelling errors in the original and adds 2 names that were previously omitted
. The memorial was deep-cleaned, weathered joints were replaced, fresh gold leaf has been applied to the finial, and the county crest and bronze flags above the plaque have been restored
.
Triangulation point and plaque
In front of the monument is a rectangular concrete pillar that is thetrig point
Triangulation station
A triangulation station, also known as a triangulation pillar, trigonometrical station, trigonometrical point, trig station, trig beacon or trig point, and sometimes informally as a trig, is a fixed surveying station, used in geodetic surveying and other surveying projects in its vicinity...
and it is topped with a metal plaque donated in 1988 that points to true north
True north
True north is the direction along the earth's surface towards the geographic North Pole.True geodetic north usually differs from magnetic north , and from grid north...
and to the following distant features: The Cotswolds (53 miles), Brill
Brill
Brill is a village and civil parish in Aylesbury Vale district in Buckinghamshire, England, close to the boundary with Oxfordshire. It is about north-west of Long Crendon and south-east of Bicester...
Hill (13 miles), Waddesdon Manor
Waddesdon Manor
Waddesdon Manor is a country house in the village of Waddesdon, in Buckinghamshire, England. The house was built in the Neo-Renaissance style of a French château between 1874 and 1889 for Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild . Since this was the preferred style of the Rothschilds it became also known as...
(10 miles), Calvert
Calvert, Buckinghamshire
Calvert is a village in Buckinghamshire, England, near the village of Steeple Claydon.Originally named after a wealthy local family, the village was founded as a hamlet in the Victorian era to house workers for the brick works that were constructed in the area. The works have since been closed and...
Chimneys (15 miles), Aylesbury
Aylesbury
Aylesbury is the county town of Buckinghamshire in South East England. However the town also falls into a geographical region known as the South Midlands an area that ecompasses the north of the South East, and the southern extremities of the East Midlands...
Church (5 miles), Mursley
Mursley
Mursley is a small village in and also a civil parish within Aylesbury Vale district Buckinghamshire, England. It is located about three miles east of Winslow and four miles south west of Fenny Stratford....
Water Tower (15 miles), Wingrave
Wingrave
Wingrave is a village in Buckinghamshire, England located about four miles north east of Aylesbury and three miles south west of Wing.The civil parish is called Wingrave with Rowsham within Aylesbury Vale district and incorporates the hamlet of Rowsham.Wingrave is twinned with La Bouëxière in...
Church (8 miles), Leighton Buzzard
Leighton Buzzard
-Lower schools:*Beaudesert Lower School - Apennine Way*Clipstone Brook Lower School - Brooklands Drive*Greenleas Lower School - Derwent Road*Dovery Down Lower School - Heath Road*Heathwood Lower School - Heath Road*Leedon Lower School - Highfield Road...
(12 miles), Mentmore
Mentmore
Mentmore is a village and civil parish in the Aylesbury Vale district of Buckinghamshire, England. It is about three miles east of Wingrave, three miles south east of Wing.The village toponym is derived from the Old English for "Menta's moor"...
(9 miles), Edlesborough
Edlesborough
Edlesborough is a village and is also a civil parish within Aylesbury Vale district in Buckinghamshire, England. It is adjacent to the village of Eaton Bray over the county boundary in Bedfordshire, about three miles WSW of Dunstable....
Church (11 miles) and Ivinghoe Beacon
Ivinghoe Beacon
Ivinghoe Beacon is a prominent hill and landmark in the Chiltern Hills, standing 233 m above sea level. It is situated close to the villages of Ivinghoe, Aldbury in Buckinghamshire, the Ashridge Estate, and the village of Little Gaddesden in Hertfordshire, and is managed and owned by the...
(9 miles).
Flora and fauna
Coombe Hill has 3 different types of land including Acid Heathland, Chalk Grassland and Deciduous Woodland. It is home to much interesting wildlifeWildlife
Wildlife includes all non-domesticated plants, animals and other organisms. Domesticating wild plant and animal species for human benefit has occurred many times all over the planet, and has a major impact on the environment, both positive and negative....
— including Red Kite
Red Kite
The Red Kite is a medium-large bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes many other diurnal raptors such as eagles, buzzards, and harriers. The species is currently endemic to the Western Palearctic region in Europe and northwest Africa, though formerly also occurred just...
s, Yellowhammer
Yellowhammer
The Yellowhammer, Emberiza citrinella, is a passerine bird in the bunting family Emberizidae. It is common in all sorts of open areas with some scrub or trees and form small flocks in winter....
s and Firecrests — as well as the rare Chiltern gentian. It also holds the habitat to many rare plants, such as heather and orchids. The acid moorland is a Site of Special Scientific Interest
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...
(SSSI), because of its rarity.
Origin of name
The word coombe is of BrythonicBrythonic languages
The Brythonic or Brittonic languages form one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic language family, the other being Goidelic. The name Brythonic was derived by Welsh Celticist John Rhys from the Welsh word Brython, meaning an indigenous Briton as opposed to an Anglo-Saxon or Gael...
origin and means "hollow
Cirque
Cirque may refer to:* Cirque, a geological formation* Makhtesh, an erosional landform found in the Negev desert of Israel and Sinai of Egypt*Cirque , an album by Biosphere* Cirque Corporation, a company that makes touchpads...
".
External links
- Coombe Hill Monument Appeal - Buckinghamshire County Council
- Summer Solstice is celebrated each year atop Coombe Hill
Computer Generated Panoramas - Coombe Hill http://www.viewfinderpanoramas.org/panoramas/ENGP/COOMBE%20HILL.png
