Historical Places

Exmoor National Park is packed with sites of historical interest and National Trust properties.

Holnicote Estate

The Holnicote Estate was donated to the national trust by Ackland Family in 1944. The Estate covers 12,500 acres of Exmoor National Park and includes the high points of Dunkery and Selworthy Beacons, with breathtaking views in all directions. It encompasses the villages of Selworthy , Allerford, Bossington, Horner and Luccombe.

Selworthy

Selworthy is a beautiful small village with one of the most lovely church's on Exmoor. All Saint's is beautifully sited on a wooded hillside above the tiny village and its white-washed walls serve as a landmark for miles around.

Allerford

This stunning small village just off the A39 is the closest to Lynch Country House. It has a mediaeval packhorse bridge that is a beautiful photo opportunity, this is unusually a two-arch span was built to bridge Aller Water, a tributary of Horner Water.

Allerford is also home to the West Somerset Rural Life Museum which is housed in the old Village School. The school was used from 1821 to 1981 and opened as the Rural Life Museum in 1983.

Bossington

This tiny village has charm that far outweighs its size. Being owned by the National Trust it has been preserved with its beautiful thatched and tiled roofs and round chimneys.

Kilve Beach

For those of you who like your history a little older Kilve Beach is the perfect location being a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a favourite haunt of geologists with its spectacular rock formations and fossils, including ammonites and reptile remains.

Dunster Castle

Dunster Castle is the historical home of the Luttrell family located in the small town of Dunster. Colonel Sir Walter Luttrell gave Dunster Castle and the greater part of its contents to the National Trust in 1976. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building.

There has been a castle at the top of the hill at Dunster for more than 1,000 years. The castle dominates a steep hill overlooking the picturesque village. The hill has been fortified since Saxon times, although nothing now remains of these early defences.

Cow Castle

On a natural knoll in the Barle Valley are the remains of Cow Castle, an Iron Age hill fort built between 2000 and 3000 years ago. The traces of the enclosing ramparts - a bank and ditch - can still be traced around the hill.