MSO7609 - Hill Road, North Hill to Selworthy Beacon (Monument)

A concrete road was constructed on North Hill by the army during World War Two. The road is in good condition and now forms the main route along North Hill to Selworthy Beacon. It runs from SS 9106 4767 to SS 9631 4668. At the head of Woodcombe (SS 9455 4743) substantial mounds of soil are visible on the southern side of the road; these are dumps of overburden bulldozed to one side as part of the construction process of the road. The road was presumably used by the military to gain access to the tank training area at the western end of North Hill (MSO7616). Recorded as part of RCHME fieldwork on the Exmoor National Park holding on North Hill. [1,2] SS 9564 4718 Two Second World War military roads, visible as structures, were mapped from aerial photographs taken in 1946. Located on Minehead's North Hill, the roads are associated with the extensive military training area and tank firing range that covered North Hill during the war. The main road, now named Hill Road, runs roughly northwest to southeast for about 1600 metres long (SS 9500 4760 to SS 9631 4761). It is between 5.5 and 7 metres wide and was constructed from concrete by the military to provide the main access, connecting via Moor Road, for tanks and other vehicles from their disembarkation point at Minehead railway station, through the town to the training site, marshalling area and Selworthy Beacon. On North Hill, a second unsealed road, about 4.5 to 7 metres wide, branches off the concrete road opposite Whitecross Plantation and runs parallel to it for about 1000 metres before rejoining it at the west end of Moor Wood. This road may have provided a means of controlling military traffic to and from the firing range and also provided access to a wartime army camp, near Camp Reservoir. The roads are still extant in 1993. [3-6] The road is labelled Hill Road on 2020 MasterMap data. [7] The road was also recorded by McDonnell. [3,8-9] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [10]