Stars over Somerset - Telescope Masterclass
Ham Hill, Stoke sub Hamdon, TA14 6RW


Ham Hill is a stunning wildlife haven centred around an Iron Age hillfort, offering fantastic opportunities for scenic dog walks, walking, running, playing and wildlife watching with far reaching views across Somerset. Superb accessible walking route with great views.
Film credit: Warner Vision
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Visit our new 'Projects' section below to find out more about the National Lottery Heritage Funded project at Ham Hill; 'Uncovering Ham Hill's past for its future'.
Keep up to date with all of the latest news as the project progresses and have your say by sending us your comments and filling in the visitor survey.
If you would like to find out more about the management plan and direction for Ham Hill over the next five years, you can read it by clicking on the link below.
Ham Hill Country Park, Ham Hill Rangers Office, Ham Hill Road , Stoke sub Hamdon, Somerset, United Kingdom, TA14 6RW
T: 01935 823617
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Upcoming Ham Hill Country Park Events
Ham Hill, Stoke sub Hamdon, TA14 6RW
All you need to know to enjoy your visit
Ham Hill is 170 million years in the making, offering fantastic views across the South Somerset Levels to the Mendips, Exmoor and beyond. A Nationally important Historic Monument, it is one of the largest Iron Age hillforts in the UK. Today, as well as, the 88.1 hectare Scheduled Ancient Monument, it offers beautiful wildflower meadows, spectacular wildlife, fascinating geology and striking Iron Age rampart archaeology.
Perched on a rocky outcrop of stone (hamstone) Ham Hill is easy to see from the A303 and it's 158 hectares offers something for everyone.
History
Ham Hill’s past is both rich and fascinating. Stone Age man first settled here over 5,000 years ago and lots of flint tools, including axes that were left behind have been discovered. This settlement continued throughout the Bronze Age and metalwork, pottery and evidence of burials have been discovered across the hillfort. Sitting above most of the surrounding landscape it would have offered commanding views of the countryside.
It was the Iron Age that truly shaped Ham Hill. Over 200 years, the local tribe, the 'Durotriges', crafted the steep sloping ramparts that can still be seen today with antler picks and small iron tools. There have been numerous Iron Age finds including iron currency bars, brooches, storage pits, pottery, burials and lots of skeletons!
Sometime after AD43, there was a change of ownership when the Roman army invaded and took over the hillfort. During their time, Romans built an army garrison, a 19 room villa and continued with construction of the Fosse Way that runs from Lincoln to Exeter, and sits under parts of the A303.
Moving forward, outlines of a deserted Medieval village can still be seen in Witcombe valley and there is a wonderful walk down to the medieval pond.
George Mitchell really put Ham Hill on the map in the 1870’s. Every Whitsun Monday, hundreds of workers would march to Ham Hill and demonstrate for fair pay and workers’ rights; with banners and marching bands.
Many of the finds that have been discovered at Ham Hill can be viewed at the Museum of Somerset in Taunton. More information can be found on the South West Heritage Trust website.
Geology and Quarrying
The geology of Ham hill is around 170 million years old and unique. Classified as a Jurassic shelly limestone, this golden, honey coloured stone, is a sedimentary rock that was built up in layers. Warm, shallow seas once covered the area and small fragments of shell, sea creatures and calcium carbonate, were cemented together on the sea floor by pressure and time.
This layer of rock is quite thin and sits on top of Yeovil sand - You are literally walking on the sea bed!
Hamstone layers are great for geologists to study and parts of the exposed stone outcrops at Ham Hill are protected as Sites of Special Scientific Interest or designated as Local Geological Sites. The stone is also great for building or carving and the Romans were the first people to quarry stone here in large quantities.
At its height in 1880, there were over 200 men employed in quarries here.
Hamstone, has been used to build most of the older houses in surrounding villages including some prominent ones like Sherborne Abbey and Montacute House. Earth mounds near the Ranger's Centre are old Victorian quarry spoil heaps. Also look out for large scratches on some of the stone faces that are old tool marks. They are reminders of Ham hill’s quarrying past.
More information on Somerset's geology can be found here
There are six public car parks situated across the site and are all accessible off the Ham Hill Road (TA14 6RW). There is disabled parking at the ranger centre (TA14 6RW).
Please note that the car park at the Prince of Wales pub is strictly for patrons only.
Please do not park along the roadside.
Dogs are welcome at Ham Hill and there are some lovely dog friendly walks right across the whole 390 acres.
However, grassland areas at the site are grazed periodically by cattle and sheep and all dogs must be kept on a lead when walking in these areas if livestock are present.
We also have a fantastic population of skylarks, which are ground-nesting birds and dogs must be kept on leads when the skylark signs are up too.
The Prince of Wales Public House is situated at the top of Ham Hill, approximately 200 metres from the ranger centre.
For their current opening times, contact details and menu samples please visit their website
Friends of Ham Hill
The Friends of Ham Hill are a charity that help to initiate community and environmental projects at Ham Hill, by raising funds and assisting the ranger team with the delivery of the projects. Previous projects have included the woodland play area, tree planting, Roman treasure trail, the geology trail and the Witcombe stream project. The group are currently looking at funding for a dragonfly pond in Witcombe valley.
If you would like to get involved with the Friends please contact info@friendsofhamhill.org
Visit their website for more information or to donate for future projects.
There is a ladies, gents and a disabled toilet at the Rangers' Centre and they are open from dawn until dusk.
Access to the disabled toilet is via the use of a radar key.
Climbing
Yeovil Mountaineering Club have access to climbing at Deep Quarry on Ham Hill. For more information visit their website
Cycling is permitted only on the bridleways across the site.
Please be mindful and respectful of other visitors when cycling in the area.
Paths at Ham Hill are either stone, grass or bark but some are hilly due to the nature of the site.
Large parts across the Northern Spur and the Flat Fields are accessible for a mobility scooter and there is an all ability trail that runs around the Northern Spur and is wheelchair friendly; it is approximately 0.9km and has a maximum gradient of 11%.
There are over 2,300 recorded species of flora and fauna scattered across a diverse mosaic of habitats to enjoy here.
During the summer take a walk through our beautiful wildflower meadows to see southern marsh, pyramidal and bee orchids in their hundreds, broomrape, vetch, cranesbill and yellow rattle also carpet the meadows. Listen to crickets and skylarks as you watch meadow brown and common blue butterflies drift from grass stem to stem and watch as swifts and swallows dive along the grass tops trying to catch them and other insects.
In other grassland areas, rare calcareous soils support many plant species including wild thyme and birds-foot trefoil where common blue, green hairstreak and skipper butterflies can be discovered.
The woodlands are host to many bird species including nuthatch, tree creeper and both green and great spotted woodpecker. On a warm summers day listen to buzzards mewing as they circle overhead. If you are lucky you may spot a roe deer or fox in the grasslands on the edge of the woodlands. Many species of bat can be seen at dusk with common and soprano pipistrelles feeding in the woodland rides whilst noctule and serotine can be seen on the woodland edge of the meadows. If you stay late enough to watch the bats, then also keep your eyes open for glow-worms in the grassland.
Visit the notice board at the Ranger Centre for recent wildlife sightings
Can I use a drone at Ham Hill?
Drone use is strictly regulated across all of our sites to prevent disturbance to the wildlife and so that the privacy of our visitors is respected. If you have a good reason for wanting to fly a drone across any of our countryside sites, you will need to email the Countryside Manager to request permission, along with a copy of your public liability insurance and certification to fly a drone.
Email Countryside Manager for permission to fly a drone
Can I have a BBQ or small campfire on site?
No.
Due to the high fire risk and detriment to the wildlife, barbeques and campfires are strictly prohibited at Ham Hill.
If you are organised group (scouts etc) you can apply for permission to have a BBQ or campfire by contacting the rangers. You must adhere to strict conditions and have a risk assessment and public liability insurance in place.
Leaflets, Maps & Information
Discover the fascinating geology that Ham Hill has to offer in this Geological SSSI and Local Geology Site
DownloadTake a look at our Projects
The building works for the new visitor centre are progressing well, but much of the work to this point has been about underground infrastructure so there isn’t anything too exciting to see at the moment! Once work starts above ground, the building will start to take shape and give a sense of how it will look when it is finished.
The car parks have been resurfaced and slightly reconfigured to provide better parking opportunities, unfortunately this has resulted in boy-racers taking advantage of this flat open surface to practice their wheel spinning and ‘doughnut’ manoeuvres. We are in the process of designing some features to prevent this type of behaviour, as it is already starting to undo the work that has been completed.
May is a wonderful time of year to get out and about in nature. The days are longer and warmer and everything is in full growing mode. This means the rangers and volunteers will be spending much of their time over the next few months cutting back vegetation to keep paths open for our visitors to use as they explore the site.
During April the volunteers have been helping to clear back invasive buddleia across the site. Whilst this plant is great for pollinators, often referred to as the butterfly bush, it is non-native and will outcompete the nationally important calcareous grassland that we have at Ham Hill. We will never be able to eradicate it, so we just control its spread. It establishes easily on disturbed ground, which is why it does so well around the quarried areas.
The Monday volunteer team have done a fabulous job of restoring the footpath that brings you to the top of Ham Hill from Ham Hill Road. This will help our walking visitors to avoid the narrow & slightly treacherous bit of road as they walk up from the village. You can listen to volunteer Cliff’s narrated video of it on our Facebook page if you’re not sure where it is!
Our Monday walling volunteers continue to restore the historic (1600s) parish boundary wall between Montacute and Norton.
The volunteers have been on the far side of site cutting back gorse in Witcombe Valley. The control of the gorse is an important part of our Higher-Level Stewardship agreement as gorse can damage the strip lynchets and ramparts in this area of site, as well as take-over the grassland. It does smell wonderful though – if you dare to get close to the needles it smells of coconut!
The Friends of Ham Hill arranged a community litter pick event as part of Keep Britain Tidy’s ‘The Great British Spring Clean’ campaign.
Ranger Geoff has delivered some geology focused sessions to some school groups, including Richard Huish A Level Geology students.
DE&S corporate volunteers spent the morning placing top (cope) stones to finish the restoration of a 40m length of the dry-stone wall between Strouds and the Warren.
The rangers and volunteers have also started clearing back vegetation in ‘Jacker’s Quarry’ with the aim to open it to the public later this year. Jacker’s Quarry is so called due to the nesting Jackdaws and it was used as an area for testing Westland’s (now Leonardo) helicopter rotor blades in the 1950’s.
May is one of the peak months to get up to Ham Hill and discover its diverse wildlife. The first of the orchids will be appearing – the early purple, closely followed by common spotted and pyramidal. These are best seen in the meadows, but please stick to the paths as the skylarks are still nesting in the grass.
Birds are in full singing mode now and the annual bird surveys are well underway. Last year skylarks were recorded across all of the flat fields, which is why dogs must be kept on a lead throughout these areas until the end of July, to protect the chicks that are reared in nests in the grass. As skylarks breed in open ground, they have no trees to perch on to mark their territory, which is why they hover above the fields. You will also be able to hear chiff chaffs as they repeat their name in their song – one of the easiest bird calls to identify. Chiff chaffs are migrants from the continent, but warmer winters have led to some of them staying all year round.
As the meadows start to burst into flower, look out for more butterflies ‘on the wing’, including orange tips, peacocks and common blues. Last year was a bad year for invertebrates due to the wet summer, so let's hope their populations recover if we have a drier summer this year. Talking of which, the oaks have already burst into leaf, ahead of the ash and as the saying goes ‘Oak before ash and you're in for a splash, ash before oak and you’re in for a soak’! However ash trees are failing across the site due to ash dieback disease, so this saying will hold less true in future years.
If you are a community or school group that would like to arrange a visit or an activity at Ham Hill, please contact Edd directly by emailing him here
Keep up to date with forthcoming events by looking on the What's On page of this website or follow us Facebook and Instagram pages 'Ham Hill Country Park'. We have the following events coming up at Ham Hill:
9th May Forest Bathing with Hollie
22nd May Bat Walk – aimed at adults and older children due to the late finish
Check out to see if you can help
Practical conservation volunteers
There is one volunteering day at Ham Hill which is on a Wednesday. Tasks include scrub clearance, path maintenance, hedge-laying, drystone walling, coppicing, removal of invasive species and fencing. You do not need to have any experience to join in, just a willingness to get involved and a passion for nature.
Volunteer tasks are physical in nature and you will need a fair level of fitness.
If you would like to join the volunteers please contact ranger Paul McNeill at countryside@somerset.gov.uk or on 07973 887 129 to check if there are places available.
Find out more about group visits
Our Community Heritage Officer, Edd Chilcott, can offer a variety of activities or events for your group. If you are interested in any of the activities below, please contact Edd by email.
Community Groups
We can offer bespoke guided walks or activities led by our rangers at Ham Hill for your community group (scouts, guides, brownies, U3A etc.)
Schools
We can deliver curriculum focused sessions based at Ham Hill or in your school grounds, depending on your preference.
Birthday Parties
We can offer a bespoke birthday party for your children and their friends at Ham Hill. You can choose a theme for your party such as wildlife, horrible history or bushcraft.
External group events
If you are an external organisation that wishes to host your event at Ham Hill please contact us.
There may be a charge to host your event, but all charitable events are free. We will need to see a copy of your risk assessment, public liability insurance and an application form must be completed below:
Check the latest happening at Ham Hill Country Park
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