Golden Cap, Dorset - The Jurassic Pyramid

Chideock is 1km/0.6miles north of Seatown and lies on FirstBus route X53 and FirstDorset route 31 between Exeter and Poole, both of which pass through Bridport. The nearest railhead is at Axminster. For timetable information, telephone 30871 200 2233 or go to www.travelinesw.com.

"It is always of long-established peace, to me, that Golden Cap whispers. So high, so far, so lonely, you cannot be in the world ..." The Marches of Wessex, by F.J.H. Darton, 1922.

Opinion differs as to the origins of the name “Golden Cap”, the giant table-topped hill rising sheer from the Dorset coast between Lyme Regis and Bridport. While some insist it derives from the helmet of pale yellow sandstone crowning the cliff top, others claim the canary-coloured gorse bushes that once spilled down its flanks must have been the original inspiration. Either way, the views from the little plateau at the summit – the highest ground between the Wash and Land’s End – are sensational, extending from Start Point in south Devon across the spectacular sweep of Chesil beach to Portland Bill in the east, and inland across a landscape of low hills and pretty thatched villages. 

Ascents of Golden Cap tend to come in two forms: short and sharp (straight up the east flank from the beachside hamlet of Seatown); or short and soft (from the Langdon Hill car park half-way up its northern side).  True to the maxim that half the pleasure of any feast lies in the expectation, our route adopts a more convoluted approach, admiring views of the hill before savouring the views from it. 

The terrain along the way – ancient green lanes, hidden sea coombes, bracken covered commons, windy cliff tops and patches of fragrant woodland that are carpeted with bluebells in early spring – is as varied as any on the British coastline.  Moreover, a string of tempting diversions lie in wait to lure you off the path, not least the climb down to the secret smuggler’s beach at St Gabriel’s Mouth. Fossil hunters will also wish to rummage on the beach for the famous ammonites and other Jurassic sea creatures petrified in the Cap’s lower flanks, which are perennially on the verge of collapse. 

Our figure-of-eight route, starting and ending at the Anchor Inn in Seatown, can be divided neatly into two stages. If you’re short of time, or feel more inclined to potter on the beach than spend a full day on the trail, limit yourself to the second loop over Golden Cap, with perhaps a sidetrip up Doghouse Hill and Thorncombe Beacon to the east, which offer equally thrilling views.  The first half of the walk is approx 8.3km/5.2miles, the second loop approx 5.5km/3.4miles in length starts at stage [7].  

[1] Cross the lower car park in front of the Anchor Inn in Seatown and follow the coast path as it ascends Cliff Ridge, keeping to the path which follows the cliff edge. The path drops into a dry coombe before scaling Doghouse Hill.  About half an hour after leaving Seatown, you’ll reach the top of Thorncombe Beacon (SY435914).

(A) Thorncombe Beacon  was one of a series of beacons set up along the English coast as part of an early warning system guarding against foreign invasion.  It is owned by the National Trust and forms part of the Jurassic Coast, a World Heritage Site.  The Jurassic Coast is 153 kilometres (95 miles) in length, running from Orcombe Point near Exmouth, in the west, to Old Harry Rocks on the Isle of Purbeck, in the east. The Coast provides a continuous sequence of Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous rock formations spanning approximately 185 million years of the Earth's history and contains a large range of important fossil sites. 

[2] Turn left at Thorncombe Beacon to head inland around the lip of a steep field following the field boundary around to the right and descending to a stile on your left in the bottom corner of the field. Cross the stile and continue across the next field to another stile and climb over this, turning right to walk down the lane. Just before reaching Downhouse Farm, look for a track cutting sharply uphill to your left through woods, signposted “Eype Down”.  Ignore the yellow arrow pointing to your left, and take the steep track uphill through the trees.  This eventually brings you out on Eype Down. Ignore the yellow arrow to the right through the woods and keep walking in the same direction across Eype Down.

(B) From Eype Down you will see a distinctive hill topped by a row of trees (Colmer's Hill), which will be diagonally across to your right as you continue. An attempt was made in 2004 to enclose Eype Down which was successfully opposed by The Ramblers so it still remains part of England’s common land with good views that can be enjoyed by all.  

[3] At the four-way signpost reached after 5 mins, take the path for “Quarry Hill – Chideock”, bearing right at the fork 5 mins later to reach a tumulus. This marks the start of a short descent to the A35, which you cross. Follow “Quarr Lane” (sic) directly opposite for a few metres until you see a waymarked farm track peeling left off the lane, just before a row of bungalows. Follow this track to the left of a  metal gate until reaching a second metal gate, cross this and head uphill to the left along a line of wind-bent hawthorn trees.

[4] Once on the lumpy summit plateau of Quarry Hill, it’s worth making a short detour left for a fine view over the valley. Follow the distinct path around the rim of the hilltop to reach the northern-most spur of the hill, from which you will see the distinctive Colmer's Hill diagonally across to your right. Drop sharply downhill, aiming towards the top right corner of the field below where a gate leads to a crossroads of old droveways. Turn left here onto Hell Lane.

[5] After dropping through a stone cutting, the muddy track crosses a stream after 15 mins, just beyond which turn left to cross a waymarked stile.  Bear left up the slope, making for the gap between the oak trees and coppice, and then on to the projecting corner of the field hedge beyond, on the right. The yellow arrow waymarks on the corner fence are the first in a series that guide you around field borders and over a succession of stiles to the Martyrs’ Cross, sited amid ruins of the old castle on the northern outskirts of Chideock village.

(C) The Martyrs’ Cross was erected to the memory of the Catholic priests who refused to conform to the new Established Protestant Church and were consequently executed.  During the Civil War the castle here changed hands/sides several times but in 1645 the Roundheads ordered its destruction and the Governor of Lyme Regis sent in a bill for £1 19s 0d for its total demolition’ leaving the ruins you see today.

(D) Chideock has a long history of farming, conflict, and religious strife at the time of the English civil war.  It is said that the 'Chideock House Hotel' was once the headquarters of General Fairfax as he planned the parliamentary overthrow of the nearby castle, ending in its eventual destruction. 

[6] From the castle, follow Ruins Lane through the houses to Main Street (the A35). Turn right when you reach the main road, cross and then turn left down a path cutting between houses just before Rose Cottage B&B. This pathway leads through more houses and over the village green, emerging on a tarmac lane where you bear left and follow the slope down through the caravan park to Seatown.  

(E) Seatown was never a town, but a hundred and fifty years ago there were thirty or forty fishermen living here who supplemented their income by smuggling at night.  

[7] The second leg of our route follows Seahill Lane north through Seatown village from the car park in front of the Anchor Inn, turning left after  5 mins up a side lane signposted for “Langdon Woods” and “Sea Hill House”. After the B&B, proceed uphill along an old farm track, skirting the south edge of Landgon Woods. At the far end of the wood, go through gate straight ahead and bear along the right fork, diagonally across the field to a second gate, with Golden Cap now rising to your left.

[8] At the second gate, a signpost indicates the “Bridleway St Gabriel’s”. Follow the path along the left edge of the field, as it first contours around the base of Golden Cap, then drops sharply down the hill’s northwest side, past a three-way signpost on your left to the bottom corner of a field. Here, another signpost points left to the ruined chapel at St Gabriel’s. 

[9] Keep to the path as it passes the red-brick National Trust holiday cottages on the left. Continue via the five bar gate opposite the cottages, signposted “To Coast Path”. At the path junction 5 mins later, turn left onto the coast path to begin a steep ascent of Golden Cap (SY407923).  Continue across the summit plateau to the trig point. 

There is a National Trust Permissive Path to St Gabriel’s Mouth (involving a steep climb down wooden ladder steps, closed due to landslips at the time of writing).

(F)  St. Gabriel’s Mouth marks the place where a small stream flows into the sea and gets its name from the ruin of the church of St. Gabriel 1/3 mile (½ km) inland.  Its situation made it a favourite landing place for smugglers.  

(G) The cliffs of Golden Cap are the highest point on the south coast of Great Britain.  Golden Cap stands at 191 metres (627 ft) and on a clear day you can see across Lyme Bay to Dartmoor. Its name derives from the distinctive outcropping of golden greensand rock at the very top of the cliff.

[10] The route off the top drops down the east side of the hill, descending to a stile, after which, turn right for the remaining stretch down to Seatown. Note that as you near the village there has been a rerouting of the coast path due to landslip, but it’s correctly drawn on current OS maps and well waymarked, bringing you out on Seahill Lane, where you turn right for the Anchor Inn.

Judging from the presence on its crown of four prehistoric burial mounds, people have appreciated the views from Golden Cap for many thousands of years. The panorama from its summit, soaring 191m/626ft above the waves, has an undeniably epic quality. Stand on the razor sharp cliff edge and you’re confronted by a vast sweep of sea, framed far below by a ribbon of pale-orange shingle and cliffs arcing into the distance. It’s a vista that has inspired poets, painters and lovers for many centuries, and one guaranteed to leave you feeling spiritually refreshed as well as out of breath.

It might seem sleepy enough, but the idyllic countryside spreading from the base of the cap has seen more than its fair share of conflict. In the village of Chideock, just northeast of the hill, the castle erected in the fourteenth century to repulse the French saw bloody fighting between Roundheads and Cavaliers during the Civil War, when it was reduced to rubble. Local villagers put the honey-coloured masonry to good use, however, beefing up the cob cottages that still distinguish the settlement – which would be one of Dorset’s prettiest were it not for the traffic rumbling through the middle of it along the A35.

You can still make out the ground plan and moat of the old castle in the field at the end of Ruins Lane (crossed by our route).  Another vestige of Chideock’s medieval past is hidden in the Perpendicular-style Church of St Giles, on the main road, where a fine black-marble tomb of a knight reposes under the window in the south aisle.

The lumpy land on which the castle keep once stood is today dominated by a wooden Martyrs’ Cross commemorating the death of four Catholic men killed during the post-Reformation pogrom of Elizabethan times. Under the local gentry (the Arundell family), Chideock was staunchly Catholic, and the lords of the manor regularly sheltered fugitive clergymen as persecution intensified through the sixteenth century. But in 1594 the Sheriff of Dorset arrested Lady Arundell’s own priest, along with a relative of the family and a couple of their Irish servants. The four were later tortured and executed in Dorchester for high treason.

Oil portraits lining the walls of the little Romanesque chapel attached to Chideock Manor, five minutes’ walk north of the village crossroads, commemorate those local men killed for refusing to renounce their faith at the turn of sixteenth century. The church also holds a famous oil painting by Bridport artist Francis Newberry. Locked away for most of the year in the sacristy, ‘The Blessed Martyrs of Chideock’ is only displayed once or twice each year; photos of it hang in the small museum attached to the chapel. 

While flax and hemp grown to supply Bridport’s sail-cloth and rope industry occupied the villages inland from Chideock in the eighteenth century, the inhabitants of Seatown, the hamlet at the foot of Golden Cap, made their living mainly through smuggling. The local gang of freetraders was led by a shadowy figure known as “the Colonel”, whose favourite landing place was the remote beach at St Gabriel’s Mouth. The collapse of its Saxon chapel aside, nothing much has changed in this isolated hamlet since Seatown’s smugglers used to land barrels of brandy on the flint-pebbles beside it, while lookouts stationed on the summit of Golden Cap kept watch for Customs & Excise Men. These days, St Gabriel’s is owned and managed by the National Trust, which rents out its old farms as holiday cottages, and maintains the perilous looking wooden ladder-steps leading to the beach – an access point to one of the Jurassic Coast’s fossil-hunting hot spots. 

Golden Cap is deservedly this area’s most popular target for walkers, but the views are no less impressive from the top of Thorncombe Beacon, a stiff thirty minute climb up the cliffs east of Seatown. The hilltop, from where you gain a superb bird’s-eye-view over Bridport and its hinterland, is crowned with a fire basket erected in 1988 to mark the 400th anniversary of the Spanish Armada – the basket is a replica of those dotted in a chain along the English coast as an early warning system against foreign invasion.

Due north of Thorncombe Beacon lies an area of common land known as Eype Down – another fine viewpoint where, if you’re lucky, you might spot a peregrine falcon or two darting around the paragliders who also frequent the skies above it. In 2004, the Ramblers and Open Spaces Society successfully campaigned to prevent the enclosure of the down. It’s a particularly lovely spot in early spring, when bluebells speckle the hilltop.

Chesil Beach, stretching east from below the Down, is rife with tales of smugglers. It is said that privateers used to be able to tell which stretch of the shingle bank they were on at night by the size of its pebbles.  Shipwrecks were also commonplace. None, however, caused more of a stir than the loss of the Dutch privateer, the Hope, when it ran aground on the night of the 16th January, 1649. The ship’s crew were able to clamber to safety, but they received little succour from the “merciless battalion” of locals who started to flood in once rumours reached taverns in the area that the Hope had sunk with a cargo of £50,000 in gold and silver (around £4million in today’s money).  The plunder continued for over a week, as more and more bullion came to light amid the pebbles – “a scene of unparalleled lawlessness” according to one onlooker.

In the 1990s, divers searching for the wreck of the Hope found a large anchor.  Subsequently dated to the mid-seventeenth century, it was purchased by the landlord of the Anchor Inn and now enjoys pride of place on the terrace in front of the pub at Seatown. 

Seatown and the Pitchfork Rebellion 

Trouble descended on Chideock from the sea in May 1685, when three mysterious ships appeared off the beach at Seatown. They carried a shoddily equipped, rag-tag invasion force of around a hundred men marshalled by the Protestant renegade James Scott, the 1st Duke of Monmouth, who had sailed to England from exile in Holland to seize the throne from his uncle, James II – a Catholic.  Seatown was the rebels’ first landfall, but given its Catholic leanings, couldn’t have been more poorly chosen. Once his scouts learned of the area’s religious affiliations, however, the Duke pressed on to Protestant Lyme Regis, where he established his headquarters.

The so-called Monmouth Rebellion would, ultimately, last less than a month. Denied the support promised back in the Hague, the “Pitchfork Army” of 6000 farm labourers, artisans and nonconformists who marched north to take Bristol under Monmouth’s banner, were all too easily cut down by the muskets and canon fire of the King’s professional soldiers. The Duke escaped the battlefield at Sedgemoor, on the Somerset Levels, but was hunted down and beheaded at the Tower of London shortly after; 300 of his supporters were executed, and 800 others transported to the West Indies.

Terrain: Clifftop paths, traffic-free country lanes and tracks, open heathland and stream valleys, involving several short, steep climbs and descent.  Spectacular in late May to June, while the cliff top thrift is in flower. Crosses the  busy A35.  Seatown can be crowded  during the summer holidays. 

Maps: OS Explorer 116.

Visitor Information: National Trust, Golden Cap estate office, Charmouth (tel 301297 561900, www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-goldencap).
Village history (www.chideock.co.uk).
Tips on finding and identifying fossils (www.seatown.ukfossils.co.uk)

Eating & Drinking: Seatown (shops and pub), Downhouse Farm (cafe)

Sleeping:  Seatown (B&B), St Gabriel’s (NT Camping )

This route originally appeared as route number 6 in Walk Britain - Great Views in 2009 and was checked at that time by West Dorset Ramblers.