Tregonning Hill

Tregonning Hill
Site of Special Scientific Interest

Germoe war memorial
Shown within Cornwall (mainland)
Area of Search Cornwall
Grid reference SW602296
Coordinates 50°07′06″N 5°21′18″W / 50.1184°N 5.3551°W / 50.1184; -5.3551Coordinates: 50°07′06″N 5°21′18″W / 50.1184°N 5.3551°W / 50.1184; -5.3551
Interest Biological
Area 5.21 hectares (0.05 km2; 0.02 sq mi)
Notification 1994 (1994)
Natural England website

Tregonning Hill is the westerly of two granite hills overlooking Mount's Bay in west Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, the other being Godolphin Hill. They are approximately 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) west of the town of Helston.[1] Part of the hill is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and at the date of notification (1994) was the only known site of western rustwort (Marsupella profunda) in Great Britain.[2]

Germoe war memorial is on the summit of the hill.

Wildlife and ecology

The main vegetation types on the hill are western lowland heath and scrub. The heath consists of a mixture of heather (Calluna vulgaris), bell heather (Erica cinerea) and western gorse (Ulex gallii] with cross–leaved heath (Erica tetralix) replacing E. cinerea in wet areas. Bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) and tormentil (Potentilla erecta) also occur. On the deeper soils European gorse (Ulex europaeus), bracken (Pteridium aquilinum) and bramble (Rubus fruticosus) are the dominant scrub species. The bare slopes of the old china clay works are where western rustwort (Marsupella profunda) occurs.[2] By 2004 the liverwort was known from fourteen sites within three SSSIs, making Cornwall the main stronghold globally.[3] The nationally scarce moss (Brachydontium trichodes) known from only two sites in Cornwall also occurs on Tregonning Hill.[2] As of 7 September 2010 the condition of the SSSI was considered to be ″unfavourable declining".[4]

Industry

An elvan quarry was in operation on the summit in 1879.[5]

Trig point, Tregonning Hill

References

  1. Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 203 Land's End ISBN 978-0-319-23148-7
  2. 1 2 3 "Tregonning Hill" (PDF). Natural England. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
  3. Nick Clark & Alan Bean, ed. (2004). Cornwall's Biodiversity Volume 3: Action Plans 2004. Truro: Cornwall Wildlife Trust.
  4. "SSSI unit information". Natural England. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
  5. "The Old and the New". The Cornishman (46). 29 May 1879. p. 7.

External links

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