Lewesdon Hill is a hill near Broadwindsor in west Dorset, England. With a maximum elevation of , it is the highest point in Dorset. The hill is owned and managed by the National Trust and is part of the Dorset National Landscape.
Geography
Lewesdon Hill stands about west of Beaminster, south of Broadwindsor, and east of another hillfort-topped eminence, Pilsdon Pen. To the south of the hill is the Marshwood Vale and to the north is the valley of the River Axe.
Lewesdon is the county top of Dorset. Its summit is an elongated ridge surrounded by beech woods. The actual summit is a low grassy mound at the east end of the ridge. For many years, nearby Pilsdon Pen () was thought to be Dorset's highest hill, until modern survey revealed that Lewesdon Hill was higher. Like its neighbouring hills, it is a surviving remnant of the greensand and gault layers which once would have overlaid the Lower Lias geology of the surrounding valleys. In this respect, it is an outlier of Devon's Blackdown Hills. There are two main footpaths leading up to the summit, one from the village of Broadwindsor, and one from Coombe Lane (off the B3162 between Broadwindsor and Bridport, just before the Four Ash crossroads). The Coombe Lane footpath leads to the hill via another, smaller hill, Crabb's Hill, which is privately owned. The east–west footpath is part of the Wessex Ridgeway.
History
Many of the high hills in Dorset, including its neighbour Pilsdon Pen, are sites of an Iron Age hillfort. However Lewesdon's status as a hillfort is disputed, partly due to its small size and lack of any clear evidence. The recognition that the larger adjacent Waddon Hill was also an Iron Age enclosure reduces the likelihood of Lewesdon being a hill fort. Parts of a possible bank and ditch are still visible although they have been disturbed or created by gravel quarrying and timber removal. The remains of the hillfort are a scheduled monument.
Lewesdon was also the site of one of the Armada Beacons in 1588 used to warn of impending attack by Spain. Jean was an engineer in the Belgian Air Component in 1940, which he left to join the Royal Air Force Reserves. He trained with the No.5 Flying School at MOD Sealand, and joined the 37 Maintenance Unit, Burtonwood at RAF High Ercall.
On Sunday the 15th of March 1942 in the early afternoon, Jean entered his Spitifre Mk Vb BL463 (Berar 1), with the intention of delivering it to RAF Bolt Head. The body was taken to the Bridport Hospital Mortuary and buried at Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey, before being given to Brussels on Thursday October 20, 1949, 219 days after the crash. He received a headstone at Brussels Cemetery.