Braunton Burrows
| Site of Special Scientific Interest | |
Flagpole Dune - A major blowout encouraged to feed sand into the surrounding area.
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 Location within Devon
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| Area of Search | North Devon |
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| Grid reference | SS457352 |
| Coordinates | 51°05′41″N 4°12′12″W / 51.094722°N 4.203333°WCoordinates: 51°05′41″N 4°12′12″W / 51.094722°N 4.203333°W |
| Interest | Biological and Geological |
| Area | 1,356.7 hectares (13.567 km2; 5.238 sq mi) |
| Notification | 1952 (part) 1969 (full) |
| Natural England website | |
Crow Point Lighthouse
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 Devon
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| Location |
Appledore Devon England |
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| Coordinates | 51°3′58.2″N 4°11′23.4″W / 51.066167°N 4.189833°W |
| Year first constructed | 1954 |
| Construction | metal skeletal tower |
| Tower shape | square pyramidal tower with balcony and light |
| Markings / pattern | white tower |
| Height | 5 m (16 ft) |
| Focal height | 7.6 m (25 ft) |
| Current lens | 300mm fixed drum lens |
| Light source | solar power |
| Intensity | 182 candela |
| Range | 6 nmi (11 km) |
| Characteristic | Fl WR 2.5s. |
| Admiralty number | A5612 |
| NGA number | 6240 |
| ARLHS number | ENG 030 |
| Managing agent | Trinity House |
Braunton Burrows is a sand dune system on the North Devon coast. It is privately owned and forms part of the Christie Devon Estates Trust (see Tapeley Park). Braunton Burrows is a prime British sand dune site, the largest sand dune system (psammosere) in England. It is particularly important ecologically because it includes the complete successional range of dune plant communities, with over 400 vascular plant species. The short turf communities are very rich in lichens and herbs, and the dune slacks are also rich. The many rare plants and animals include 14 with UK Biodiversity Action Plans. For example, this is one of only two sites in the UK for the Amber Sandbowl Snail Catinella arenaria, which is found on the wet dune slacks.
The Devon historian Tristram Risdon (d.1640) wrote as follows:
"Santon is in the parish of Branton, not unaptly so termed the town by the sand not, that hath overblown many hundred acres of land. And near this hamlet the country people had so undermined a hill of sand, by digging it to carry it into to their grounds, that a great quantity thereof fell down, discovering the top of a tree, which by farther search was found to be thirty feet in length, so that it plainly appeareth this circuit of marsh land (now, of the sands overblowing, called the Burrows) was in elder ages stored with woods and tall timber trees".
Similar stories exist in respect of the south coast of Glamorgan, across the Bristol Channel, regarding the Merthyr Mawr Sand Dunes which started shifting in the late 14th century and encroached on Kenfig Castle, resulting in its evacuation but which spared Candleston Castle, now almost surrounded by dunes.
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Wikipedia