Hillsborough

Devon, England

Just east of Ilfracombe in Devon you can take a wonderful walk at Hillsborough and from the top of the hill you get a commanding view back over the town of Ilfracombe. Hillsborough is a Local Nature Reserve in Ilfracombe, North Devon. It is known locally as the sleeping elephant. It is also the site of an Iron Age hill fort atop the cliff on a promontory at approx 115 metres above sea level. The fort takes the classic shape of a promontory reinforced and cut off landwards by a large defensive earthwork. The Ordnance Survey Map of Britain in the Iron Age shows Hillsborough as Multivallate and one of the two largest enclosures in Devon along with Cranmore Castle at over 15 acres, since the size of the enclosure today is less than half this; this must be based on more than half of the enclosure being lost to coastal erosion.