Tregonning Hill
| Tregonning Hill | |
| Cornwall | |
|---|---|
 Path up Tregonning Hill | |
| SW602296 50°7’6"N, 5°21’18"W | |
Tregonning Hill is the westerly of two granite hills overlooking Mount's Bay in western Cornwall, the other being Godolphin Hill. The two are approximately four miles west of the town of Helston.
Part of the hill is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest and at the date of notification (1994) was the only known site of western rustwort (Marsupella profunda) in Great Britain.[1]
The war memorial for the parish of Germoe stands 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.[1] By 2004 the liverwort was known from fourteen sites within three SSSIs, making Cornwall the main stronghold globally.[2] The nationally scarce moss (Brachydontium trichodes) known from only two sites in Cornwall also occurs on Tregonning Hill.[1] As of 7 September 2010 the condition of the SSSI was considered to be ″unfavourable declining".
Industry
An elvan quarry was in operation on the summit in 1879.[3]
Outside links
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 SSSI listing and designation for Tregonning Hill
- ↑ Nick Clark & Alan Bean, ed (2004). Cornwall's Biodiversity Volume 3: Action Plans 2004. Truro: Cornwall Wildlife Trust.
- ↑ "The Old and the New". The Cornishman (46): p. 7. 29 May 1879.