Berry Head is a coastal headland that forms the southern boundary of

Tor Bay Tor Bay (sometimes written as Torbay) is a bay on the south-east coast of the county of Devon, England. Facing east into the English Channel, it is about wide from north to south. The settlements of Torquay, Paignton and Brixham, which lie alo ...

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, England. Lying to the east of the town of

Brixham Brixham is a coastal town and civil parish in the borough of Torbay in the county of Devon, in the south-west of England. As of the 2021 census, Brixham had a population of 16,825. It is one of the main three centres of the borough, along with ...

, it is a national nature reserve and a local nature reserve. Berry Head To Sharkham Point is a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

Ecology

Berry Head to Sharkham Point is a haven for several nationally rare and threatened species which are dependent upon the thin limestone soils, mild climate and exposed conditions of the headland. The coastal cliffs here are home to a

seabird colony A bird colony is a large congregation of individuals of one or more species of bird that nest or roost in proximity at a particular location. Many kinds of birds are known to congregate in groups of varying size; a congregation of nesting bir ...

, including

guillemot Guillemot is the common name for several species of seabird in the Alcidae or auk family, part of the order Charadriiformes. In Europe, the term covers two genera, '' Uria'' and '' Cepphus''. In North America the ''Uria'' species are called mu ...

razorbill The razorbill (''Alca torda'') is a North Atlantic colonial seabird and the only extant member of the genus ''Alca (bird), Alca'' of the family Alcidae, the auks. It is the closest living relative of the extinct great auk (''Pinguinus impennis' ...

s and

kittiwake The kittiwakes (genus ''Rissa'') are two closely related seabird species in the gull family Laridae, the black-legged kittiwake (''Rissa tridactyla'') and the red-legged kittiwake (''Rissa brevirostris''). The epithets "black-legged" and "red- ...

s. Several rare vagrant birds have occurred here, including the first British record of

yelkouan shearwater upright=0.8, Egg of the yelkouan shearwater The yelkouan shearwater, Levantine shearwater or Mediterranean shearwater (''Puffinus yelkouan'') is a medium-sized shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. It was formerly treated as a subspec ...

in July 2008. More recently, a Hume's warbler was discovered in November 2014. The guillemot colony on the cliffs below the Southern Fort is one of the largest on England's south coast and can be closely watched live on CCTV in the Visitor Centre. Berry Head also acts as an important staging post for migrant birds; and is home to a significant number of

cirl bunting The cirl bunting ( ), (''Emberiza cirlus''), is a passerine bird in the Emberiza, bunting family Emberizidae, a group now separated by most modern authors from the finches, Fringillidae. It breeds across southern Europe, on the List of islands ...

The site is one of only two locations in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

at which the

white rock-rose ''Helianthemum apenninum'', the white rock-rose, is a white-flowering Helianthemum, rock rose of the family Cistaceae found in the North Atlantic region, mainly in dry grassy and rocky places across large parts of Europe. ''Helianthemum apennin ...

, small hare’s ear and

small restharrow Small means of insignificant size. Small may also refer to: Science and technology * SMALL, an ALGOL-like programming language * ''Small'' (journal), a nano-science publication * <small>, an HTML element that defines smaller text Arts and ...

occurs. Spring gentian, honewort, and

goldilocks aster ''Galatella linosyris'' (also called goldilocks aster, and often known by the synonyms ''Aster linosyris'' and ''Crinitaria linosyris'') is a species of perennial plant from family Asteraceae found in Eastern, Central and Southern Europe. It can ...

are also dependent upon the thin soils, mild climate and exposed conditions of the headland. Caves at Berry Head are home to the endangered

greater horseshoe bat The greater horseshoe bat (''Rhinolophus ferrumequinum'') is an Insectivore, insectivorous bat of the genus ''Rhinolophus''. Its distribution covers Europe, Northern Africa, Central Asia and Eastern Asia. It is the largest of the horseshoe bats i ...

. A small herd of

North Devon cattle The Devon is a traditional British breed of beef cattle. It originated in, and is named for, the county of Devon in the West Country of England. It is a deep rich red in colour, and so may be known as the Devon Ruby, Ruby red or Red Ruby; it m ...

has been introduced to the headland to produce the cow pats that attract

dung beetles Dung beetles are beetles that feed on feces. All species of dung beetle belong to the superfamily Scarabaeoidea, most of them to the subfamilies Scarabaeinae and Aphodiinae of the family Scarabaeidae (scarab beetles). As most species of Scara ...

on which young bats are particularly dependent for food.

Fortifications

Berry Head is the site of an

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

hill fort A hillfort is a type of fortification, fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late Bronze Age Europe, European Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe, Iron Age. So ...

which was mostly destroyed by the construction between 1794 and 1804 of extensive fortifications to protect the Torbay naval anchorage against threatened invasion by French armies. The former

artillery Artillery consists of ranged weapons that launch Ammunition, munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and l ...

house now houses a public display, featuring details about the history of the area, its wildlife and how it became an important strategic point.

Navigation aids

Berry Head is the location for the Berry Head Lighthouse and a VOR/ DME beacon used for

air traffic control Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled air ...

Semaphore Semaphore (; ) is the use of an apparatus to create a visual signal transmitted over distance. A semaphore can be performed with devices including: fire, lights, flags, sunlight, and moving arms. Semaphores can be used for telegraphy when arra ...

signalling apparatus was on Berry Head before 1875 and it acted as the Lloyds' Signal Station for Torbay.

Hospital

The hospital was originally built by the

Board of Ordnance The Board of Ordnance was a British government body. Established in the Tudor period, it had its headquarters in the Tower of London. Its primary responsibilities were 'to act as custodian of the lands, depots and forts required for the defence ...

as a military hospital in support of the three Napoleonic-era forts on Berry Head. Later it became the home of the hymnist and poet

Henry Francis Lyte Henry Francis Lyte (1 June 1793 – 20 November 1847) was a Scottish Anglican divine, hymnodist and poet. Biography Youth and education Henry Francis Lyte was the second son of Thomas and Anna Maria (née Oliver) Lyte, whose family came orig ...

; it remained with Lyte's descendants until 1949 when it was turned into the Berry Head House Hotel. The building was also the home to the photographer Farnham Maxwell-Lyte. The cricketer Evelyn George Martin, a guest of Lyte's family, lived at Berry Head between his school terms at

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

. A plaque was unveiled in May 2013 to commemorate Martin's time spent at the house.

References

External links