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The brazier at Raleghs Cross (Rayleighs's Cross), one of a pair at Elworthy Barrows, two miles east of this site, was placed at Ralegh's Cross to commemorate 400th anniversary of the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588.
The original braziers were part of a regular network of communications established to give news of the approach of an enemy at least from the time of threats of Spanish invasion in the 16th century to the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th.
The brazier at Raleghs Cross (Rayleighs's Cross)
Two braziers stood on the Iron-Age hillfort from the year 1556 if not earlier. Watchmen
stationed there had to look toward
Cleeve Hill above Watchet when an
enemy was expected, but were ordered to fire their wood in both braziers only if a serious invasion actually took place.
Near the present site stands part of a medieval cross, called Ralegh's Cross after the Ralegh family of Nettlecombe, which once served as a landmark on the Brendon Ridgeway.
The pillbox formed part of England's defences against
invasion in 1939.
Contributed by: Jane Aster
Community Section
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