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Coombe Hill, Buckinghamshire
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Coombe Hill is a hill in The Chilterns, located next to the hamlet of Dunsmore, Buckinghamshire, England, near the town of Wendover, and overlooking Aylesbury Vale. It is not to be confused with another Coombe Hill on the flank of Haddington Hill, some two miles to the north-east.
The majority of the hill (an area of 106 acres (43 ha)) once formed part of the Chequers Estate but was presented to the National Trust by the United Kingdom government when they were given the Estate in the 1920s.
The summit of the hill is 852 feet / 259.7 m above sea level and is the highest point in the county of Buckinghamshire.
The monument
Near the summit is a monument, erected in 1904, in memory of the 148 men from Buckinghamshire who died during the Second Boer War. The monument was almost totally destroyed by lightning in 1938 and was rebuilt the same year. The original bronze plaque and decorations were stolen in the 1980s and were replaced with a stone plaque and iron flag with the remainder of the decoration being created from bronze. The monument was again badly damaged by a lightning strike in the early 1990s and spent several months in repair. It has now been equipped with conductors to prevent the mishap happening again. The monument and a few square yards of surrounding land is owned by Buckinghamshire County Council
Flora and fauna
Coombe Hill is home to much interesting wildlife — including red kites, yellowhammers and firecrests — as well as the rare Chiltern gentian. It also holds the habitat to many rare plants, such as heather and orchids. The acid moorland is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), because of its rarity.
Origin of name
The word coombe is of Brythonic origin and means "hollow".
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