Blackmoor Gate
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Blackmoor Gate, the western gateway to Exmoor National Park, sits on the watershed between tributaries of the rivers Yeo and Heddon nearly 305m (1000 feet) above sea level. It has long been a crossing of tracks – an ancient ridgeway following the former moorland ridge from the heights of Exmoor down to the sea at Mortehoe. The road from Lynton to Barnstaple crosses here at a low point of the ridge, as did the former Lynton & Barnstaple Railway. The former station is now 'The Old Station Inn' - a licenced restaurant.
Until the middle of the 19th century, open moorland ran to the east of the road between here and Parracombe with a gate onto the moor at this point. The name comes from that of the Blackmore family who owned this and much more land elsewhere around Parracombe. R. D. Blackmore, author of the famous Exmoor book Lorna Doone, stayed in the area during his childhood. His grandfather was rector of Combe Martin.
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