National Trust cancels VE Day beacon celebration over wildfire risk

Dunkery Hill was given to the National Trust in 1935 by Sir Thomas Acland, Col Wiggin and Allan Hughes along with the rest of the surrounding Holnicote Estate.

The Telegraph reports that the National Trust says it ‘wouldn’t be responsible’ to light Dunkery Beacon following ‘driest March in decades’.

By Albert Tait

The National Trust has refused to light a historic beacon for the 80th anniversary of VE Day over wildfire fears.

In years past, crowds of hundreds have gathered at Dunkery Beacon in Somerset to celebrate national occasions such as coronations and jubilees.

The beacon marks the highest point in Exmoor and its blaze can be seen from miles away in each direction.

But the Trust has confirmed it will remain unlit over the four days of VE Day celebrations next week because of the increased risk of fires on the moor.

“Due to the driest March in decades, an unusually warm April and one of the worst years for wildfires on record, creating a high risk of fire on Exmoor, it wouldn’t be responsible to light the beacon just now,” a spokesman for the trust told The Telegraph.

Three heathland fires broke out in March and damaged around 80 acres of the moorland. Across the UK, 2025 is already the second-worst year on record for wildfires, both by area burned and the number of fires.

The Trust plans to mark VE Day with several events across the UK, including at Chartwell in Kent, East Pool Mine in Cornwall, and Croome Park in Worcestershire.

But Cllr Steven Pugsley, whose ward includes the beacon, said more should have been done at Dunkery Beacon to commemorate the day the Allies formally accepted Germany’s surrender in 1945.

“It’s obviously regrettable,” said the Tory councillor, who has sat on Somerset council for 40 years and lives just 10 miles from the beacon.

“One would have thought they would have done everything possible to light the beacon on such a great national occasion.

“It is one of the most significant beacons in the country. Even if they can’t light it, surely they could provide some sort of alternative. Something like a fire basket.”

The beacon was lit for national events, including the coronation of George V in 1911, the coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953, and the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022.