Although common land, Blackdown was the property of various landowners until W. E. Hunter donated it to the National Trust in 1944, as a memorial to his wife. The Hunters are remembered by an inscribed stone seat at the Temple of the Winds. Flint artefacts show there has been settlement on Blackdown since the mesolithic period, around 6000 BC. The name of an ancient track, pen-y-bos, indicates links with the Celtic world long since lost in more accessible parts of south-east England. (The name pen-y-bos comes from the Brythonic language of the ancient Britons that lived in the area - rather like the well-known pen-y-ghent in Yorkshire.) Blackdown is managed by the National Trust, with guidance and financial assistance from the Blackdown Committee of the National Trust.