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According to the Charter of Cerne Abbey in 987, this area was known by the name of Aeschere, but the hill was later named Sigismund's Berg by the Viking chief Sigismund, when he saw the beacon on the hill's summit. The name Symondsbury is a corruption of the earlier Sigismund's Berg (Berg being Norwegian for Hill), which is now the name of the nearby village. The name Colmers was given much later in the 19th century; named after the Reverend John Colmer, who was the landowner and local rector of Symondsbury from 1805-06 . The trees on the summit were planted during the first world war to mark those from the local area who had perished.

On 14th October, Matt, Dave and I decided to watch the sunrise from above Colmer's Hill; in the hope that we could capture it. We trudged our way through the long, wet grass that grabbed at our trousers and soaked us through. The walk was far and uphill, the path before us dark and uninviting. We had no idea where we were going, but we headed onwards through a series of gates that seemed to block our every turn. Eventually, we made it to the far side of the hill and set our tripods up, preparing for the half hour wait for the sun to rise.