Brean Down

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Brean Down

Brean Down from Steep Holm
Elevation 97 m (318 ft)
Location Mendip Hills, England
Prominence 91 m
Topo map OS Landranger ??
OS grid reference ST284590

Brean Down is a promontory off the coast of North Somerset standing 320 feet high and extending 1½ miles into the Bristol Channel between Weston-super-Mare and Burnham on Sea.

Made of carboniferous limestone, it is a continuation of the Mendip Hills, and two further continuations are the small islands of Steep Holm and Flat Holm.

There is evidence of a temple at Brean Down dating from pre-roman times.[1]

It is now owned by the National Trust, and is rich in wildlife, history and archaeology. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. There are steep cliffs and, at its seaward point, a Brean Down Fort built in 1865 and then re-armed in the Second World War.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Dunning, Robert (1983). A History of Somerset. Chichester: Phillimore & Co. ISBN 0850334616.

[edit] External links



 
Geological Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Somerset
Summarised data for all sites (biological and geological)

Ben Knowle | Blue Anchor to Lilstock Coast | Brean Down | Brimble Pit and Cross Swallet Basins | Bruton Railway Cutting | Cheddar Complex | Cloford Quarry | Cook's Wood Quarry | Crook Peak to Shute Shelve Hill | Doulting Railway Cutting | Emborough Quarries | Glenthorne | Godminster Lane Quarry and Railway Cutting | Greylake | Ham Hill | Hobbs Quarry | Holwell Quarries | Hurcott Farm | Hurcott Lane Cutting | Lamb Leer | Langport Railway Cutting | Laycock Railway Cutting | Leighton Road Cutting | Low Ham | Maes Down | Maesbury Railway Cutting | Miller's Hill, Milborne Wick | Moon's Hill Quarry | Priddy Caves | Priddy Pools | Rodney Stoke SSSI | Sandpit Hole and Bishop's Lot | Seavington St. Mary | Shepton Montague Railway Cutting | Snowdon Hill Quarry | St. Dunstan's Well Catchment | Thrupe Lane Swallet | Vallis Vale | Viaduct Quarry | Windsor Hill Quarry | Wookey Hole | Wookey Station | Wurt Pit and Devil's Punchbowl
Neighbouring areas: Avon | Devon | Dorset | Wiltshire

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