Brean Down

Brean Down
Brean Down from Steep Holm
Highest point
Elevation	97 m (318 ft)
Prominence	91 m (299 ft)
Coordinates	51°19′32″N 3°01′44″W / 51.3256°N 3.0290°W / 51.3256; -3.0290
Geography
Location	Mendip Hills, England
OS grid	ST284590
Topo map	OS Landranger 182

Brean Down is a promontory off the coast of Somerset, England, standing 318 feet (97 m) high and extending 1+1⁄2 miles (2.5 kilometres) into the Bristol Channel at the eastern end of Bridgwater Bay between Weston-super-Mare and Burnham-on-Sea.

Made of Carboniferous Limestone, it is a continuation of the Mendip Hills. Two further continuations are the small islands of Steep Holm and Flat Holm. The cliffs on the northern and southern flanks of Brean Down have large quantities of fossils laid down in the marine deposits about 320–350 million years ago. The site has been occupied by humans since the late Bronze Age and includes the remains of a Romano-Celtic Temple. At the seaward end is Brean Down Fort which was built in 1865 and then re-armed in the Second World War.

Brean Down is now owned by the National Trust, and is rich in wildlife, history and archaeology. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest due to both the geology and presence of nationally rare plants including the white rock-rose. It has also been scheduled as an ancient monument.^[1]