Brendon Hills

The Brendon Hills form a low range in west Somerset, merging gently into Exmoor National Park. Their highest point, Lype Hill, reaches 423 metres while a second summit stands at 411 metres. Both tops carry Ordnance Survey trig points set among enclosed farmland. Old names like Brunedun and Brundon hint at a ‘brown one’ hill, while dun means a broad flat hill. The hills sit apart from Exmoor’s high moorland and the Quantock Hills nearby. Deep streams cut southwards to join the River Haddeo, a tributary of the Exe. Ironstone mining once shaped the landscape. The Morte Slates, folded Devonian rocks, were worked for iron ore in the 19th century. The West Somerset Mineral Railway carried ore from the mines down an 800-foot incline to Watchet for smelting at Ebbw Vale. Activity peaked during that period before the mines closed when ore ran out late in the century. The folds and faults of the Brendon Anticline and Timberscombe Fault System mark the geology beneath the fields. Walkers follow the Coleridge Way and the Samaritans Way across the hills. The routes cross cultivated slopes and quiet valleys where streams thread between stone walls. Views stretch towards Exmoor’s high ground and the distant Quantocks. The land shows the marks of past industry in old spoil heaps and railway cuttings. Today the hills offer open walking and a sense of quiet upland countryside within the national park.