Mendip Hills
Just a few strides into a late-summer walk from Charterhouse in the heart of the Mendip Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) to Black Down, its highest point, and confusion has already descended. According to my companions, the land we’re walking on is “gruffy ground dotted with the odd buddle pit”. This, I’m told, is typical of the Mendips landscape. Before me lies green pasture divided by dry-stone walls. Here and there, the gently rolling pastureland is disrupted by mounds, channels and plateaus of varying sizes, but gruffy ground and buddle pits? What on Earth are they talking about? The physical landscape of the Mendip Hills as it is today is very much a living, working record of human activity and history. The lumps, bumps, channels and depressions, not to mention the rocks that have been meticulously slotted into position within the dry-stone walls, have a great deal to say about the history of this part of England – a history that has been largely based upon mining, farming and, more recently, tourism. The underlying geology has played an enormous role, not only in shaping the topography of the region, but also in the way in which the land has been used.
Over millions of years, weathering of the region’s limestone bedrock has formed the gorges, caves and plateaus that can be seen today. The more resistant sandstone and igneous rocks that have been left behind form the higher grounds, including 325-metre Black Down. In some areas, the limestone has become mineralised to form reserves of lead and zinc. Where you find lead, you also find silver, and it’s these two resources that are thought to have attracted the Romans to the Mendips in around 43 AD, and have subsequently had the greatest impact on the region’s character. Mike Chipperfield, a volunteer warden and admirer of the Mendip Hills AONB for more than 30 years, explains that one of the small plateaus visible near Charterhouse is actually the remains of a military fort built to control the lead production. “This is a most fascinating place,” he says. “It’s mostly famed for the huge quantities of lead that have been produced. The Romans knew that lead was here, and within six years of them landing here, they were digging it up. We know this because lead ingots have been found in the area.”
The Romans, however, weren’t the first to inhabit the region. Evidence of very early human activity has been discovered in the region’s caves and rock shelters. In some cases, that evidence has been very well preserved, having been washed into the caves by floods and then buried by silt. The caves at Wookey Hole and Cheddar Gorge have yielded evidence of human activity from between 10,000 BC and 8,500 BC, and Britain’s oldest complete skeleton – the famous Cheddar Man, which dates back to 7,150 BC – was found in Goughs Cave in 1903. Links to the past abound in the Mendips, even in the beautifully forested Nether Wood. There, the remains of a furnace and flues used for lead mining up until the late Victorian era can still clearly be seen, despite the softening of their edges as they’re gradually drawn back to nature. After the lead-mining industry had declined at the end of the 19th century, the area played a vital role in the Second World War. According to Chipperfield, the disused flues at Nether Wood were used as a hiding place for important or sensitive documents.
With hindsight, this may not have been the best idea, considering that at nearby Black Down, a bombing decoy made to look like a city from the air had been constructed. The idea was for the decoy – a network of lights to simulate street lights – to entice enemy aircraft to drop their bombs on this remote stretch of land instead of on densely populated areas (it wasn’t successful). In addition, a top-secret underground resistance army was stationed here in 1940, when an invasion seemed likely (see Somerset’s war efforts).Today, tourism and farming have replaced mining as the cornerstones of the local economy. Hundreds of thousands of people flock to the Mendip Hills every year, with the most popular spots being the most well-known: Cheddar Gorge, Wookey Hole and the Chew Valley lakes. A few interepid people climb up to the more remote parts of the Mendips, where views across Somerset, Bristol, the Bristol Channel and much more are on offer. “To get a more accurate idea of use at particular areas, we’ve installed visitor counters on rights of way – one counter at the top of Cheddar Gorge showed that 44,000 people passed it between March and October last year, and a counter that records mountain bikes near Black Down recorded 4,500 over the same period,” says Jim Hardcastle, the AONB’s development officer. As in the nearby Quantock Hills, the Mendip Hills AONB seems well frequented by locals. “Almost three quarters of the visitors originate from the surrounding local authority areas – within a 16-kilometre radius of the AONB,” says Hardcastle.But what about the inhabitants inside the borders of the AONB – are there any rare or unusual species in the Mendips? “The most famous rare species is the Cheddar pink, a small carnation that only grows in Cheddar Gorge and a couple of other local quarries and combes,” says Hardcastle. “It almost became extinct in the area, as people would pick it and sell it to the tourists – that’s illegal now.”
As we made the ascent from Velvet Bottom – a grassy gorge near the edge of Cheddar Gorge that resembles the velvet covering of a billiard table – and approached the end of the afternoon’s walk, the meaning behind the curious gruffy ground and buddle pits was finally revealed. And, unsurprisingly, they turned out to be terms linked to mining. “The ground known locally as gruffy are areas of contaminated rough ground,” Chipperfield explains. “The word ‘gruffy’ is thought to derive from the grooves that were formed where the lead ore was extracted from veins near the surface.” And buddles? “Well, buddle pits are stone-lined circular holes used in lead mining for concentrating ores. The floors would often be lined with wood and a horse-drawn stirrer would ensure that the lead would sink to the bottom and the waste products could be separated out.” So now I knew.
Somerset’s war efforts
In addition to the area’s caves, several underground bunkers exist under the Mendips – the legacy of a band of civilian volunteers whose efforts went largely unknown until the Museum of the British Resistance Organisation opened in Framlingham, Suffolk, in 1997. Operating from concealed bunkers – or Operating Bases – that were largely located close to coastal areas, the Auxiliary Units of the British Resistance Organisation were hastily assembled after France fell to German forces in 1940 and an invasion of Britain seemed imminent. Consisting of 3,000 members, mainly from the Home Guard, the Auxiliary Units were recruited to spy and commit acts of sabotage behind enemy lines in the event of occupation. According to Chipperfield, they were even given permission to assassinate British dignitaries and figures of authority with sensitive intelligence in case they were captured.
Turbine trouble
In 2003, Ecotricity, a green-energy company, submitted a proposal to the local council to erect a 102-metre wind turbine on the edge of the Mendip Hills AONB, near Chewton Mendip. After several months of debate, it was rejected with the support of a range of local groups and organisations, mainly because of its proximity to the AONB. “The AONB Partnership objected to the wind turbine proposal on the basis that it would be harmful to the natural beauty and particular character of the part of the AONB landscape concerned – the Mendip Plateau, which is an open area with long distance views. It was considered that such a large structure was incompatible in this setting. The turbine site lies just outside the AONB, but views in and out of the designated landscape were taken into account,” explains the AONB’s planning liaison officer, Jonathan Richards. However, in April last year, there was a complete u-turn, and Ecotricity was granted permission to build the wind turbine, following another planning inquiry and subsequent approval by a planning inspector. The planned two-megawatt turbine will be built this year at Shooters Bottom Farm. It will have three 35-metre blades rotating at between six and 22 rotations per minute (depending on wind speed) and is expected to produce 6.7 megawatts of electricity each year – enough to power 1,600 homes and meet eight per cent of Somerset’s renewable-energy target.
February 2007
Over millions of years, weathering of the region’s limestone bedrock has formed the gorges, caves and plateaus that can be seen today. The more resistant sandstone and igneous rocks that have been left behind form the higher grounds, including 325-metre Black Down. In some areas, the limestone has become mineralised to form reserves of lead and zinc. Where you find lead, you also find silver, and it’s these two resources that are thought to have attracted the Romans to the Mendips in around 43 AD, and have subsequently had the greatest impact on the region’s character. Mike Chipperfield, a volunteer warden and admirer of the Mendip Hills AONB for more than 30 years, explains that one of the small plateaus visible near Charterhouse is actually the remains of a military fort built to control the lead production. “This is a most fascinating place,” he says. “It’s mostly famed for the huge quantities of lead that have been produced. The Romans knew that lead was here, and within six years of them landing here, they were digging it up. We know this because lead ingots have been found in the area.”
The Romans, however, weren’t the first to inhabit the region. Evidence of very early human activity has been discovered in the region’s caves and rock shelters. In some cases, that evidence has been very well preserved, having been washed into the caves by floods and then buried by silt. The caves at Wookey Hole and Cheddar Gorge have yielded evidence of human activity from between 10,000 BC and 8,500 BC, and Britain’s oldest complete skeleton – the famous Cheddar Man, which dates back to 7,150 BC – was found in Goughs Cave in 1903. Links to the past abound in the Mendips, even in the beautifully forested Nether Wood. There, the remains of a furnace and flues used for lead mining up until the late Victorian era can still clearly be seen, despite the softening of their edges as they’re gradually drawn back to nature. After the lead-mining industry had declined at the end of the 19th century, the area played a vital role in the Second World War. According to Chipperfield, the disused flues at Nether Wood were used as a hiding place for important or sensitive documents.
With hindsight, this may not have been the best idea, considering that at nearby Black Down, a bombing decoy made to look like a city from the air had been constructed. The idea was for the decoy – a network of lights to simulate street lights – to entice enemy aircraft to drop their bombs on this remote stretch of land instead of on densely populated areas (it wasn’t successful). In addition, a top-secret underground resistance army was stationed here in 1940, when an invasion seemed likely (see Somerset’s war efforts).Today, tourism and farming have replaced mining as the cornerstones of the local economy. Hundreds of thousands of people flock to the Mendip Hills every year, with the most popular spots being the most well-known: Cheddar Gorge, Wookey Hole and the Chew Valley lakes. A few interepid people climb up to the more remote parts of the Mendips, where views across Somerset, Bristol, the Bristol Channel and much more are on offer. “To get a more accurate idea of use at particular areas, we’ve installed visitor counters on rights of way – one counter at the top of Cheddar Gorge showed that 44,000 people passed it between March and October last year, and a counter that records mountain bikes near Black Down recorded 4,500 over the same period,” says Jim Hardcastle, the AONB’s development officer. As in the nearby Quantock Hills, the Mendip Hills AONB seems well frequented by locals. “Almost three quarters of the visitors originate from the surrounding local authority areas – within a 16-kilometre radius of the AONB,” says Hardcastle.But what about the inhabitants inside the borders of the AONB – are there any rare or unusual species in the Mendips? “The most famous rare species is the Cheddar pink, a small carnation that only grows in Cheddar Gorge and a couple of other local quarries and combes,” says Hardcastle. “It almost became extinct in the area, as people would pick it and sell it to the tourists – that’s illegal now.”
As we made the ascent from Velvet Bottom – a grassy gorge near the edge of Cheddar Gorge that resembles the velvet covering of a billiard table – and approached the end of the afternoon’s walk, the meaning behind the curious gruffy ground and buddle pits was finally revealed. And, unsurprisingly, they turned out to be terms linked to mining. “The ground known locally as gruffy are areas of contaminated rough ground,” Chipperfield explains. “The word ‘gruffy’ is thought to derive from the grooves that were formed where the lead ore was extracted from veins near the surface.” And buddles? “Well, buddle pits are stone-lined circular holes used in lead mining for concentrating ores. The floors would often be lined with wood and a horse-drawn stirrer would ensure that the lead would sink to the bottom and the waste products could be separated out.” So now I knew.
Somerset’s war efforts
In addition to the area’s caves, several underground bunkers exist under the Mendips – the legacy of a band of civilian volunteers whose efforts went largely unknown until the Museum of the British Resistance Organisation opened in Framlingham, Suffolk, in 1997. Operating from concealed bunkers – or Operating Bases – that were largely located close to coastal areas, the Auxiliary Units of the British Resistance Organisation were hastily assembled after France fell to German forces in 1940 and an invasion of Britain seemed imminent. Consisting of 3,000 members, mainly from the Home Guard, the Auxiliary Units were recruited to spy and commit acts of sabotage behind enemy lines in the event of occupation. According to Chipperfield, they were even given permission to assassinate British dignitaries and figures of authority with sensitive intelligence in case they were captured.
Turbine trouble
In 2003, Ecotricity, a green-energy company, submitted a proposal to the local council to erect a 102-metre wind turbine on the edge of the Mendip Hills AONB, near Chewton Mendip. After several months of debate, it was rejected with the support of a range of local groups and organisations, mainly because of its proximity to the AONB. “The AONB Partnership objected to the wind turbine proposal on the basis that it would be harmful to the natural beauty and particular character of the part of the AONB landscape concerned – the Mendip Plateau, which is an open area with long distance views. It was considered that such a large structure was incompatible in this setting. The turbine site lies just outside the AONB, but views in and out of the designated landscape were taken into account,” explains the AONB’s planning liaison officer, Jonathan Richards. However, in April last year, there was a complete u-turn, and Ecotricity was granted permission to build the wind turbine, following another planning inquiry and subsequent approval by a planning inspector. The planned two-megawatt turbine will be built this year at Shooters Bottom Farm. It will have three 35-metre blades rotating at between six and 22 rotations per minute (depending on wind speed) and is expected to produce 6.7 megawatts of electricity each year – enough to power 1,600 homes and meet eight per cent of Somerset’s renewable-energy target.
February 2007
