The Mendip Hills are a range of limestone hills to the south of Bristol and Bath in Somerset, England. The hills are largely formed from Carboniferous Limestone, which is quarried at several sites. A wide range of outdoor sports and leisure activities take place in the hills, many based on the particular geology of the area.
About Mendip Hills in brief
The Mendip Hills are a range of limestone hills to the south of Bristol and Bath in Somerset, England. The hills are largely formed from Carboniferous Limestone, which is quarried at several sites. There is evidence of mining in the Mendips dating back to the late Bronze Age, which increased after the Roman invasion, particularly for lead and silver around Charterhouse. In the 18th and early 19th centuries 7,300 ha of the common heathland on the hills were enclosed. In World War II a bombing decoy was constructed on top of Black Down at Beacon Batch. More recently, the mast of the Mendip transmitting station, micro-hydroelectric turbines and a wind turbine have been installed. A wide range of outdoor sports and leisure activities take place in the hills, many based on the particular geology of the area. The Hills are recognised as a national centre for caving and cave diving, as well as being popular with climbers, hillwalkers and natural historians. Wookey Hole Caves and some of the caves in Cheddar Gorge are open as show caves; however, many of the cave of the hills are only accessible to members of caving clubs. Long distance footpaths include the MendIP Way and Limestone Link. The Mendip hills are the most southerly upland in rock strata known as the CarboniferOUS Limestone. The area underwent continental collision throughout the late Paleozoic Era, about 320–350million years ago. As a result of the Variscan orogeny, the area now comprises four anticlinal fold-building mountain ranges across southern Ireland, south-western England and elsewhere in western Europe.
This tectonic activity produced a complex suite of mountain ranges and hill ranges across what is now southern Ireland,. south-west England and northern France. The name ‘Mendip’ may be derived from the medieval term Myne-deepes, meaning mountain or hill, with an uncertain second element, perhaps Old English yppe in the sense of upland or plateau. The suffix may be a contraction of the Old English hop, meaning a valley. The origin of the name is unclear, but it is known that there has been human habitation since Palaeolithic and Mesolithic times. The difficult conditions in the area were noted by William Wilberforce in 1789, which inspired Hannah More to begin her work improving the conditions of Mendip miners and agricultural workers. The M5 motorway and A38 are the main roads crossing the hills. Further east, and running almost north to south, are the A37 and A39. Although the Roman Fosse Way crossed the hills,. the main Roads generally avoid the higher areas and run along the bottom of the scarp slope on the north and south of the Hills. The dry stone walls that divide the pasture into fields are of botanical importance as they support important populations of the nationally scarce wall whitlowgrass.
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This page is based on the article Mendip Hills published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 03, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
