Top 12 Natural Monuments around Brockley

Dolebury Warren is the site of an Iron Age hill fort and was also occupied during the Roman period. Today the site still has many earthworks to explore and bands of rock which may have been the foundations of walls. As a runner the ridgeline is fun to run with a not too steep ascent and fun descent whichever way you run it. The Limestone Link trail goes along the summit and it makes a good addition to a Beacon Batch loop from Burrington Combe.

Black Down Hill or Beacons Batch is the highest hill in the Mendip Hills at 325m, Somerset, in south-western England. Black Down lies just a few miles eastward of the Bristol Channel at Weston-super-Mare, and provides a view over the Chew Valley. It has a trig pointed summit and is a UK designated Marilyn with a prominence of over 150m.

A great climb! Very long, but nice and steady for the most part.

Classic Mendip climb. Just ride it!

This special site is designated as a Site of Special Scientific interest for its valuable wildlife habitats and is a nationally important site for its archaeology from the late Stone Age and Bronze Age through to the Second World War. Black Down provides the largest area of open access on the Mendip Hills at over 400 ha. Black Down, like most heathlands, is formed through a combination of factors– soil type, rainfall and human activity. The underlying Old Red Sandstone rock together with high rainfall created a waterlogged and acidic soil. The removal of tree cover by our Bronze Age ancestors 2,000 years ago helped to make sure that the soil stayed damp and acid. Only certain plants can survive in this type of ground. The key species include heather or ling, bell heather, bilberry, purple moor grass and European gorse, along with mosses and lichens. Now the bracken is managed by harvesting and grazing by cattle and wild ponies to allow the heathers and grasses to flourish again. Black Down supports a wide variety of birds, mammals, reptiles and invertebrates.

This special site is designated as a Site of Special Scientific interest for its valuable wildlife habitats and is a nationally important site for its archaeology from the late Stone Age and Bronze Age through to the Second World War. Black Down provides the largest area of open access on the Mendip Hills at over 400 ha. Black Down, like most heathlands, is formed through a combination of factors– soil type, rainfall and human activity. The underlying Old Red Sandstone rock together with high rainfall created a waterlogged and acidic soil. The removal of tree cover by our Bronze Age ancestors 2,000 years ago helped to make sure that the soil stayed damp and acid. Only certain plants can survive in this type of ground. The key species include heather or ling, bell heather, bilberry, purple moor grass and European gorse, along with mosses and lichens. Now the bracken is managed by harvesting and grazing by cattle and wild ponies to allow the heathers and grasses to flourish again. Black Down supports a wide variety of birds, mammals, reptiles and invertebrates.

As part of the nature reserve management there are sheep grazing to protect the rare plants and flowers that the grassland supports. It is important to keep your dog under close control and on a lead at all times on Dolebury Warren. Dolebury Warren is an Site of Special Scientific Interest. It is owned by the National Trust and managed by Avon Wildlife Trust. The unusual mixture of wildflowers makes this a nationally important site for wildlife. 'Lime-loving' plants like rockrose flourish alongside such 'acid-loving' plants as bell heather, which survive on patches of acidic sand blown onto the site during the ice age. The visible remains of Dolebury's past include the imposing double ramparts of an Iron Age hill fort and a medieval rabbit warren. This is a nationally protected site of archaeological interest.

Black Down is the highest area of the Mendip Hills and affords wonderful views across the Bristol Channel into Wales, over Weston-super-Mare, the Chew Valley, the Quantocks and beyond. There are many Bronze Age burial sites dotted around. You might also see the wild ponies strutting their stuff.