Sacred sites around Glastonbury | Wimble Toot

<BODY> <H1><A HREF="ss-breandown.html">Brean Down</A></H1> <P>Brean Down is not well known as a sacred site, and driving to it can be bizarre, since it involves driving through caravan parks and cheap holiday entertainments. But once you're up there, it is one of the most inspiring locations in the South West. It is managed by the National Trust as a nature reserve and historic site  it is home to various rare flowers and butterflies.</P> <P>To get there from Glastonbury, take roads over the Levels to Meare, Westhay, Burtle, Brent Knoll and then Berrow (just north of Burnham on Sea). Then follow the coast road up through Berrow and Brean to the Down. There are a few cafes useful for refreshments after the walk, though taking your own refreshments is advised.</P> <P>The first bit involves a climb up some 150 or more steps  gets your heart pumping. At the top you're immediately confronted with a fantastic view, including the coast of South Wales with the Brecon Beacons behind, the north coast of Somerset, with the Quantocks and Exmoor behind, a view eastwards along the axis of the Mendips, including direct sightlines to a number of hill settlements (see Tower Head), south-eastwards to Brent Knoll and Glastonbury Tor, and a wide sweep around the Severn Sea (Bristol Channel), including the dramatic island of Steep Holm and also Flat Holm.</P> <P>Brean Down goes back to Megalithic times and before  a worked deer antler was found there, dating back to 10,000 BCE. Around 3,000 BCE farming communities existed in the area. Archaeologists define the banks atop the summit of the Down as a hillfort, but I believe it was more of a sacred enclosure marking a series of levels moving up to the summit. These might have been converted to defensive positions after the Roman invasion  the Romans sought the lead of the Mendips, and Brean thus became strategically important since lead-carrying boats will have passed it. A 'Romano-British' temple was built on the eastern knoll of the Down around 340 CE, but it seems to have been used only for a generation or two. It was built close to a Bronze Age mound</P> <P>It was once a rocky island  first port-of-call if sailing from the west up-river to Glastonbury. It will have been a stopping place for a succession of interesting people  including, if you believe it, Jesus and Joseph, and also a series of Welsh and Irish saints.</P> <P>It is worth stopping on the summit of Brean Down, not only for the impressive view, but also the earth energies  this is a fine spot for mystical experiences, especially if you visit at times when other walkers aren't there.</P> <P>At the end of the promontory is an old 'Palmerston fort', first built in the 1860s to protect the Bristol Channel, and rebuilt in WW2. It saw no action during WW2, but it was the test site for a number of secret weapons. There is a rock platform off the end of the Down which, during incoming and outgoing tides, creates dramatic tidal currents and waves  nature's power at its best. At times, on stormy days, the waves can be stirring to witness.</P> <P>Brean Down is reminiscent of many of the Atlantic headlands you see on the west coasts of Ireland, Wales and Scotland, and a fine contrast to the landscape of Somerset. Especially good if Glastonbury is crowded or suffering one of its down moods.</P> <P>The Down is formed of Carboniferous Limestone, same as the Mendips  and its next outcrop westward is the Gwyr (Gower) peninsula just past Swansea in South Wales.</P> </BODY>  <script type="text/javascript" language="javascript1.2"> </script><script type="text/javascript"> </script><noscript><img height="1" width="1" alt="" src="http://nht-2.extreme-dm.com/n2.g?login=avalon23&pid=sswimble&j=n&jv=n&auto=y"/> </noscript>