Black Down, Somerset

Black Down is the highest hill in the Mendip Hills, 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. The summit is marked with an Ordnance Survey trig point, the base of which has been rebuilt by the Mendip Hills AONB authority.

This article is about a hill in the Mendip Hills. For range of hills along the Somerset-Devon border, see Blackdown Hills National Landscape.

Black Down
A view across Black Down from Beacon Batch in the Mendip Hills
Highest point
Elevation325 m (1,066 ft)
Prominencec. 241 m
Parent peakThe Wrekin
ListingMarilyn
Geography
LocationMendip Hills, England
OS gridST484572
Topo mapOS Landranger 141

The shortest route of ascent goes from the Burrington Combe car park and is approximately 1 km long.

Black Down is an open-access area mostly consisting of moors, with dense cover of associated vegetation such as heather and bracken. According to a local organization's newsletter, the name "Black Down" comes from the Saxon word 'Blac' or 'Bloec' meaning bleak, 'Dun' meaning down or fort.

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