Heritage Landscape
The county of Somerset has many extensive beautiful landscapes and is home to scores of Scheduled Ancient Monuments and important sites. The South West Heritage Trust works with numerous partners to ensure the conservation and preservation of this heritage for the present and future.
Managing 400 acres of land across 9 sites, the Trust is responsible for some iconic and prominent places of interest.
Cothelstone Hill in the Quantock Hills AONB, is the largest site containing barrows and earthworks and offering magnificent 360 degree views.
Two sites are in or near to Marston Magna, both of which hold remains of Medieval settlements – a moated manor house and grounds and the deserted village of Nether Adber.
Beckery Chapel on the outskirts of Glastonbury dates back to Anglo-Saxon times. St Bridget’s chapel was situated on the highest part of Beckery Hill, or ‘island’ in a field called Chamberlain’s Hill.
Deer Leap is a couple of miles north-west of Wells on the slopes of the Mendip Hills. It commands some of the best views in Somerset over the Avalon Marshes to Glastonbury Tor and across the Bristol Channel.
In the Mendip Hills AONB is the Charterhouse Blackmoor Reserve containing a wealth of industrial heritage assets dating from Roman times through to the 19th century.
Nyland Hill is one of a number of ‘island’ hills in the northern Somerset Levels. It holds the remains of lead mining activity and is the possible site of a Medieval chapel.
Fishpool Copse in Thornfalcon measures only a few acres but contains historic ponds and some coppiced woodland.
Our final site is the Chandos Glass Cone in Bridgwater. This is an 18th and 19th century industrial site, important for glass and pottery production, with the base being a rare survivor of a major industrial enterprise.
