MENDIP HILLS

This article appears in Volume V18, Page 126 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: MEC-MIC

MENDIP HILLS , a range in the north of Somersetshire, England. Using the name in its widest application, the eastern boundary of the range may be taken to be formed by the upper valleys of the rivers

Frome

FROME

and Brue, and the depression between them. The range extends from these north-westward with a major

axis

AXIS (Lat. for " axle ")

of about 23 m., while the outliers of Wavering Down and Bleadon Hill continue it towards the shore of the Bristol Channel. The range is generally about 6 m. in width, and its total area about 130 sq. m. Its

south

SOUTH
SOUTH, ROBERT (1634–1716)

-western face descends to the low " moors " or marshes drained by the Axe and other streams, the small towns of Axbridge, Cheddar and Wells lying at the foot of the hills. Towards the north-

east

EAST
EAST, ALFRED (1849- )

its limits are less clearly defined, for high ground, intersected by narrow vales, extends as far as the valley of the" Avon. A depression, followed by the road between Radstock and Wells, strikes across the range about its centre; the

principal

PRINCIPAL

elevations lie west of this, and to the area thus defined the name of the Mendips is sometimes restricted. The summit of the hills is a gently swelling

plateau

term
- TERM
_older_pl.html">PLATEAU (a French
term
- TERM
, older platel, for a flat piece of wood, metal, &c., from plat, flat)
PLATEAU, JOSEPH
ANTOINE
- ANTOINE, ANDRE (1858- )
FERDINAND (1801-1883)

, which reaches its extreme height in the northio6S ft. The Mendips consist principally of Carboniferous Limestone. Fine cliffs and scars occur on the flanks of the

plateau

PLATEAU (a French term, older platel, for a flat piece of wood, metal, &c., from plat, flat)
PLATEAU, JOSEPH
ANTOINE
- ANTOINE, ANDRE (1858- )
FERDINAND (1801-1883)

, as in the gorge of Cheddar, and there is a wonderful

series

SERIES (a Latin word from serere, to join)

of caverns, the result of water action. The surface of the plateau is often broken by deep holes
(" swallets ") into which streams flow. Some of the caves, such as those at Cheddar, are easy of access, and attract many visitors owing to the beauty of the stalactitic formations; others, of greater extent and grandeur, have only been explored, or partly explored, with

great

GREAT

difficulty. Some caves have yielded large quantities of animal remains (hyaenas, bears and others) together with traces of prehistoric human occupation. Among such Wookey Hole, where the river Axe issues from the foot of a cliff, may be mentioned. Lead was worked among the Mendips at a very early period. Some of the Roman workings, especially in the neighbourhood of Charterhouse-on-Mendip, have yielded pigs of lead inscribed with the names of emperors of the 1st and 2nd centuries A.D., together with an abundance of smaller objects.
See E. Baker and H. Balch, The Netherworld of Mendip (Clifton, 1907).

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