Ben Salter's photos with the keyword: Brean Down

Prevailing westerly winds sahping these trees

Steps cut into the hillside

The entrance to a large, underground, main gunpowder magazine, 15 feet by 18 feet by 20 feet high!

One of seven 7-inch Rifled Muzzle-Loading Cannons, which were built at Woolwich was mounted here in 1877, and each weighed 7 tons and had a 30lb charge of gunpowder able to fire a 112lb Palliser shot at 1,560 feet per second. This could pierce 8 inches of armour at 1,000 yards.

Brean Down seemed an ideal testing site for secret weapons. A rail track was built and the so-called bomb was mounted on a six hundredweight trolley propelled at 200mph along a caterpillar track by 12 powerful rockets. The aim was to propel the trolley at high speed into buffers. The impact would fling the bomb far out to sea. But the whole lot - trolley, buffers and all - actually went flying off into the Channel, then did a sharp right and came back inland into a local farmer's chicken run!

Looking along the side of Brean Down to Steep Holm Island

A view out of one of the rooms surrounding the gun pits

On the outbreak of World War II the fort was rearmed with two 6 inches (15 cm) ex-naval guns and two searchlight batteries. The site was also used as a test launch site for rockets and experimental weapons.

Two gun positions were built to mount the ex-naval guns in their turrets. These were later protected with a "plastic" anti-aircraft roof. One position was built over the ruins of the old west battery and the other partly obscures the north west battery.

Lookout at Brean's WW2 fort

An old steel shutter at Brean Down fort

The view back to the mainland from Brean Down showing how narrow the peninsula is.

One of the most striking landmarks of the Somerset coastline, Brean Down projects dramatically into the Bristol Channel. Offering magnificent views for miles around, it is rich in wildlife and history; an ideal place to explore.

Steepholm and Flatholm islands as seen from Brean Down.

Dogs regularly fall from the cliffs after chasing goats! Now that I would pay to see lol!!

The cliffs of brean down as seen from the west.

No up the side of Brean Down actually. Quite a climb!

A gorgeous view of Brean Down from the old mill tower at Uphill.