Brean Sandcliff

Brean Down Sandcliff and Bronze Age site

On the south side of the limestone promontory of Brean Down is the sandcliff, a 30m thick triangular-shaped accumulation of sediment against the steep slope of the Down. The lower part of this represents sand and slope deposits laid down in the last glaciation. This section contains bones, including reindeer, mammoth, arctic fox and giant deer. Above this is a post-glacial sequence of buried soils, blown sands and slope deposits. Within these are five separate Bronze Age occupation horizons dating between 2000 and 700 cal BC. Two horizons produced Bronze Age circular or oval houses which were constructed of stone and wood. Occupation was associated with much decorated pottery and also clay pedestals and troughs which represent the earliest evidence in North West Europe for the extraction of salt from seawater which, in the Bronze Age, was a cottage industry. This community occupied the site year round and grazed cattle on the saltmarsh of the northern Somerset Levels. Their prosperity is attested by the discovery of bracelets and other artefacts. Later in the sequence there is evidence of field boundaries and cultivation, a cemetery of the sub-Roman period c. 500 to 800 cal AD, and then a rabbit warrener's lodge with seventeenth century AD finds.

The site can be viewed from the beach to the north of Brean Down caf�. Visitors should not cross the fence and climb on the sandcliff which is unstable, dangerous and very vulnerable to erosion.