The History of the Brendon
Hills
Take some steps back in time to learn how the
Brendon Hills were formed…….
The Brendon Hills
The Devonian sandstone making up the
Brendon Hills was laid down approximately
400 million years ago.
Each step you take along this route will be
the equivalent of 4 million years
Take 100 steps along this route to reach the
Devonian Period
10,000 Years ago
The end of the last Ice Age
Glaciers reached the southern tip of Wales
This area of Somerset including the Brendon Hills were in
tundra like conditions
2 Million Years Ago
Approximately 2 million years ago Human
species developed from chimp like
ancestors
Mirror!!
Homo habilis (handy people)
2 million years ago
Homo erectus (upright people)
1.5 million years ago
Homo sapiens (wise people)
250,000 years ago
65 million
years ago
A catastrophic
event wiped
out the
dinosaurs
250 Million Years Ago
Earths land masses formed one massive content
known as Pangea
300 Million Years Ago
The Carboniferous period
Equatorial areas were covered by vast
swamps which would eventually become
fossilised as coal……
….coal that we burn today as fossil fuel.
Thick layer of coal deposit
A fossilised leaf from a
coal mine
You’ve reached the Devonian
Period
(417 – 354 Million Years ago)
The earth looked very different 400
million years ago.
The earth’s land masses were in 3
major continents.
The earth in the Devonian
Period
The earth today
Siberia
Where are you on this map?
The land you are
standing on is 10o
below the equator
North America
and Europe
South America, Africa,
Antarctica, India, Australia
Habitats of the Devonian Period
Try to imagine that the land you are standing on
was a sandy plain crossed by rivers flowing out
into a large delta before reaching a shallow sea.
Plants and Animals of
the Devonian Period
Plants such as ferns, mosses,
some tall trees
Insects and spiders live on the land
along with the first amphibians
Some insects from the
Devonian Period have
been preserved in
amber
Freshwater fishes
Armoured fish and fearsome
predators ruled the lakes and rivers
Sea Creatures
of the Devonian
Period
Animals in the sea included
ammonites, trilobites,
brachiopods, sea urchins,
corals and huge predatory
fish.
Sedimentary rock
The Devonian sandstone is
made of particles of sand, rich
in iron oxide, built up layer
upon layer as the wind blown
sand settled out in the rivers
and shallow sea.
The pressure of all the layers
eventually causes them to
harden and form rock.
Mountain Building
During the Permian Period (approx.
290 million years ago) pressure and
heat caused the layers of sandstone
to bend and fold due to tectonic
plate movement of the earths crust.
Mountain Building
The folding created mountains in the
areas of Exmoor, Dartmoor and the
Quantock and Mendip hills, with low
lying areas in between.
From Mountains to Hills
Over millions of years the mountains have been eroded
by weathering and rivers to form the rolling hills and
steep valleys you see today.
Humans have also had an effect on the landscape through settlement,
agriculture and mining.
Humans and the Brendon Hills
Stone Age c250,000BC – c1,800BC
Hunter gatherer people
Bronze Age c1,800BC – c600BC
Large scale clearance of upland wooded areas
Iron Age c600BC – 43AD
Trade with the continent, wetter climate forced people to
abandon agriculture in upland areas
Romans 43AD – 410
New developments in industry and evidence of
iron ore mining on the Brendon Hills
The Victorian Period
• Economic activity of
the Brendon Hills was
both industrial and
agricultural
• Industrial – Mining for
Iron Ore
• Agricultural –
Livestock and crops
Iron Ore
Iron:
•
6th most abundant element in the
universe
•
Makes up 5% of the earths crust
•
Iron ore is known as Haematite or
Magnetite
• Iron Ore is present in the Brendon Hills
due to the iron oxide rich layers of sand
that built up during the Devonian period.
Mining Iron Ore
Other minerals
Silver broach
Antimony
Manganese
Gold
Zinc
The Effects of Mining on the
Environment
What detrimental effects would mining of
this area have on the environment?
The Winding House