Brendon Hill and the West Somerset Mineral Railway Incline 9 May 2011

View Brendon Incline in a larger map

This was a short impromptu walk of only 3 miles. For me, the attraction was to walk the length of the inclined plane that took the West Somerset Mineral Railway to the top of the Brendon Hills.The web site for the railway has considerable detail about the incline and its workings and a leaflet and detailed maps are available in PDF format. The  gradient of the incline (1 in 4) and the length (just over 1 km) are given explicitly but if you want to know the height climbed you have to refer to the contours of the maps. Allowing 10m for the height of the embankment above the surrounding country at the summit, I make the total rise 245 metres, or nearly 804 feet.

Interior of the winding house

I have a well illustrated book about the Mineral Railway "The Old Mineral Line" by R. J. Sellick. My copy is a 1981 edition and I believe the book is currently out of print. The ISBN is 0 900131 39X. 

The weather on the day was reasonably pleasant with some sunshine but rain did not seem far away. I was lucky though and only experienced a few drops. I had intended to walk somewhere on the Brendon Hills in West Somerset but was undecided as to where. As I passed the site of the bridge at the top of the incline, I noticed that things had changed since I last stopped and looked around here. Whereas there used to be barbed wire and a sign saying "No public access", there is now a new gate and a more friendly sign to a "Permitted footpath".

Tunnel for a hauling cable

A path led from the gate to the winding house which was built into the embankment beneath the railway track. The side walls of the winding house have been rebuilt since the building was blown up in 1917 and I do not think the metal window frames are original. However, a tunnel that one of the two original hauling cables ran through still remains. Its upper end, where the cable would have emerged at track level, is not exposed; a pity, I think.

It is years since I last attempted to walk down the incline and, as I recall it was not possible to do so because of vegetation, fallen trees and some of the bank having been washed out. It is evident that much work has been undertaken to make it stable, well drained and passable on foot. From experience on the West Somerset Railway, I would say that ongoing work will be needed to keep it so.

Wooden railway sleepers have been placed across the incline at intervals as part of the restoration. I am sure these did not come from the original track as any sleepers left would have long since rotted away. I found some rail that had been put on one side, but it was fairly light bridge rail not the sort that I believe was used on the Mineral Railway. It seems more likely that this came from one of the narrow gauge tramways associated with the iron mines that the railway served.

A corroded rail chair

I also found a very corroded rail chair but, again, this seemed out of place given that R. J. Sellick's book has a photograph showing that, on the incline, the rails were spiked to the sleepers rather than held in chairs as elsewhere. On the basis that sane people do not casually carry heavy rail chairs on 1 in 4 inclines, I presume that it is still a rare, remaining piece of the railway's permanent way that was somehow deposited here.

Entrance to the dipping well

About a third of the way down the incline there is a hole in the eastern side of a rock cutting. Inside is a hewn out cave with a few inches of water in the bottom. I guess this is the "dipping well" shown on the Brendon Industrial Society's map. I confess to ignorance of what it was that was dipped. Further downslope, on the western side, the incline is supported by a high, butressed retaining wall. A railing has been built along the top of this to prevent accidents, but it is possible, with appropriate care, to leave the the incline for a few yards to see this impressive piece of engineering.

Butressed retaining wall

Towards the bottom, the incline becomes rather overgrown, but is passable. I followed what appeared to be the predominant path, but ended up scrambling down a steep drop finding myself on the track to Comberow farm to the south side of the bridge carrying the railway overhead. On passing under the bridge I saw that I should have crossed over the bridge and come down the nice new iron staircase that has been constructed - oh well!

Bridge carrying the incline over the road to Comberow Farm. The new steps are seen left of the arch

I have dwelt on the incline but make no apologies; it is interesting and worth a visit. The rest of the walk took me to the upper part of the valley that the Incline descends into. I can see no name for it in the map, but the stream flows down through Roadwater where it joins the Washford River which  eventually flows into Watchet Harbour. The lower section of the Mineral Line followed the valley all the way to the sea. The part of the valley above Comberow is quite enchanting. There is a network of footpaths but it seems an awful long way from human civilisation. Encountering hobbits, elves or the occasional wizard would not have altogether surprised me.

Deserted House

I took a path the northern side of the valley, towards Leighland Chapel. Either side were borders of bluebells and white wild garlic flowers. Looking down I got a clear view of Comberow with the farm buildings and a line of trees giving away the position of the Incline. At a junction I took a path that almost doubled back and went towards the head of the valley. The path did not fall much, but the gradient of the watercourse meant that it converged with the stream. The valley's sides are steep and wooded with some parts of its floor occupied by meadows. Suddenly though, the head of the valley is reached and there is an abrupt change in slope. I followed a fairly steep path, passing some moss and fern covered rock outcrops and eventually reached a wider track that bordered the woodland. This followed the contour around a tributary valley. I soon passed an uninhabited house that, although delapidated, still had its roof just about intact. I think that this is the same house that is pictured on Exmoor Encyclopedia web site's page on Treborough. If so, it has been exhumed from dense vegetation. Further along, there is a waterfall that cascades down a smooth rock face. The
height is difficult to estimate, but I would put it at 20 to 30 feet.

Waterfall

Beyond the waterfall the path follows the valley floor for a while before heading up a long slog to intersect the Incline. There was still a considerable 1 in 4 climb to get back to the winding house and the end of the walk.

This had been an interesting and enjoyable walk and I am sure I will further explore the area soon.