Burrington Combe

Burrington Combe is a Carboniferous Limestone gorge near the village of Burrington, on the north side of the Mendip Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, in North Somerset, England [1]. Burrington Combe is a gorge through the limestone hills although there is now no river running through it [1]. Various cave entrances are exposed which have been occupied by humans for over 10,000 years, with a hillfort being built beside the combe in the Iron Age [1]. Archaeological discoveries of early cemeteries demonstrate human occupation of the combe and its caves from the Bronze Age with some evidence of occupation during the Upper Palaeolithic period [1]. The combe contains the entrances to many of the caves of the Mendip Hills, including Aveline's Hole, Sidcot Swallet and Goatchurch Cavern [1]. Above the combe on its eastern side is the site of an Iron Age univallate hill fort known as Burrington Camp [1]. It is around 100 metres by 80 metres and includes Romano-British elements [1].