busyPriddy Pools is an old, worked-out lead mining area. When the Romans invaded Britain in AD43 one of their reasons, apart from the expansion of their empire, was because of the mineral wealth found in the islands. The Mendip Hills became a very important area for them because there was a lot of lead ore there and lead was important to the Romans because of their obsession with plumbing. There are lots of Roman lead mines dotted all over the Mendips. Priddy Pools was still being worked until the very beginning of the twentieth century. Now it's a site of special scientific interest because it has been left to go wild as a nature reserve.
It was an interesting landscape to walk through with small lakes, lots of humps and hollows, the traces of old ruined and forgotten buildings and some big holes in the ground.
As you can see, it was a beautiful morning, but with quite a cold wind blowing.
Strangely, it looked more like parched summer than crispy winter.
I loved the overgrown tussock grasses creating mini-hills of their own.
A typical Mendip dry-stone wall.
