BREAN DOWN- MARCONI

7th April 08, Wednesday. After lunch we went to Brean Down about 5 miles from the site. It is a peninsular with lots of history and spectacular views. We walked to the fort at the tip of the peninsular in scorching sunshine, without a doubt the hottest day of the year so far. The fort was built in 1870 to protect against French invasion which never happened but was later used in WW2 as a search light and machine gun emplacement. The two islands Flat and Steep Holme can be seen in the distance.


In 1870 on 13th May Guglielmo Marconi made the first radio transmissions across water to Lavernock point on the Welsh side of the Bristol Channel. Marconi's system was based primarily on Nikola Tesla's system, theoretically demonstrated during a widely known lecture titled On Light and Other High Frequency Phenomena. So who invented radio transmission Tesla, Popov or Marconi? Marconi's claim that he invented radio was always disputed by Nikola Tesla and Alexander Popov. Popov publicly demonstrated the transmission of radio waves between different campus buildings to the St Petersburg Physical Society in March 1896. Actually, Marconi publicly demonstrated his system several months later, in September.

In 1897, following wireless transmissions from Lavernock Point in Wales and Flat Holm, Guglielmo Marconi moved his equipment to Brean Down and set a new distance record for wireless transmission.

The area is permanently protected by the national trust. We saw the hillside covered with bluebells and clumps of cowslips- I tried a photo
Timmy (and us) kept stopping for a rest as it was so hot but the return walk, after an uphill climb, was cooler with a welcome breeze off the sea.

The tide was out revealing ¾ of a mile of mudflats. The town is Weston Super Mare. (Click photo to enlarge and see the water's edge)

Photo showing the hillside covered with bluebells and Flat Holme Island in the distance.