Breedon Hill

Not to be confused with Bredon Hill.

Breedon Hill

Site of Special Scientific Interest
Location	Leicestershire
Grid reference	SK 404 232 [1]
Interest	Biological
Area	5.3 hectares [1]
Notification	1983 [1]
Location map	Magic Map

Breedon Hill is a 5.3-hectare (13-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest on the northern outskirts of Breedon on the Hill in Leicestershire. ^{[1] [2]}

Geography

This is the largest area of species rich carboniferous limestone in the county. Herbs include bulbous buttercup, harebell, burnet saxifrage, musk thistle and hairy violet. ^[3]

The site is crossed by a footpath from the village to the church.

Etymology

The name Breedon is first attested in Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People of 731, in the form Briudun and Breadun. Here the name refers to the settlement now known as Breedon on the Hill, but the settlement evidently took its name from the hill on which it stands, which must once simply have been called Breedon: the first element of the name derives from Brittonic *breɣ ("hill"). This word, whose literal meaning was presumably not understood by Old English-speakers, was borrowed into Old English as a name for the hill, with the addition for clarification of the Old English word dūn (also meaning "hill"). When the word dūn ceased to be understood to mean "hill", and perhaps also to distinguish the hill from the settlement which took its name, the element Hill was added. ^{[4] [5] [6]}

References

1. "Designated Sites View: Breedon Hill". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
2. "Map of Breedon Hill". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
3. "Breedon Hill citation" (PDF). Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
4. Watts, Victor, ed. (2004). The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names, Based on the Collections of the English Place-Name Society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN   9780521168557., s.v. Breedon on the Hill.
5. Mills, A.D. (2003). A Dictionary of British Place Names. London: Oxford University Press. ISBN   0-19-852758-6., s.v. Breedon on the Hill.
6. "Key to English Place-names". kepn.nottingham.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 15 August 2021. Retrieved 15 August 2021.

52°48′14″N1°24′07″W / 52.804°N 1.402°W / 52.804; -1.402