Dundry Hill East
160 Metres
525 Feet
24th July 2026
Bristol reconsidered. 2nd Edition
In March 2025 I reached the top of Bristol. It wasn’t hard, being just a short drive up the road from where my daughter lives. Cossham Hospital, at the top of Lodge Hill, as informed by Peak Bagger, my go to reference guide to all things County Tops related. For what it’s now worth, the brief account of that event can be found below, although no doubt some of the references to AI are already out of date! *
Some months after that event, an article “randomly” popped up on my Google feed. Bristol Live, I think? In a rather rambling account that lingered, paragraph by paragraph between multiple adverts hinting at scandals beyond the headlines, it explained that whilst most Bristolians had been brought up on the notion that Cossham Hospital and Lodge Hill were the highest points in Bristol (including Peak Bagger of course – see below), researchers now believed there was a higher point.
And, just when we thought there were no mysteries left!
In brief, in 1949, to help Bristol build more homes, they did a land swap with Somerset council. Somerset gained Portishead docks (now in North Somerset – highest point Blagdon Hill Farm – account available), and Bristol gained a northern slice of Somerset, which included a chunk of the Dundry Hill range.
That it had taken the “researchers” over seventy years to decide this issue wasn’t mentioned, but regardless, and having checked Peak Bagger again and noting that it had been updated, presumably because whoever administers the site is subject to the same algorithms as my phone, I was now left with the task of visiting the newly identified high spot and updating the records accordingly. Shucks!!
The opportunity finally came along after a routine visit to my daughters, during which she and her partner, J, acquired some sort of norovirus, and I decided to exit stage left earlier than I’d planned.
On another stonkingly hot day, early afternoon, I set off south through the suburbs, eventually finding East Dundry Road. I stopped for a minute to take in the height’s ahead, and the Shield and Dagger public house, which seemed to be doing good business.
Towards my destination, with the Shield and Dagger nestling behind the fence
The road continued through a housing estate that petered out at the foot of the rise leading up the hill. At this point I had to find first gear. The road, potted and narrow, without passing spaces, angled up at a disturbing gradient. If another vehicle had been coming down in the other direction, I doubt I would have had the driving skills to navigate the situation. But all was good, and after half a mile or so the road began to flatten out with views opening out to the west towards the Severn estuary.
I knew that at this point I had left Bristol and was in the Bath and North East Somerset Unitary Authority area (just to complicate this account further), and that the high point of Bristol lay just a short distance down the hill to the right. The problem was that there was nowhere to park.
I drove on a short distance and found a small recess in the hedgerow that allowed me to park up for a moment, jump out and look down across the large field towards the spot I guessed was the spot. I took a snap and another of the road (for artistic reasons I should imagine), then jumped back in and headed on along the ridge to the hamlet of East Dundry.
Somewhere down there
Looking back at the climb up East Dundry Road
One last look – over to the right maybe?
Back home, and two days later, I woke up to the reality that despite my early exit I hadn’t escaped the Bristol bug. Never mind. The mission continues.
The first edition
*Lodge Hill
112 Metres
369 Feet
28th March 2025
A room with a View
Bristol is a hilly city, blessed with many high points that grant excellent views. To the northeast, the Dower House, located metres outside the city boundary in South Gloucestershire, is a striking, sandstone coloured Georgian pile that can’t be missed from the M32. To the southwest, and still close to the M32, the remains of the Purdown anti-aircraft batteries now hide under the soaring BT tower, but have grand views towards the city, and must have been an impressive, albeit salutary sight, when in action during the Blitz. In the city itself, the remarkably well-hidden Cabot tower at Brandon Hill gives some of the most impressive views of the city and its surrounds. And of course there’s the Clifton suspension bridge, and the “Downs” above, to enjoy and feel a sensation of elevation.
So, great, but none of these can claim the high spot. That goes to Cossman Hospital located at the top of Lodge Hill, found appropriately in the Lodge Hill area in the northeast.
On the 28th of March 2025, I had a few minutes to burn before imposing myself on my daughter and her partner J, who conveniently live in Bristol. A couple of hours earlier I had walked to the top of Pilot Hill, the highest spot in Hampshire, and now had little interest in further physical activity. I drove up Lodge Causeway from Fishponds, parked up in Selkirk Road and then took this picture before departing. The impressive clock tower is the highest (man-made) point in the city, and the view from there, and I guess some of the wards or admin offices below, must be pretty good, but from just outside the car park, it’s a moderately interesting, possibly Victorian building.
Rooms with a view (I imagine)
A slightly irritating side issue to my tremendous achievement was that as I stood on Selkirk Road (112 metres) I turned and looked to the east, towards the main road, and houses beyond. A side road continued past the main road and, in my mind, appeared to rise to what appeared to be a higher point. It was certainly industrial in nature and appeared to be fenced off. But there was no more curiosity in me, and I left. Of course, in the end curiosity, and a sense of duty to the topic, led me to double check for any localised height variation. Firstly, don’t bother yet with AI. If you type in Google “the highest point in Bristol” the AI overview will tell you that it is Dundry Hill and has a picture of a mountain that looks remarkably like Cadair Idris, a beautiful peak in northwest Wales (or, as I discovered on a second try, Blackdown Hill depending, I guess, on how the AI is feeling, or what it’s learning!). Don’t worry, I’m lost too. Dundry Hill, as of course we all know, is in North Somerset, and that’s a different county (and if you ask AI Overview for the highest point in North Somerset it will confirm this, doh!). *
At this, the casual reader may say, “I thought this was supposed to be about reaching the top points of counties. Why are you doing Bristol, given that it is in Somerset?” Until I started doing this arguably pointless hobby, I too might have thought the same and indeed would have been certain that in the 1970’s, when I went for a pub crawl around Bristol with my very Zummerzet friend Andy on a Saturday night, that I was indeed in Bristol, Somerset. Not so. Bristol, historically, was split in two by Gloucestershire in the north, and Somerset to the south, with the Avon River being the divide. In 1373 Bristol became its own entity (it is complex), which endured until 1974 when it became part of the County of Avon. That lasted until 1996 when Avon was abolished, and Bristol became a Unitary Authority. So, when being shown the sights of Bristol nightlife in 1977, I was probably in Avon. Anyway, when I initially found what appeared to be a reliable list of British counties, Bristol was included, and in my mind qualified.
Where was I? Ah, yes, going off piste again (to be fair, it was 1977). So, at the top of Selkirk Road the land appeared to be higher than where I stood. I later checked the ever-reliable British Geological Survey Viewer, and it confirmed that the land did indeed rise a further five metres. Annoying, although I’d be back there again soon and could always pop up to Castle Road to take a closer look. Oh, Castle Road, interesting! It seems that at some point there was a stately home, or manor house that was known locally as the “Castle”. That being the case, that the land rises here probably has more to do with human activity than with the natural contours of nature, and to that end I may feel less obliged to carry out another visit. Anyway, if you want to take this activity seriously, and finding the very top of Bristol is that important, walk away from the hospital and further up Selkirk Road.
As an aside, if you wish to find out more about the semantics of what is, or is not a county, I stumbled on this website.
https://abcounties.com/news/which-county-is-bristol-
The Association of British Counties, with the mission statement “A society dedicated to celebrating and promoting the 92 historic counties of the United Kingdom and the important part they play in our culture, heritage and geography.”
A brief scan of the text and I immediately departed company with m’learned writer. I guess it had something to do with the smug pomposity of the language that turned me off, and of course the knowledge that all boundaries are in any case artificial constructs, which ebb and flow depending on demographic change, politics, and as we still see, war. Just a little bit of me wondered if the Association might also want to reintroduce imperial measures. Mines a pint.
*I doubt that I will engage much with AI options, though I can’t rule it out, and in time may have no choice. As I write this, a news item reported on the US Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, talking about how AI will be taught in schools, but more than once called it A1 (A One). Four more years of this………..! Help.
El Colmado 57 