Breedon on the Hill

The Hill, the Green and the Holly Bush

The first thing you see is the hill. A 400-foot lump of Carboniferous limestone with a church on top and a quarry eating into its eastern flank, it sits in otherwise flat country between the Trent and Soar valleys and looks, from certain angles, like something a committee designed by argument. The church won. The quarry got the other side.

At the base, the village clusters to the southwest. A stone lock-up stands on the green — circular, with a conical roof, Grade II listed, originally for detaining drunks. Next to it, an animal pound for straying livestock. Both are still intact. Both have been out of regular use for some time.

The Holly Bush Inn sits at the foot of the hill, off the green. The Grade II listed pub retains 17th-century timber framing in the centre bay, with whitewashed brick elsewhere. Low beams and log fires make for a comfortable stop before or after the climb.

Main Street and Village Essentials

The Three Horseshoes occupies an early-19th-century Grade II listed building on Main Street, serving seasonal British food in a beamed interior with a sheltered garden and terrace.

Melbourne is a nearby option for a wider range of shops.

The Climb to Saxon Breedon

The community's Priory Loop is a 2.52-mile circuit starting from the village green. On the summit, inside the remains of an Iron Age hillfort called The Bulwarks, sits the Priory Church of St Mary and St Hardulph. It holds one of the country's largest collections of Anglo-Saxon sculpture: 8th- and 9th-century carvings with interlace, figures and animals. The original Breedon Angel is housed in the tower; a replica is on display in the church.

In 675, a monastery was founded on the hill, with Hedda appointed as its first abbot. The church became part of an Augustinian priory in the early 12th century; the priory was surrendered in 1539. The Shirley monuments include a 1598 memorial to Sir George and Lady Frances Shirley, with a carved skeleton beneath the kneeling figures.

Longer Routes and Older Names

For longer legs, a five-mile circular walk starts at Melbourne Market Square, passes Melbourne Hall and Pool, reaches Breedon and returns to Melbourne. The former railway trackbed through Tonge, closed as a line in 1980, now forms part of National Cycle Route 6.

Breedon was not recorded separately in the Domesday survey: it was treated as an appendage of Tonge and was among the lands granted to Henry de Ferrers.

Village Visits and Connections

Regular buses no longer call at the village; FoxConnect provides a request-based bus service.

The hilltop church, lock-up and village pubs make a varied outing within Breedon itself.