The Mendip TV Mast is a 922-foot (281 m) tall television broadcasting mast. The mast is situated on the summit of Pen Hill (on the Mendip Hills of Somerset in England) at 1002 feet (305 metres) above sea level. The mast was built in 1967 and weighs around 500 tonnes. It is painted white, with the top section painted an orange red and can be seen for miles around. The white paint however is fast peeling from the central sections and the brighter colours at the top are fading.
The mast has around six red lights (three sets of two lights) up the mast with two lights on top. This is to help prevent low flying aircraft from hitting the mast in adverse weather conditions.
The mast, whilst an enormous intrusion on the landscape, has become a well known and loved Mendip landmark and can provide some spectacular images when engulfed in fog or cloud or illuminated in full sunlight. It also provides a unique method of identifying the hills from other Somerset ranges.
The mast broadcasts analogue and digital television over a large area of the west of England, including Somerset, Wiltshire, Avon and Gloucestershire and is the tallest television mast in the South West of England.
The mast has an AOD (aerial height above Ordnance Survey datum) of 1924 feet (586 metres) above sea level. This makes the Mendip TV Mast UHF cylender one of the highest in the region.
It was suggested on the BBC Somerset website that the BBC install a webcam on the top of the transmitter, as it is the highest point in Somerset at over 1900 feet, and would provide breathtaking imagery of the West Country.
