UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20549 Form 13F Form 13F COVER PAGE Report for the Calendar Year or Quarter: June 30, 2010 Check here if Amendment [_]; Amendment Number: ------- This Amendment (Check only one.): [_] is a restatement. [_] adds new holdings entries. Institutional Investment Manager Filing this Report: Name: Markel Corporation Address: 4521 Highwoods Pkwy Glen Allen, VA 23060 Form 13F File Number: 28-6647 The institutional investment manager filing this report and the person by whom it is signed hereby represent that the person signing the report is authorized to submit it, that all information contained herein is true, correct and complete, and that it is understood that all required items, statements, schedules, lists, and tables, are considered integral parts of this form. Person Signing this Report on Behalf of Reporting Manager: Name: Thomas S. Gayner Title: President and Chief Investment Officer Phone: 804-527-3806 Signature, Place, and Date of Signing: /s/ Thomas S. Gayner Richmond, VA 8/9/2010 ---------------------- ---------------------------- ------------------- [Signature] [City, State] [Date] Report Type (Check only one.): [X] 13F HOLDINGS REPORT. (Check here if all holdings of this reporting manager are reported in this report.) [_] 13F NOTICE. (Check here if no holdings reported are in this report, and all holdings are reported by other reporting manager(s).) [_] 13F COMBINATION REPORT. (Check here if a portion of the holdings for this reporting manager are reported in this report and a portion are reported by other reporting manager(s).) 1 Form 13F SUMMARY PAGE Report Summary: Number of Other Included Managers: 1 -------------- Form 13F Information Table Entry Total: 109 -------------- Form 13F Information Table Value Total: $ 1,484,687 -------------- (thousands) List of Other Included Managers: Provide a numbered list of the name(s) and Form 13F file number(s) of all institutional investment managers with respect to which this report is filed, other than the manager filing this report. No. Form 13F File Number Name -- -------------------- ------------------------------------------ 1 28-6056 Markel Gayner Asset Management Corporation FORM 13F INFORMATION TABLE VOTING AUTHORITY VALUE SHARES/ SH/ PUT/ INVSTMT OTHER -------------------------- NAME OF ISSUER TITLE OF CLASS CUSIP (x$1000) PRN AMT PRN CALL DSCRETN MANAGERS SOLE SHARED NONE ------------------------------ --------------- --------- -------- -------- --- ---- ------- ------------ -------- -------- -------- 3M Company COM 88579y101 2370 30000 SH SOLE 30000 8215 104000 SH DEFINED 01 101000 3000 Abbott Laboratories COM 002824100 3275 70000 SH DEFINED 01 69000 1000 Accenture COM G1151C101 386 10000 SH SOLE 10000 4371 113100 SH DEFINED 01 100000 13100 Air Products & Chemicals COM 009158106 363 5600 SH DEFINED 01 5600 Alleghany Corporation COM 017175100 1245 4244 SH SOLE 4244 Altria COM 02209S103 2339 116700 SH DEFINED 01 114500 2200 American Express COM 025816109 397 10000 SH SOLE 10000 15410 388173 SH DEFINED 01 339000 49173 Anheuser-Busch Inbev ADR COM 03524A108 5761 120000 SH DEFINED 01 120000 Automatic Data Processing COM 053015103 16430 408100 SH DEFINED 01 395700 12400 Bank of New York Mellon Corp COM 064058100 75 3019 SH SOLE 3019 5509 223130 SH DEFINED 01 204907 18223 Berkshire Hathaway Class B COM 084670702 30689 385100 SH SOLE 385100 94444 1185140 SH DEFINED 01 1114900 70240 Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. COM 084670108 33000 275 SH SOLE 275 74520 621 SH DEFINED 01 585 36 Brookfield Asset Management COM 112585104 6786 300000 SH SOLE 300000 63423 2803824 SH DEFINED 01 2595548 208276 Brown & Brown COM 115236101 3445 180000 SH SOLE 180000 3553 185628 SH DEFINED 01 185628 Brown Forman Class A COM 115637100 16515 283760 SH DEFINED 01 281000 2760 Brown-Forman Class B COM 115637209 4058 70915 SH DEFINED 01 70250 665 Calumet COM 131476103 454 25700 SH DEFINED 01 25000 700 Campbell Soup Co COM 134429109 2666 74400 SH DEFINED 01 70000 4400 Carmax COM 143130102 3184 160000 SH SOLE 160000 101709 5110999 SH DEFINED 01 4803070 307929 Caterpillar Inc COM 149123101 14201 236400 SH DEFINED 01 230000 6400 Charles Schwab COM 808513105 10269 724200 SH DEFINED 01 665000 59200 Coca Cola Co COM 191216100 3268 65200 SH DEFINED 01 60000 5200 Comcast COM 20030N101 201 11550 SH DEFINED 01 11550 Costco COM 22160K105 274 5000 SH SOLE 5000 1966 35850 SH DEFINED 01 34000 1850 DENTSPLY COM 249030107 1059 35400 SH DEFINED 01 35000 400 Diageo PLC COM 25243Q205 20610 328500 SH SOLE 328500 58190 927471 SH DEFINED 01 861500 65971 Disney COM 254687106 6300 200000 SH SOLE 200000 40650 1290489 SH DEFINED 01 1202500 87989 EOG Resources, Inc. COM 26875p101 3836 39000 SH DEFINED 01 39000 Emerson Electric COM 291011104 7663 175400 SH DEFINED 01 158000 17400 Enterprise GP Holdings COM 293716106 474 10000 SH SOLE 10000 7456 157200 SH DEFINED 01 150000 7200 Exxon Corporation COM 30231G102 11403 199800 SH SOLE 199800 19655 344394 SH DEFINED 01 308000 36394 Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd COM 303901102 103598 279459 SH SOLE 279459 Federated Investors COM 314211103 207 10000 SH SOLE 10000 4277 206500 SH DEFINED 01 205000 1500 Fidelity National Financial COM 31620R105 6090 468850 SH SOLE 468850 16732 1288058 SH DEFINED 01 1194150 93908 Forest City Enterprises Class COM 345550107 9551 843767 SH DEFINED 01 812400 31367 Fortune Brands COM 349631101 1791 45700 SH DEFINED 01 45000 700 General Dynamics COM 369550108 22866 390465 SH DEFINED 01 370000 20465 General Electric COM 369604103 4254 295000 SH SOLE 295000 48293 3349012 SH DEFINED 01 3160000 189012 Heritage Crystal Clean Inc COM 42726M106 1928 239500 SH DEFINED 01 239500 Home Depot COM 437076102 561 20000 SH SOLE 20000 26603 947745 SH DEFINED 01 900000 47745 ITC Holdings Corp COM 465685105 9164 173200 SH DEFINED 01 173000 200 Illinois Tool Works COM 452308109 10033 243043 SH DEFINED 01 220000 23043 Intel COM 458140100 1167 60000 SH SOLE 60000 3745 192542 SH DEFINED 01 170000 22542 International Business Machine COM 459200101 1235 10000 SH SOLE 10000 1303 10550 SH DEFINED 01 10000 550 International Game Technology COM 459902102 3925 250000 SH SOLE 250000 14134 900232 SH DEFINED 01 820000 80232 Investors Title Company COM 461804106 7255 228850 SH DEFINED 01 213300 15550 Johnson and Johnson COM 478160104 16537 280000 SH SOLE 280000 16424 278095 SH DEFINED 01 262200 15895 Leucadia National Corp COM 527288104 10699 548400 SH DEFINED 01 535000 13400 Lowes COM 548661107 1940 95000 SH SOLE 95000 4386 214800 SH DEFINED 01 170000 44800 Marriott International COM 571903202 5448 181965 SH SOLE 181965 37133 1240247 SH DEFINED 01 1101907 138340 McDonalds COM 580135101 12706 192903 SH DEFINED 01 181000 11903 Microsoft COM 594918104 1203 52290 SH DEFINED 01 40000 12290 Nike COM 654106103 3391 50200 SH DEFINED 01 50000 200 Northern Trust Corp COM 665859104 6538 140000 SH DEFINED 01 140000 Novo-Nordisk A/S COM 670100205 18756 231500 SH DEFINED 01 215000 16500 NuStar GP Holdings COM 67059L102 18004 585300 SH DEFINED 01 576500 8800 Patterson Companies Inc. COM 703395103 3974 139300 SH DEFINED 01 135000 4300 Paychex COM 704326107 1322 50900 SH DEFINED 01 50000 900 Pepsico COM 713448108 4084 67000 SH DEFINED 01 66300 700 Philip Morris International COM 718172109 5350 116700 SH DEFINED 01 114500 2200 Plum Creek Lumber MLP COM 729251108 5179 150000 SH SOLE 150000 7089 205300 SH DEFINED 01 200000 5300 Pool Corp COM 73278L105 2082 95000 SH DEFINED 01 95000 Prepaid Legal Services COM 740065107 682 15000 SH DEFINED 01 15000 Procter & Gamble COM 742718109 3803 63400 SH DEFINED 01 62000 1400 RLI Corporation COM 749607107 32442 617816 SH DEFINED 01 598636 19180 Schlumberger COM 806857108 3675 66400 SH DEFINED 01 65000 1400 State Street Corp COM 857477103 1366 40400 SH DEFINED 01 40400 Sysco Corp COM 871829107 2428 85000 SH SOLE 85000 20584 720468 SH DEFINED 01 640000 80468 T.Rowe Price COM 74144T108 488 11000 SH SOLE 11000 8190 184500 SH DEFINED 01 184000 500 Teva Pharmaceuticals COM 881624209 3130 60200 SH DEFINED 01 55000 5200 Union First Market Bankshares COM 90662P104 42970 3504920 SH SOLE 3504920 United Parcel Service COM 911312106 3955 69520 SH SOLE 69520 36243 637080 SH DEFINED 01 583480 53600 W.P. Carey COM 92930Y107 26733 967200 SH DEFINED 01 950200 17000 Wal-Mart Stores COM 931142103 5597 116425 SH SOLE 116425 36865 766910 SH DEFINED 01 693575 73335 Walgreen COM 931422109 5934 222260 SH DEFINED 01 220000 2260 Washington Post Co COM 939640108 2217 5400 SH DEFINED 01 5200 200 Washington Real Estate Investm COM 939653101 11242 407475 SH DEFINED 01 390300 17175 White Mountains COM G9618E107 10846 33456 SH SOLE 33456 15586 48074 SH DEFINED 01 48074 Level 3 Communications CONV 52729NBM1 16687 15000000 PRN SOLE 15000000 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ REPORT SUMMARY 109 DATA RECORDS 1484687 1 OTHER MANAGERS ON WHOSE BEHALF REPORT IS FILED.