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19 SHROPSHIRE

Brown Clee Hill    540m    SO 5937 8656

Location    Clee Hills, 14km WSW of Bridgnorth
Start    Brown Clee picnic area (free parking in lay-by opposite), near Ditton Priors, SO 6075 8726
OS map    Landranger 138 (Kidderminster & Wyre Forest), Explorer 217 (The Long Mynd & Wenlock Edge)
Difficulty    2
Enjoyment    ***
Distance    5km (3 miles)
Ascent    240m
Time    1–1.5hrs

Brown Clee Hill – not to be confused with its marginally lower neighbour Titterstone Clee Hill (533m) – has a commanding presence over its surrounding countryside, despite a jumble of transmitters and associated buildings damaging the aesthetics of the summit. Few tops dominate their respective county so completely (and magnificently) as this one. Over the centuries steep-sided Brown Clee Hill has been home to Iron Age forts and Britain’s highest coalfield, and is reputed to be the unfortunate site of more wartime air crashes than any other English hill. Brown Clee Hill is also within the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Route

Pass through a gate and follow a path that crosses the grassy picnic area, reaching a further gate after about 150m. Follow a narrow but obvious path across the centre of the field, climbing to a bench. Turn left along a track, entering woodland, soon after which the route passes through another gate, this time on the right. The track weaves uphill to a fourth barrier, from where there are three possible route options. Ignore the left and right ones, and proceed ahead on a winding path through trees. Scaling grassy sheep-grazed slopes, it will eventually reach the service road to the summit transmitters at a point between a ruined building and a large pond. Follow the curve of the road as it climbs to the highest point, deviating up stone steps to arrive at the toposcope on the summit. Despite the presence of the toposcope, slightly higher ground may be found on a heathery mound beneath the masts at SO 5938 8671.

Descent

Return by the same route.

Aircraft crashes on Brown Clee Hill

A monument on Brown Clee Hill commemorates the 23 Allied and German servicemen who died in aircraft crashes on the hill’s slopes during World War II. The first aircraft to crash into the hill was a German Junkers 88, with a four-man crew onboard, in April 1941. Two Wellington bombers, a Hawker Typhoon and at least two Avro Ansons also crashed into the hill during the war.

Did you know?

Famous native

Charles Darwin (1809–82), the author of On the Origin of Species, was born in Shrewsbury and boarded at Shrewsbury School. The naturalist published his theory of evolution in 1859.

Interesting fact

The world’s first ‘skyscraper’ – the five-storey Ditherington Flax Mill – was built at Ditherington on the outskirts of Shrewsbury in 1797. The deteriorating, Grade I-listed building is now being preserved by English Heritage.