and died. and made merry, quarrelled quarrelled merry, made generations have lived, lived, have generations people’s lives; somewhere somewhere lives; people’s has been the centre of of centre the been has of years ago. This place place This ago. years of who lived here thousands thousands here lived who in the footsteps of people people of footsteps the in summit, we are following following are we summit, week. When we walk to its its to walk we When week. clear day. clear these are the events of last last of events the are these in 17 counties on a a on counties 17 in 600 million years ago, ago, years million 600 summit, said to take take to said summit, For the Wrekin, a hill some some hill a Wrekin, the For panorama from the the from panorama in the county with a magnificent magnificent a with county the in introduction of coke. of introduction The Wrekin is the eighth highest summit summit highest eighth the is Wrekin The consider yourself a true Salopian. Salopian. true a yourself consider emerging foundries of Ironbridge, before the the before Ironbridge, of foundries emerging passed through the cleft between the rocks can you you can rocks the between cleft the through passed tending their smoking fuel, highly valued in the the in valued highly fuel, smoking their tending on a stone or scuttling off into the heather. the into off scuttling or stone a on localness; tradition has it that only when you have have you when only that it has tradition localness; charcoal burners moved between several kilns, kilns, several between moved burners charcoal summer you might catch a lizard sunning itself itself sunning lizard a catch might you summer near the summit. Here is the ultimate symbol of of symbol ultimate the is Here summit. the near trees, evidence of lives lived in the woods where where woods the in lived lives of evidence trees, return to breed every spring. During spring and and spring During spring. every breed to return bowl pool to the Needle’s Eye – a craggy outcrop outcrop craggy a – Eye Needle’s the to pool bowl charcoal hearths can still be found among the the among found be still can hearths charcoal feature of the hill has earned a name from the Raven’s Raven’s the from name a earned has hill the of feature and wheatears, pied flycatchers and tree pipits pipits tree and flycatchers pied wheatears, and provided people with a living. Hundreds of of Hundreds living. a with people provided Affection for the Wrekin is centuries-old. Every Every centuries-old. is Wrekin the for Affection and occasionally peregrine wheel overhead overhead wheel peregrine occasionally and beauty and wildlife. For centuries they also also they centuries For wildlife. and beauty bilberry and wavy hair-grass. Ravens, buzzards buzzards Ravens, hair-grass. wavy and bilberry Wrekin’s oak woods are valued today for their their for today valued are woods oak Wrekin’s everyday life. everyday woods give way to heathland with heather, heather, with heathland to way give woods of distance from the routines and dramas of of dramas and routines the from distance of Work in the woods the in Work and its ancient trees. Towards the summit the the summit the Towards trees. ancient its and its potential for adventure and for the sense sense the for and adventure for potential its The hill is particularly valuable for its woodland woodland its for valuable particularly is hill The Wildlfe been drawn to climb it for its grand views, views, grand its for it climb to drawn been way. been away. For hundreds of years people have have people years of hundreds For away. been the competitive spirit in an altogether friendly friendly altogether an in spirit competitive the the county; welcoming us home when we’ve we’ve when home us welcoming county; the brought the annual Wrekin barrel race, reviving reviving race, barrel Wrekin annual the brought the hill is a landmark visible from all round round all from visible landmark a is hill the and abandoned. The past few years have have years few past The abandoned. and from the flat ground of the Severn flood plain, plain, flood Severn the of ground flat the from it up; by the 1820s the Wakes were discouraged discouraged were Wakes the 1820s the by up; it a bit rough and the militia was sent in to break break to in sent was militia the and rough bit a people from near and far every week. Rising Rising week. every far and near from people miners and countrymen. In the 1750s this got got this 1750s the In countrymen. and miners its paths pounded by the feet of hundreds of of hundreds of feet the by pounded paths its which also involved a battle between local local between battle a involved also which The Wrekin is Wellington’s little mountain, mountain, little Wellington’s is Wrekin The and ale booths appeared for The Wrekin Wakes, Wakes, Wrekin The for appeared booths ale and Mountain for hundreds of years. Swing boats, gingerbread gingerbread boats, Swing years. of hundreds for Summer fairs brought merry-making to the hill hill the to merry-making brought fairs Summer gingerbread The People’s People’s The Swing boats and and boats Swing B5063 A442 A518 Shawbirch A442 B5060 Withington A49 Leegomery Looking after the Wrekin B4394 T r ench Granville Wrockwardine Nature Reserve rn River T e Wellington A5 Oakengates A5 Leaton A5223 The hillfort is a Scheduled Ancient Monument B5061 Ketley A5 A5 B5060 under the protection of English Heritage and M54 B4380 The is owned and managed by the Raby Estate. Ercall B4394 TELFORD Lawley THE The hill itself is part of the Shropshire Hills T e lford Rushton THE Town Park Wroxeter Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and is Roman City WREKIN Dawley A442 B4380 Little in private ownership. The Wrekin Forest Wenlock Stirchley conservation plan was produced in 2007, Leighton A4169 Lightmoor co-ordinated by Shropshire Wildlife Trust. REKIN Buildwas Madeley A4169 Coalbrookdale W River Severn This led to the establishment of the Wrekin Much A442 Forest Partnership, which aims to ensure that Wenlock Ironbridge Coalport the Wrekin and surrounding areas are given B4373 Broseley appropriate protection as Telford expands B4375 IπFORT over the next 20 years. H Metal detectors are neither to be carried nor Directions used on the hillfort Take the Wellington turn off the A5 and go in the Over the years the hillfort has taken quite direction of Little Wenlock. Park in the Forest Glen a battering. Every time someone climbs the car park or along the edge of the lane. ramparts a little bit more of it crumbles away, so please don’t! To avoid erosion of the grassland please stick to the paths whenever possible. Dogs For enquiries relating to the management of Well-behaved dogs are welcome on The Wrekin, the hillfort please ring the Raby Estate (01952 but please remember to clean up after them. 740223). The Wrekin Forest conservation plan is available Designed by MA Creative at www.shropshirewildlifetrust.org.uk www.macreative.co.uk Photography by Neil Aldridge, Mike Ashton, John Hawkins, Ben Osborne and Stephanie Hayes Illustrations by Jeremy Pyke 2,500 years of history THE WREKIN HILLFORT Hillforts were the centres of Iron Age society, seats of power, home to great chieftains, druids, warriors, their families and servants. The Wrekin hillfort was probably the capital of the Cornovii tribe, who lived here before the Roman invasion. From their farmsteads in the surrounding countryside, people would have gathered here to trade and mingle for festivities and fairs. South-west gate Fragments of the past Flints from Neolithic and Early Bronze Age times indicate the presence of people here as long as 4,000 years ago. Fortifications followed some time Mound later, early in the first millennium BC, starting with a simple earth rampart. Several centuries on, around 400 BC, the inner circuit of ramparts was constructed and the outer one abandoned. Grain store The main path to the summit passes through the entrances to both these ancient earthworks; the outer one has become known as Hell Gate, the inner as Heaven Gate, named, according to folklore, after battles during Cromwell’s time. Roundhouses Wooden Fortress Wrekin The earthworks, now eroded by weather and time, palisade would have been awesomely impressive when Ramparts first constructed; much steeper and higher, with the inner rampart faced with stone. Wooden palings set into the banks and guard houses at the entrances would have given the fort a formidable presence. Heaven Gate Iron Age people would have looked across to many other hillforts, south as far as the Malvern hills; west deep into Wales. Its panoramic views gave the Wrekin’s inhabitants a commanding, highly desirable position. Fragments of pottery and remains of wooden huts unearthed by archaeologists in 1939 and 1973 give us tangible evidence of people’s domestic lives on the hill. Roman invasion The fort was abandoned in the mid-1st century AD. It may have been taken by force; the discovery of two Roman javelin heads, one by the north-east gate and the other nearby on the Ercall, suggest this possibility. Certainly the Romans would never have allowed a tribal remnant to continue occupying this defended hilltop enclosure, overlooking as it did their new city, Viroconium (Wroxeter). No evidence has been found that the Wrekin was ever Hell Gate re-occupied after the departure of the Romans..