Clee Hills

Clee Hills
The span of the Clee Hills, with Titterstone Clee to the left (south) Clee Burf and Brown Clee (Abdun Burf) to the right (north), viewed from Shatterford Hill in Worcestershire.

The Clee Hills are a range of hills in Shropshire, England near Ludlow, consisting of Brown Clee Hill 1,792 feet (546 m) , the highest peak in Shropshire, and Titterstone Clee Hill 1,749 feet (533 m). They are both in the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Contents

Geography

The hills stretch over 15 miles and run north - south, and for about this distance the lowest point along the hills is just under 984 feet (300 m). Titterstone Clee Hill is around five miles south of Brown Clee Hill.

The B4364 road from Ludlow to Bridgnorth runs between the two hills, offering good views of both. The hills have been said to form a "gateway" from the built up areas of the West Midlands to the hills and rural landscape of Wales and are at the heart of the Welsh Marches. Much Quarrying has taken place on the hills over the years, and there are large air traffic control domes and radar towers on the summits of both hills which can be seen for many miles around.

Titterstone Clee Hill from Ludlow Castle

The View

Views from the west of the hills spread as far as Snowdonia and Cadair Idris, the Brecon Beacons, the Black Mountains, The Long Mynd, Stiperstones Shropshire's third highest peak, Corndon Hill and Radnor Forest. To the south are the Malvern Hills and the Cotswolds, and to the east are the Clent Hills, Turner's Hill , Barr Beacon and the spread of the West Midlands. To the north is Cannock Chase, and on a very clear day the hills of the Peak District including The Roaches and Winter Hill.

It is possible to see the urban centres of Dudley and Wolverhampton, with Wolverhampton Wanderers FC's Molineux stadium visible. The hills mark a clear eastern boundary to the Shropshire Hills, and are just west of the Severn Valley between Bridgnorth and Bewdley. The hills stand out over the surrounding countryside and can be seen from well into Staffordshire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire and the Black Country. They can also be seen, on a clear day, from the M5 Motorway on the northbound approach to Bromsgrove. The hills were created by glacial activity in the last Ice Age.

In the summer the hills are green and are easy walking, attracting many visitors from the Black Country and other parts of the West Midlands as well as much further afield, but care must be taken during winter, as though most of the time there is no snow and ice on the hills, when it comes it can be sudden and severe with very strong gales and blizzards often closing roads on the hill.

The village of Cleehill, lies on the slopes of Titterstone Clee Hill, about half way between Ludlow and Cleobury Mortimer.

The area is important for wildlife, with peregrine, kestrel, Northern wheatear, European stonechat, skylark, Eurasian curlew and barn owl often seen, as well as Adders, Rabbits and other birds. Even ravens are making a comeback on Clee Hill. In late July and early August 2007, Catherton Common near Titterstone Clee was home to a very rare woodchat shrike, and attracted so-called "twitchers" from far and wide.

The hills in popular culture

  • There is a long-standing rumour in the local area - that is that they are the highest land eastwards until the Ural Mountains in Russia. Hence the name of the pub in Clee Hill village - The Kremlin Inn. It has even been known for radios in the area to pick up signals via the air traffic control masts from Radio Moscow.
Abdon Burf, the summit of the Brown Clee in freezing conditions. The radar masts are clearly visible.
  • Titterstone Clee and Brown Clee also figure in Ellis Peters' Brother Cadfael mystery, The Virgin in the Ice.
  • The Clee Hills have given rise to many place names in the area, including the villages of Cleehill, Cleeton St Mary, Cleestanton and Cleedownton.
  • Some people believe that 'The Shire' in Tolkien's famed novel 'the Lord of the Rings' was based on this area, which he was known to visit frequently, having grown up in Birmingham.

Terminology

The Clee Hills often cause confusion amongst people through their names, but basically:

  • Clee Hill - rather confusingly there is actually no such thing as Clee Hill, and it is seen as either:

External links

Coordinates: 52°25′N 2°40′W / 52.417°N 2.667°W / 52.417; -2.667


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Clee Hills — (spr. klī), Höhenzug in Shropshire (England), begrenzt das Tal der Severn auf der rechten Seite und steigt bis 550 m an …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Clee Hills — (spr. klih), Höhenzug in der engl. Grafsch. Shropshire, 546 m hoch; Steingruben (Dhustone) …   Kleines Konversations-Lexikon

  • Clee Hills — geographical name hills W England in S Shropshire …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • Clee — may refer to Clee Hills, a range of hills in Shropshire, England Brown Clee Hill, the highest point in the county of Shropshire, in the Clee Hills. Titterstone Clee Hill, a hill in the Clee Hills, Shropshire Clee Hill Junction, a railway junction …   Wikipedia

  • Clee St. Margaret — Coordinates: 52°27′18″N 2°38′28″W / 52.455°N 2.641°W / 52.455; 2.641 …   Wikipedia

  • Clee — This is an English surname of ancient origins. First recorded in the county of Suffolk in the year 1327 when Richard Cle is so recorded in the pipe rolls of the county and far away in Gloucestershire in 1359 when William de Clee appears in the… …   Surnames reference

  • Titterstone Clee Hill — The summit under snow, with radar station beyond. Elevation 533 m (1,749 f …   Wikipedia

  • Brown Clee Hill — Brown Clee Hill, looking towards Abdon Burf Elevation 540 m (1,772 ft) …   Wikipedia

  • Shropshire Hills AONB — Geobox Protected Area name =Shropshire Hills native name = other name = other name1 = category local =Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty category iucn = image size = 243 image caption = The Clee Hills (L R: Titterstone Clee Hill and Brown Clee… …   Wikipedia

  • Clent Hills — Clent Hill The four stones at the top of Clent Hill at 52° 25′ 15.29″ N, 2° 5′ 56.12″ W Elevation 1,0 …   Wikipedia

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