The eastern spur of Hope Bowdler Hill. Traces of ancient field boundaries can be seen crossing the hill’s slopes in the winter sunlight. Titterstone Clee, with hillfort and cairns, is the bleached out hill on the skyline, Wenlock Edge crosses the picture as a darker band in the middle distance.
The field system fills the slopes below the eastern spur of Hope Bowdler Hill. Brown Clee, the highest point in Shropshire, is on the skyline.
The possible cairn on the saddle between the northern and southern summits of the hill. I dismissed it as a sheep shelter at the time, but should have paid more attention. Looking towards the Long Mynd. The southern summit with a modern marker cairn is on the left.
Gaer Stone, a prominent rock outcrop on the slopes of Hope Bowdler Hill. The name is interesting, “Gaer” meaning fort in Welsh, but there’s no sign of a fort on the hill, despite the presence of an Iron Age fieldsystem.
An Iron Age field system occupies the top of Hope Bowdler Hill. Pastscape description:
On the south facing pasture slopes of Hope Bowdler Hill, between the 1000 and 1100 foot contours, are the remains of a Celtic field system in two well defined groups. The first, centred SO 479933, comprises a group of eight fields occupying a southern spur. The lynchets range from 0.3m to 2.0m in height, with field banks, some containing much loose stone, up to 0.2m in height. The fields measure about 200.0m by 70.0m.
The eastern group, centred SO 485934, has smaller fields (about 100.0m by 50.0m) but the lynchets are larger (up to 2.5m in height).
Adjoining this group on the east are two cultivation terraces measuring 70.0m and 120.0m in length and 20.0m in width, with lynchets between 2.5m and 3.0m in height. Later cultivation has destroyed the lower portions of the system.
There’s also a cairn on the saddle between the southern and northern summits on the hill. It’s not scheduled, but was noted in a 1979 field report:
(SO 47779389) A round cairn situated on -east side of the saddle below the north-east slopes of Hope Bowdler Hill, at about 370.0m OD.
The cairn is 8.5m in diameter, and has a maximum height of 0.2m. Stone from the cairn has been used to construct a small circular sheep shelter 2.5m across and 0.8m high over the centre of the cairn.
On the north side of the shelter the ground between it and the rim of the cairn is clear of stone and under turf. This may be due to robbing, but the possibility of a ring cairn cannot be ignored. The rim, or band of stone on this side is 1.5m wide.
