Stapeley Hill

Nearest town:
Montgomery (9km WSW)
OS reference:
SO312990
OS sheet:
137
Latitude:
52° 35' 2.47 N
Longitude:
3° 0' 56 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Stapeley Hill (Ring Cairn) by thesweetcheat

Looking southwest towards the mountains of Ceredigion and Mid-Wales.

Image credit: A. Brookes (16.1.2016)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Feb 22, 2016
Image of Stapeley Hill (Ring Cairn) by thesweetcheat

Looking SSE along the Onny valley, between Heath Mynd on the left and multi-cairned Corndon Hill on the right.

Image credit: A. Brookes (16.1.2016)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Feb 22, 2016
Image of Stapeley Hill (Ring Cairn) by thesweetcheat

Looking east towards the snow-covered ridge of the Stiperstones.

Image credit: A. Brookes (16.1.2016)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Feb 22, 2016
Image of Stapeley Hill (Ring Cairn) by thesweetcheat

Looking northwest across the ring cairn. The prominent tree-covered bump on the skyline left of centre is Beacon Ring hillfort.

Image credit: A. Brookes (16.1.2016)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Feb 22, 2016
Image of Stapeley Hill (Ring Cairn) by thesweetcheat

Stapeley Hill from the south. The southern summit with its “modern” cairn is the prominent feature, the ring cairn is invisible from below on the saddle behind.

Image credit: A. Brookes (8.4.2011)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Apr 12, 2011
Image of Stapeley Hill (Ring Cairn) by thesweetcheat

Close-up view of the most intact stonework, on the northern arc of the ring. Looking south.

Image credit: A. Brookes (8.4.2011)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Apr 12, 2011
Image of Stapeley Hill (Ring Cairn) by thesweetcheat

A view of the low central mound, inside the ring. Looking eastwards towards the Stiperstones ridge.

Image credit: A. Brookes (8.4.2011)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Apr 12, 2011
Image of Stapeley Hill (Ring Cairn) by thesweetcheat

The cairn, looking west. What I took to be Pumlumon is visible on the horizon (centre) and Cader Idris is just visible on the far right horizon.

Image credit: A. Brookes (8.4.2011)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Apr 12, 2011
Image of Stapeley Hill (Ring Cairn) by thesweetcheat

Approaching the cairn from the north. Beyond is the southern summit, with its “modern” cairn. Corndon looms over to the left.

Image credit: A. Brookes (8.4.2011)
thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Apr 12, 2011

Articles

Stapeley Hill

thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat Apr 12, 2011

Visited 9.4.11. After a mooch around The Hoarstones, the obvious route south-westwards follows a track through the Forestry Commission woodland, emerging onto access land and the lower slopes of Stapeley Hill. From here it’s a short uphill pull to the hilltop. Stapeley has two modest summits, roughly of equal height at just over 400m. But although modest, this is enough elevation to provide a wonderful panorama on a clear day.

To the east the rocky ridge of The Stiperstones, while a short hop over the Welsh border to the south, the view is dominated by cairn-topped Corndon. Over to the west and northwest, the various mountain ranges of southern Snowdonia, from the Berwyns to Cader can be seen, fading into blue in the hazy heat.

The northern summit is crowned by a small modern walkers’ cairn. A few earthfast stones protrude through the short grass, maybe indicating that an older structure once stood here. Nothing is left now.

Crossing the saddle towards the southern summit, the cairn comes into view without much warning. A low ring of earth and protruding stones is all that’s left, either suggesting serious robbing of a larger mound, or possibly a ring cairn. Some of the stones stand upright, inside the “ring” of earth that marks the outer edge of the cairn.

The southern summit is topped by a larger walkers’ cairn, sitting on a natural(?) mound. I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if this didn’t have older origins as well. Well worth a few minutes of your time, if only to take in the view. But the real business of the day is still to come, so it’s onwards southwest to Mitchell’s Fold.

Stapeley Hill

baza
baza Aug 18, 2003

On a recent visit to Mitchell`s Fold, I carried on walking along the path leading from the stone circle which crosses Stapeley Common. At the Cow Stone, I veered to the right to climb Stapeley Hill.

Stapeley Hill is a saddleback hill and the ring cairn is situated on the lowest point of the summit, within the saddle.

The cairn appears to consist of an embankment encircling a circle of stones with a mound within the centre.

GPS: SO 31277 99037

Sites within 20km of Stapeley Hill

Like all websites everywhere, we use cookies.