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Welshbury Hill

Gloucestershire geography stubsHill forts in Gloucestershire
Slopes of Welshbury Hill geograph.org.uk 691886
Slopes of Welshbury Hill geograph.org.uk 691886

Welshbury Hill is an Iron Age hill fort near Mitcheldean in Gloucestershire, England. It is thought to have been built by Celts and dates back to 1600 BC.Welshbury Hill Fort is reputed to be the place where the Celtic Dobunni tribe staged its last battle against the Romans after a long-running guerrilla war.There is an ancient spring water well nearby known locally as St Anthony's Well.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Welshbury Hill (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Welshbury Hill
George Lane, Forest of Dean Littledean

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Wikipedia: Welshbury HillContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 51.837 ° E -2.47 °
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Address

Welshbury Hill Fort

George Lane
GL14 3JL Forest of Dean, Littledean
England, United Kingdom
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Slopes of Welshbury Hill geograph.org.uk 691886
Slopes of Welshbury Hill geograph.org.uk 691886
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Nearby Places

Pope's Hill
Pope's Hill

Pope's Hill is a hill and a small village situated in the east of the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire within the parish of Littledean. The hill is 12 miles south west of Gloucester and 3 miles east of Cinderford. The small village of Flaxley lies in the valley to the immediate north. Pope's Hill is said to have got its name from Mary Pope, who used to reside in Flaxley Abbey in the 18th century and walked over the hill as a young girl. She is buried in Flaxley churchyard. A principal road runs over the hill starting from the A4151 just east of Littledean and rejoins the A4151 further east at the Greyhound Inn. The A4151 runs along the southern flank of the hill. A steep section of road on the Flaxley side, Joey's Pitch, is notorious for being impassable in ice and snow. There are numerous other small roads and tracks linking the houses and smallholdings which are scattered across the hill. Rising to the west is Chestnuts Enclosure, an area of Forestry Commission woodland, and to the north, Welshbury Hill which has Iron Age workings. The Greyhound Inn was a popular pub beside the busy main road until its closure in 2016 following a robbery and subsequent fire. It was noted for its large concrete and plaster model dinosaur in the pub garden (known as "Horace") Built by local craftsman Bill Taylor whilst refurbishing the pub interior. The White House Hotel is located at the summit. Pope's Hill offers extensive views of the Severn Vale, Gloucester, Cheltenham, as far north as Bredon Hill and as far south as the hills above Bath. The entire Cotswold Edge is also visible, and May Hill dominates the view to the north. A small chapel close to the Greyhound Inn is now a private house.

Littledean Camp

Littledean Camp is in fact a castle overlooking the village of Littledean in Gloucestershire, England, notable for its unique early Norman design. Originally known as "Littledean Roman Camp" or just "Roman Camp" whilst once thought to have had Roman origins (as reflected in older Ordnance Survey maps), 20th century archaeology has shown that the castle was built in the 11th century following the Norman invasion of 1066. The castle was positioned on high ground overlooking the Severn valley and the town of Littledean. In addition to protecting the local villages, the castle was probably intended to operate with the castles at Glasshouse Woods and Howle Hill Camp as a screen to protect the city of Gloucester from military threats from Wales.Today, only the outer wall earthworks remain and be clearly seen. Trees are growing throughout the remains of the Castle, and due to its listing as a scheduled monument, the site is not maintained. However, the collection of trees that cover the earthworks stand out from the surrounding fields, allowing this hilltop site (elevation ~600m) to be clearly seen from many miles away.The castle itself is circular and relatively small, some 60 ft in diameter, with an inner and an outer bailey, the latter protected by a very tall vallum wall. The outer wall has surviving earthworks 12 ft high; originally it would have been 15 ft tall. Uniquely for a castle of this period the outer wall has a motte integrated into the design, rather than located at the centre of the castle; this was probably designed to act as a combination of look-out tower and keep. The entrance to the castle was from the south.Littledean castle was not occupied for long and by the time of the Anarchy in the middle of the 12th century had already been abandoned for several years, being referred to as the "Old Castle of Dean".