Additional information
Terrain
- Field and woodland paths, lengthy stretch of quiet lane
Landscape
- Hilltop woodland and plantation, mixed farmland in valley
Dog friendliness
- Off lead for much of way, but not round Acton
Parking
- Forestry Commission car park at Bury Ditches off minor road north from Clunton
Toilets en route
- None on route
About the walk
It is impossible to spend much time in Shropshire without becoming aware of its hill-forts. The southwest corner of the county is particularly rich in these impressive monuments. The same is true of the neighbouring parts of Herefordshire and Montgomeryshire, so that there is hardly a hilltop in... the area that doesn’t provide a view of several forts. Some were built in the late Bronze Age, but most were constructed in the Iron Age; that is, after around 600 bc. They were built in stages, often over very long periods of time, possibly as much as 1,000 years in some cases. This walk takes you to one of the finest of all, Bury Ditches, which crowns Sunnyhill (also called Tangley Hill), above the valleys of the Clun and the Kemp. Elliptical in shape, Bury Ditches is an example of a contour fort, which means that its Celtic builders took advantage of the topography, making the ramparts follow the natural contours of the landscape. Such construction wasn’t always possible, but where the natural slope was sufficiently steep, it enabled them to get away with fewer ramparts, or even none at all. On the relatively gentle northern slope of Sunnyhill summit, three substantial ramparts were considered necessary, but there are only two on the south side, below which the slope plunges down steeply. It’s possible for archaeologists to tell approximately when a fort was built by the design of the ramparts. Bury Ditches’ construction suggests a date somewhere around the 6th century bc (early Iron Age). All the local community would have been involved, including young children. Trees would have to be cleared first, using axes made from flint, stone or bronze, and then the ramparts and ditches would be dug with deer-antler picks and shovels made from the shoulder blades of cattle. Earth, turf and stones would have been carried away in hand baskets. It’s a task of almost unimaginable proportions, especially when you consider that Bury Ditches covers a larger area than most hamlets and many villages in Shropshire. It was thought that hill-forts were used only for defence at times of danger, but excavation and other archaeological techniques have revealed that the larger ones were more like defended villages, where people lived and farmed. Did they also appreciate the view, in purely aesthetic terms? The immense panorama visible from the top of Bury Ditches is one of the finest in Shropshire, but it was lost for several years, after the Forestry Commission planted conifers there. A timely gale in 1978 flattened many of the alien trees and the Commission took the hint, removing the rest.
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