THE CLEE HILLS
The Clee Hills are the highest, most remote and least visited of all the Shropshire Hills – so remote that until the early part of the 20th century they had their own dialect which was barely understood by people in neighbouring towns. They are remote even today, and a journey to the foot of Brown Clee involves negotiating many miles of single track lanes. Yet a visit is well worth the effort. The hills themselves are not spectacular, but the climbs are easy and the views from the summits of both Brown Clee and Titterstone Clee are stupendous. There is no higher ground to the east until the Ural Mountains in Russia.
The Hills were formed on the equator in the Carboniferous period about 300 million years ago, and comprise coal measures intruded by a sheet of very hard dolerite, known locally as Dhustone. They have been inhabited for centuries; there is a Bronze Age complex on Hoar Edge, four Iron Age hill forts on the summits and deserted medieval villages on the lower slopes. The hills have been mined for coal, iron ore and lime since Roman times, and until coal mining ceased in 1926 were the highest coalfields in the country. They have been quarried for Dhustone since 1860 and there is still a quarry in operation there.
The Hills were formed on the equator in the Carboniferous period about 300 million years ago, and comprise coal measures intruded by a sheet of very hard dolerite, known locally as Dhustone. They have been inhabited for centuries; there is a Bronze Age complex on Hoar Edge, four Iron Age hill forts on the summits and deserted medieval villages on the lower slopes. The hills have been mined for coal, iron ore and lime since Roman times, and until coal mining ceased in 1926 were the highest coalfields in the country. They have been quarried for Dhustone since 1860 and there is still a quarry in operation there.