Shropshire Hills

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View from below the Stiperstones looking NE towards the Hollies Near the Stiperstones - geograph.org.uk - 271559.jpg
View from below the Stiperstones looking NE towards the Hollies

The Shropshire Hills are a dissected upland area and one of the natural regions of England. They lie wholly within the county of Shropshire and encompass several distinctive and well-known landmarks, such as the Long Mynd, Wenlock Edge, The Wrekin and the Clees.

Contents

The Shropshire Hills lie south of the county town of Shrewsbury between the Welsh border and Much Wenlock, extending as far south as Ludlow. To the north they are bounded by the Shropshire, Cheshire and Staffordshire Plain, to the east by the Severn Valley and Mid Severn Sandstone Plateau, to the southeast by Knighton and the Teme Valley and to the southwest by the Clun and North West Herefordshire Hills. [1]

Environment

The Shropshire Hills are listed as Natural Area No. 42 and also as National Character Area 65 by Natural England, the UK Government's advisor on the natural environment. The NCA covers an area of 107,902 hectares (416.61 sq mi) and measure around 50 kilometres (31 mi) from west to east and north to south. The dominant pattern of the hills is a series of southwest to northeast ridges, scarps and valleys. They are characterized by steep, rounded 'whaleback' hills, often crowned with open moorland, with woodland dressing the steeper slopes. There are scattered farms in dales and sheltering in valleys; larger settlements being confined to the Stretton Valley and A49 corridor. [1]

Major summits

Roughly a half of the NCA lies within the Shropshire Hills AONB. In addition, the region contains two Special Areas of Conservation (The Stiperstones & The Hollies SAC; Downton Gorge SAC) and a national nature reserve (The Stiperstones NNR) as well as 73 Sites of Special Scientific Interest, the latter totalling 4,893 hectares (12,090 acres). Its major watercourses are the rivers Corve, Onny, Severn and Teme and the Ledwyche and Rea brooks. The average elevation is 84 metres (276 ft); the highest point is Brown Clee Hill at 540 metres (1,770 ft). [2] Significant summits in the Shropshire Hills include:

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Shropshire is a landlocked ceremonial county in the West Midlands of England, on the Welsh border. It is bordered by Wrexham County Borough and Cheshire to the north, Staffordshire to the east, Worcestershire to the south-east, Herefordshire to the south and Powys to the west. The largest settlement is Telford and Shrewsbury is the county town.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Long Mynd</span> Heath and moorland plateau in Shropshire, England

The Long Mynd is a heath and moorland plateau that forms part of the Shropshire Hills in Shropshire, England. The high ground, which is common land and designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, lies between the Stiperstones range to the west and the Stretton Hills and Wenlock Edge to the east. Much of it is owned by the National Trust, and is managed by the Longmynd Commoners.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stiperstones</span> Hill in the county of Shropshire, England

The Stiperstones is a distinctive hill in Shropshire, England. The quartzite rock of the ridge formed some 480 million years ago. During the last Ice Age Stiperstones lay on the eastern margin of the Welsh ice sheet. The hill itself was not glaciated though glaciers occupied surrounding valleys and it was subject to intense freezing and thawing which shattered the quartzite into a mass of jumbled scree surrounding several residual rocky tors. At 536 metres (1,759 ft) above sea level it is the second-highest hill in the county, surpassed only by Brown Clee Hill. Stiperstones' 8-kilometre (5 mi) summit ridge is crowned by several jagged outcrops of rock, which may be seen silhouetted against the sky.

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The Shropshire Hills is a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in Shropshire, England. It is located in the south of the county, extending to its border with Wales. Designated in 1958, the area encompasses 802 square kilometres (310 sq mi) of land primarily in south-west Shropshire, taking its name from the upland region of the Shropshire Hills. The A49 road and Welsh Marches Railway Line bisect the area north–south, passing through or near Shrewsbury, Church Stretton, Craven Arms and Ludlow.

The geology of Shropshire is very diverse with a large number of periods being represented at outcrop. The bedrock consists principally of sedimentary rocks of Palaeozoic and Mesozoic age, surrounding restricted areas of Precambrian metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks. The county hosts in its Quaternary deposits and landforms, a significant record of recent glaciation. The exploitation of the Coal Measures and other Carboniferous age strata in the Ironbridge area made it one of the birthplaces of the Industrial Revolution. There is also a large amount of mineral wealth in the county, including lead and baryte. Quarrying is still active, with limestone for cement manufacture and concrete aggregate, sandstone, greywacke and dolerite for road aggregate, and sand and gravel for aggregate and drainage filters. Groundwater is an equally important economic resource.

The Clee Hills are a range of hills in Shropshire, England near Ludlow, consisting of Brown Clee Hill 1,772 feet (540 m), the highest peak in Shropshire, and Titterstone Clee Hill 1,749 feet (533 m). They are both in the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shatterford Hill</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marshwood and Powerstock Vales</span>

The Marshwood and Powerstock Vales form a natural region in southwest England reaching to the Dorset coastline.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yeovil Scarplands</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mid Somerset Hills</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Northumberland Coastal Plain</span>

The North Northumberland Coastal Plain is a major natural region that lies on England's northeasternmost stretch of coastline on the North Sea. To the west lie the Cheviot Fringe, the Northumberland Sandstone Hills and Mid Northumberland; to the south it is continued by the South East Northumberland Coastal Plain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northumberland Sandstone Hills</span> Natural region in England

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mid Severn Sandstone Plateau</span>

The Mid Severn Sandstone Plateau is a rural landscape and one of the natural regions of central England, straddling the border between the counties of Shropshire and Staffordshire. It stretches from the western fringes of the Birmingham conurbation to Telford in the north and Kidderminster in the south. The major feature of the plateau is the valley of the River Severn, which cuts through it from north to south. It consists of Permian and Triassic-age New Red Sandstone getting older as one goes west until one reaches Silurian and Carboniferous-age siltstones and coals west of the river.

References

  1. 1 2 Shropshire Hills - Character Area 65 at www.naturalengland.org.uk. Accessed on 7 Apr 2013.
  2. NCA 65: Shropshire Hills - Key Facts & Data at www.naturalengland.org.uk. Accessed on 7 Apr 2013.

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