Brown Clee Hill

Brown Clee Hill stands in the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, five miles north of its sister hill Titterstone Clee. The highest point is Abdon Burf at 540 metres, with a shorter summit called Clee Burf nearby. Much of the hill is private land covered with coniferous plantations, while the eastern side belongs to the Burwarton Estate. The western fringes are owned by private landowners and the parish of Clee St. Margaret. Common land on the hill holds the remains of an Iron Age hill fort, and radar masts on the summit monitor aircraft across a hundred-mile radius. The hill’s geology tells a story of ancient landscapes. Sedimentary rocks from the Carboniferous period form the lower slopes, topped by hardwearing igneous rock called ‘dhustone’. This dark, erosion-resistant stone was once quarried extensively and is known locally by its Welsh-derived name. The hill’s strata include coal seams from the Coal Measures, overlain by the dolerite caps of Abdon Burf and Clee Burf. The surrounding area’s gentler terrain is shaped by mudstones and sandstones from the St Maughans Formation. Visitors find a landscape shaped by history and industry. Nordy Bank, an Iron Age hill fort on the ridge, offers commanding views of the countryside. The remains of quarries like Abdon Quarry recall a time when dhustone extraction was the main livelihood. A toposcope at Abdon Burf points out local landmarks, and a memorial honours the airmen who died when their planes crashed into the hill during wartime. The hill’s slopes and summits provide quiet walks through plantations and open common land, with distant radar masts standing as silent reminders of modern uses.