Images (9)
Fieldnotes (1)
Folklore (1)
Links (1)

Images

Image of Helsby Hill (Promontory Fort) by postman

from the footbridge over the A56,would have been much different and nicer in prehistoric times

Image credit: chris bickerton

postman Jan 2, 2007

From the neighbours at Woodhouse hill

Image credit: chris bickerton

postman Jan 2, 2007

Image credit: chris bickerton

postman Nov 25, 2006

Image credit: chris bickerton

postman Nov 25, 2006

Beileive it or not these are also ramparts, unfortunately its been well ploughed

Image credit: chris bickerton

postman Nov 25, 2006

I think this is the entrance

Image credit: chris bickerton

postman Nov 25, 2006

Modern Helsby at the bottom of the hill

Image credit: chris bickerton

postman Nov 25, 2006

The ramparts are on the sky-line

Image credit: chris bickerton

postman Nov 25, 2006

Ramparts on Helsby hill

Image credit: chris bickerton

postman Nov 25, 2006

Articles

Helsby Hill

Promontory Fort

postman Nov 28, 2006

At 141 metres above Helsby there are great views to Wales, the Mersey river ,Merseyside and the mid Cheshire ridge of which this is the first hill .Park to the south near the old sandstone quarry and make for the trig point, as you approach it you’ll pass the ramparts on your right.The ramparts are better preserved on the public side of the fence than on the farmed side , a bit strange that all the feet of the public did less damage than a few farmers ploughs.

Helsby Hill

Promontory Fort

Rhiannon Apr 22, 2011

As long as Helsby hill wears a hood,
The weather’s never very good.

Observational but not particularly useful advice recorded in Holland’s 1886 ‘Glossary of words used in the county of Chester’.

Helsby Hill

Promontory Fort

Rhiannon Oct 12, 2007

Lowndes Family History

I’m surprised a story like this hasn’t been made into a film. William Lowdes abandoned his young wife and child, remarried illegally, and went off on a crime spree round the country. He got so good at stealing the mail, he got the nickname ‘The Postmaster’. Eventually they caught up with him and in 1791 he was hanged at Gallows Hill in Boughton (now known as ‘Barrel Well Hill’). His body was taken to hang from a gibbet on Helsby Hill (no doubt because of the smell), but according to Joseph Hemingway’s ‘History of the City of Chester’ (1831) “the gibbet pole was in a short time after cut down by some people in the neighbourhood, and was not again erected.” Just something gruesome to think about when you visit the fort.