thesweetcheat

Looking northwest across Herefordshire from the southern barrow. The Clee Hills in South Shropshire rise above the inversion, right of centre skyline.

Shire Ditch on Pinnacle Hill, looking towards British Camp.

Shire Ditch descending the southern slopes of Pinnacle Hill, then climbing Black Hill.

Shire Ditch climbing Pinnacle Hill, from Black Hill.

Shire Ditch climbing Black Hill (right) and then Pinnacle Hill (left). Seen from further south along the earthwork.

Looking towards British Camp, right of centre, from Pinnacle Hill to the north. The prehistoric Shire Ditch stretches away from the viewpoint.

Islands in the clouds.

The view west from the motte.

Looking east. Only Bredon Hill on the left breaks the surface of the cloud.

Looking west towards the dark line of the Black Mountains on the horizon, floating above the temperature inversion.

The central part of the fort from the Millennium Hill section.

Looking south along the lower western ramparts. To the south, a temperature inversion fills the low ground all the way to Forest of Dean, only May Hill rising above it all.

Shire Ditch running across Broad Down, seen from British Camp to the northwest. Beyond, the Vale of Severn is filled with a temperature inversion all the way to the Cotswolds edge.

Mynydd Carn-y-cefn is the long hill on the centre skyline. The cairn is just above the steep scarp ‘step’ at the right hand end. Seen from Mynydd Llangatwg to the NNE. (Re-upload of previous corrupted image)

Towards Churchdown Hill and the Forest of Dean.

Looking along the eastern earthworks from the northern end of the rampart.

The cairn, but sadly no spectacular sunset for the Solstice.

Northern outlier.

The northern outlier, with the circle below to the left. The Hafren providing the backdrop, with Somerset rising beyond.

Big blocks in the southern arc.

A bit of judicious bracken trampling to reveal the northern arc of the circle.

The central ‘cove’ stones.

Southern outlier and circle, Winter Solstice 2021.

Looking from the annexe towards the main fort. The hill in the background behind the trees is Gray Hill.

Northeastern ramparts of the annexe.

Looking towards the annexe from the main fort.

Winter flora on the ramparts.

Southwestern ramparts.

The southwestern rampart of the main fort.

Earthworks around the northeastern entrance.

The substantial rampart separating the main fort from the annexe.

The barrow in its ploughed field, seen from the road to the west.

Southeastern rampart.

Looking down on the eastern ditch from the rampart.

Looking north along the eastern ditch.

The northern rampart, sporting some magnificent hart’s tongue ferns.

Looking down on the northwestern corner of the rampart. Visible through the trees are the hills of Wentwood.

The very overgrown northwestern rampart.

The monument from the southwest.

The top of the western end of the mound.

Damage by mountain bikes is unfortunately ongoing; there were two mountain bikers on top of the mound when I arrived.

It’s difficult to know if the mound was always so high, or whether the adjoining ground surface has been lowered by all the quarrying in the area.

The huge mound from the eastern end.

Looking southeast along the cross-dyke.

The exposed tops of the mounds are a bit eroded, revealing the limestone composition.

A late autumn visit shows off the mounds to better advantage. The views across the Severn to the Forest of Dean are excellent, and the snowy Black Mountains rise above on the right, but very difficult to see in this image.