This 2.5 mile route around Stapeley Hill is the shorter of two routes which make up the Stapeley Hill Historic Trails in the area and gives a wonderful opportunity to appreciate and enjoy the richness of the historic landscape of the south Shropshire Hills. On these rugged upland summits the imprint of thousands of years of human activity can be seen amongst some of Shropshire’s most spectacular scenery. This route is steeped in Bronze Age history where you can see cairns, a stone circle and a standing stone all associated with myth and legend from the area.
For a longer walk starting in the same place see Castle Ring Trail.
Stapeley Hill
Stapeley Hill is a sacred saddleback shaped hill in South-West Shropshire, near the village of Priestweston, not far from another landmark, Corndon Hill. The hill is a very special place where monuments bear witness to early inhabitants and today people enjoy walking across the Bronze Age landscape centred on Mitchell’s Fold stone circle. There are wonderful views to Corndon Hill in the south, the Welsh mountains to the west and the Stiperstones ridge in the east. To the north, Castle Ring Iron Age hill fort provides another vantage point in this ancient landscape. There are two Bronze Age cairns at or near the summit, and such round cairns are a common feature of Welsh mountain summits.
The hill rises to an elevation of 403 metres (1,322 ft) and lies in the civil parish of Chirbury with Brompton.
Mitchell’s Fold
Mitchell’s Fold is a Bronze Age stone circle in South-West Shropshire, located near the small village of White Grit on dry heathland at the south-west end of Stapeley Hill. Erected sometime during the period 2000-1200 BC it is a striking testimony to the importance of south-west Shropshire uplands to the local Bronze Age communities. It comprises of stones 27 metres in diametre, of which 15 stones survive. Along the path leading from the Fold which crosses Stapeley Common, lies the Cow Stone, a single standing Stone or “Menhir.”
As with most sites of this type, its true history is unknown. However, there is a traditional folkstory that a giant whose marvellous cow gave unlimited amounts of milk used the circle until a malicious witch milked the cow using a sieve until it was drained dry, as a result of which it fled to Warwickshire where it became the Dun cow. As a punishment, the witch was turned into stone and surrounded by other stones to prevent her escaping.