Lyth Hill is a
Local Nature Reserve in Shropshire which contains valuable habitats for wildlife and is associated with the novelist and poet
Mary Webb
Mary Gladys Webb (25 March 1881 – 8 October 1927) was an English romance novelist and poet of the early 20th century, whose work is set chiefly in the Shropshire countryside and among Shropshire characters and people whom she knew. Her ...
.
Location
Lyth Hill is located south of the large village of
Bayston Hill
Bayston Hill is a large village and civil parish in central Shropshire, England. It is south of the county town Shrewsbury and located on the main A49 road, the Shrewsbury to Hereford road.
Occupied continuously since before the Middle Ages, ...
, just south of the larger town of
Shrewsbury, at .
Recreational activities
There are several walking paths, ranging from easy to difficult, with a specially designed route for families.
Sky watching at Lyth Hill is common due to the low light pollution levels.
Wildlife
The site has a variety of habitats, including woodland, scrub, and grassland areas which are valuable to wildlife and act as a refuge area from the surrounding towns. The meadows have been managed by grazing a small herd of
Dexter cattle
The Dexter is an Irish breed of small cattle. It originated in the eighteenth century in County Kerry, in south-western Ireland, and appears to be named after a man named Dexter, who was factor of the estates of Lord Hawarden on Valentia Isla ...
.
History
In the past this was a site of ropemaking,
with a windmill built in 1835 by John Carter being used to make the hemp and flax fibres employed in the trade. Around 1920, a subsequent owner of the mill, named Hayway, removed the machinery.
In 1917, the poet and novelist
Mary Webb
Mary Gladys Webb (25 March 1881 – 8 October 1927) was an English romance novelist and poet of the early 20th century, whose work is set chiefly in the Shropshire countryside and among Shropshire characters and people whom she knew. Her ...
bought a plot on Lyth Hill, where she built a small bungalow named Spring Cottage. While living there she wrote the novel ''
The House in Dormer Forest'' (1920) and delighted in the Shropshire countryside, which she was to recall in later novels and poems.
An archaeological survey of the countryside site in 2005 found former field boundaries and paths that are no longer used or seen as landscape features. One feature that was regarded as noteworthy was a disused quarry.
In September 2011 a Shropshire sky watch team, who had set up their cameras to witness the re-entry of a research satellite, instead reported a strange phenomenon—a red beam of light flashing down at the ground, accompanied by a crackling electric sound. After further investigation, it was suggested that this may have been caused by a military helicopter with the ability to fire lasers at the ground.
References
External links
Ropey Old Lyth Hill
{{coord, 52.655, -2.787, type:landmark_region:GB_dim:2000, display=title
Local Nature Reserves in Shropshire