The Shropshire Hills are a dissected
upland area and one of the natural regions of England. They lie wholly within the county of
Shropshire
Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...
and encompass several distinctive and well-known landmarks, such as the
Long Mynd,
Wenlock Edge,
The Wrekin and
the Clees
The Clee Hills are a range of hills in Shropshire, England near Ludlow, consisting of Brown Clee Hill , the highest peak in Shropshire, and Titterstone Clee Hill . They are both in the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Geograph ...
.
The Shropshire Hills lie south of the county town of
Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...
between the
Welsh border and
Much Wenlock
Much Wenlock is a market town and parish in Shropshire, England, situated on the A458 road between Shrewsbury and Bridgnorth. Nearby, to the northeast, is the Ironbridge Gorge, and the new town of Telford. The civil parish includes the villa ...
, extending as far south as
Ludlow
Ludlow () is a market town in Shropshire, England. The town is significant in the history of the Welsh Marches and in relation to Wales. It is located south of Shrewsbury and north of Hereford, on the A49 road which bypasses the town. The ...
. To the north they are bounded by the Shropshire, Cheshire and Staffordshire Plain, to the east by the
Severn Valley and
Mid Severn Sandstone Plateau
The Mid Severn Sandstone Plateau is a rural landscape and one of the natural regions of central England, straddling the border between the counties of Shropshire and Staffordshire. It stretches from the western fringes of the Birmingham conurba ...
, to the southeast by
Knighton and the
Teme Valley
The River Teme (pronounced ; cy, Afon Tefeidiad) rises in Mid Wales, south of Newtown, and flows southeast roughly forming the border between England and Wales for several miles through Knighton before entering England in the vicinity of ...
and to the southwest by the
Clun
Clun ( cy, Colunwy) is a town in south west Shropshire, England, and the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The 2011 census recorded 680 people living in the town.Combined populations for the two output areas covering the t ...
and North West Herefordshire Hills.
Environment
The Shropshire Hills are listed as
Natural Area No. 42 and also as
National Character Area 65 by
Natural England
Natural England is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It is responsible for ensuring that England's natural environment, including its land, flora and fauna, ...
, the UK Government's advisor on the
natural environment
The natural environment or natural world encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally, meaning in this case not artificial. The term is most often applied to the Earth or some parts of Earth. This environment encompasses t ...
. The NCA covers an area of and measure around from west to east and north to south. The dominant pattern of the hills is a series of southwest to northeast ridges, scarps and valleys. They are characterized by steep, rounded 'whaleback' hills, often crowned with open moorland, with woodland dressing the steeper slopes. There are scattered farms in dales and sheltering in valleys; larger settlements being confined to the Stretton Valley and
A49 corridor.
[''Shropshire Hills - Character Area 65''](_blank)
at www.naturalengland.org.uk. Accessed on 7 Apr 2013.
Major summits
Roughly a half of the NCA lies within the
Shropshire Hills AONB
The Shropshire Hills area, in the English county of Shropshire, is designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty ( AONB). It is located in the south of the county, extending to its border with Wales. Designated in 1958, the area encompass ...
. In addition, the region contains two
Special Areas of Conservation (The Stiperstones & The Hollies SAC; Downton Gorge SAC) and a
national nature reserve (The Stiperstones NNR) as well as 73
Sites of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...
, the latter totalling . Its major watercourses are the rivers
Corve,
Onny,
Severn and
Teme
The River Teme (pronounced ; cy, Afon Tefeidiad) rises in Mid Wales, south of Newtown, and flows southeast roughly forming the border between England and Wales for several miles through Knighton before entering England in the vicinity of ...
and the
Ledwyche and
Rea brooks. The average elevation is ; the highest point is
Brown Clee Hill at .
[''NCA 65: Shropshire Hills - Key Facts & Data''](_blank)
at www.naturalengland.org.uk. Accessed on 7 Apr 2013.
Significant summits in the Shropshire Hills include:
*
Brown Clee (540m),
*
Stiperstones
The Stiperstones ( cy, Carneddau Teon) is a distinctive hill in the county of Shropshire, England. The quartzite rock of the ridge formed some 480 million years ago. During the last Ice Age Stiperstones lay on the eastern margin of the Welsh i ...
(536m),
*
Titterstone Clee (533m),
*
Long Mynd (Pole Bank) (516m),
*
Caer Caradoc (459m),
*
Heath Mynd (452m),
*
Hope Bowdler
Hope Bowdler is a small village and civil parish in Shropshire, England.
It is situated on the B4371, east of the market town of Church Stretton. The village is at above sea level.
There is a parish church in the village, dedicated to St An ...
(426m),
*
The Wrekin (407m),
* Ragleth Hill (398m),
* Lawley (377m).
References
{{coord, 52.522, -2.719, region:GB-SHR_type:landmark, display=title
Natural regions of England
Hills of Shropshire