Charlbury Hill is a hill near the villages of

Hinton Parva Hinton Parva is a hamlet and former civil parish, now in the civil parish of Hinton, in east Dorset, England, three miles north of Wimborne Minster. The parish had a population of 56 in 2001 and included the nearby village of Stanbridge. The ...

and Bishopstone in the

Borough of Swindon The Borough of Swindon is a unitary authority area with borough status in Wiltshire, England. Centred on Swindon, it is the most north-easterly district of South West England. History The first borough of Swindon was a municipal borough, ...

, England. Historically within Wiltshire, the hill lies just north of

The Ridgeway The Ridgeway is a ridgeway or ancient trackway described as Britain's oldest road. The section clearly identified as an ancient trackway extends from Wiltshire along the chalk ridge of the Berkshire Downs to the River Thames at the Gori ...

. The summit is 253m (830ft) above sea level with a prominence of 64 metres (210 feet). The hill is classified as a

TuMP The mountains and hills of the British Isles are categorised into various lists based on different combinations of elevation, prominence, and other criteria such as isolation. These lists are used for peak bagging, whereby hillwalkers attempt ...

(hill of 30m or greater prominence) on the

Database of British and Irish Hills The mountains and hills of the British Isles are categorised into various lists based on different combinations of elevation, prominence, and other criteria such as isolation. These lists are used for peak bagging, whereby hillwalkers attempt ...

. There is an

Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...

(OS)

triangulation pillar A triangulation station, also known as a trigonometrical point, and sometimes informally as a trig, is a fixed surveying station, used in geodetic surveying and other surveying projects in its vicinity. The station is usually set up by a map ...

(TP1392 Charlbury Hill) located 6m away from the highest point. The top of the hill is

open access land The freedom to roam, or everyone's right, every person's right or everyman's right, is the general public's right to access certain public or privately owned land, lakes, and rivers for recreation and exercise. The right is sometimes called the ...

with a

permissive path In England and Wales, excluding the 12 Inner London boroughs and the City of London, the right of way is a legally protected right of the public to pass and re-pass on specific paths. Private rights of way or easements also exist. The law i ...

from The Ridgeway.

Name

Andrews and Dury’s ''A Topographical Map of Wiltshire'' (1773) gives the name as Shelbarrow Hill and later maps give the name Shalborough Hill. It has also been called Skelbarrow Hill and has been spelt Charbury Hill. The OS first edition one-inch-to-the-mile map (1829–1830) gives the current name and spelling of Charlbury Hill which has been used since, including the current OS 1:25k Explorer and 1:50k Landranger maps.

History

Despite the close proximity to The Ridgeway and other ancient sites such as

Liddington Castle Liddington Castle, locally called Liddington Camp, is a late Bronze Age and early Iron Age univallate hillfort in Liddington parish in the English county of Wiltshire, and a scheduled monument. Description The site is on a commanding high ...

, there have been no

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

discoveries recorded on the hilltop. There are two mounds resembling barrows but these have been recorded as natural features. The hill is a popular viewing point but has also been the site of antisocial behaviour.

References

{{reflist

External links

Charlbury Hill
on Hill Bagging
Charlbury Hill
on Harold Street Hills of Wiltshire Borough of Swindon