Bredon Hill

This would have been one of the main factors in the choice of the hill as the site for a fort well over 2,000 years ago. We don’t know if our Iron Age ancestors appreciated the view for its own sake (though it’s hard to believe they didn’t) but in the context of defence, it could hardly have been bettered.

Even though there would then have been dense woodland in the plains below, it would have been difficult for enemies to take the residents of the hill by surprise.

The steepness of the scarp slope would also have made any attack from the north a risky proposition for invaders.

Nevertheless, some of the hill dwellers did eventually meet a violent end. Excavations have uncovered the skeletons of 50 men believed to have died attempting to defend their home against raiders, probably in the first century AD.

Ultimately, most of the Celtic peoples who inhabited English hill forts were killed or driven west into Wales by the Romans.

The ramparts of the Iron Age fort are still clear to see, and easily accessible too, with a bridleway running along two sides of the fort.

Sadly, there is no public access to the remains of a later fortification, built soon after the Norman conquest on top of what came to be known as Castle Hill. This lies directly above Elmley Castle in an area which was later enclosed to form a deer park. Today, fallow deer are widespread on Bredon Hill and you’re very likely to see some in the course of this walk.

The open grassland of Even Hill is one place particularly favoured by deer as it is surrounded by woods in which they can quickly take cover if they feel threatened.

FACTFILE

Start: Elmley Castle, south-east of Pershore, grid ref SO983410.

Length: 8½ miles/13.5km.

Maps: OS Explorer 190, OS Landranger 150.

Terrain: Pasture, arable, woodland; one moderate ascent and one easy descent.

Footpaths: Most are excellent, but waymarking is poor or absent in places, and there are three difficult stiles along the path from Elmbrook Farm which do cause problems for less agile walkers.

Stiles: Six.

Parking: Car park/picnic place on the edge of Elmley Castle by the lane to Kersoe.

Public transport: Astons 382 or First 550/551 to Pershore, then LMS Wychavon Hopper 565 to Elmley Castle, Mon-Sat only; if you prefer to go by train to Pershore some 565 services do call at the rail station, or you could go by train to Evesham and then take LMS 564 to Elmley Castle; worcestershire.

gov.uk/bustimetables or call 01905 765765.

Refreshments: Elmley Castle.

DIRECTIONS

1 If you arrive by car and park at the picnic place, walk along the edge of a recreation ground to reach the old village centre by the churchyard and pub. If you arrive by bus, you’ll alight opposite the pub. Walk along Hill Lane to Elmbrook Farm then turn right on a footpath. Follow it to a junction then turn left, passing through several gates then continuing along field edges. Ignore a path branching right in the first field but go to the right in the third field, as waymarked, then diagonally to a hedge/fence corner. Turn left and follow the waymarked route across fields to meet a bridleway.

2 Follow the bridleway uphill, mostly through woodland, to reach a grassy plateau (Even Hill).

Go roughly straight across to a pair of newly nstalled gates and resume the climb. The bridleway is just a morass of hoofprints at first but soon resolves itself into a welldefined track which climbs easily to a gate covered in waymarks. Turn right here, without going through the gate, joining the Wychavon Way and following it along the rim of the scarp slope. After about a mile the Wychavon Way turns right to descend the slope. Don’t follow it.

Continue along the edge instead, but only for another 200m.

3 Take a path on the left, which leads along a field edge to a junction. Turn left past a barn (marked as Sundial Farm on the map) on a well-defined track.

Follow it to a junction with another track and turn left. Turn right at the next junction and then straight on at two further junctions. Turn left at the next junction, beside a stone wall, then shortly turn right at another junction, rejoining the Wychavon Way. Ignore a path descending left and follow the Wychavon Way along the rim of the scarp slope.

4 Leaving the Wychavon Way, descend left to meet a bridleway and turn left, at first with fields either side but soon with Ashton Wood on your right.

Keep straight on at the end of the wood, shortly crossing a footbridge. Don’t go through any gates in the fence on your right but keep straight on, heading towards a prominent knoll covered in trees and bracken (Castle Hill). There’s a line of trees just before the knoll and the bridleway heads towards the top end of this line, where the first waymarks for some time offer confirmation that you’re in the right place.

5 Turn right downhill and follow the waymarks carefully as the bridleway swings right to cross a bridge. After that it’s easily followed downhill. After crossing another bridge the bridleway turns left along the edge of woodland.

Entering a field, keep to the righthand edge for 200m until a waymark directs you diagonally across the field to the other side.

Turn right along the edge to meet the Kersoe lane, and then left to Elmley Castle.