Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
with broad panoramas to enjoy as you walk. There are two topographs
just above the waymarked path: one gives geological details, the other
a panorama. The path eventually winds up to road-level. Continue ahead
beside the busy A417 to reach the Air Balloon pub (grid ref: 935161) at a
roundabout.
Cross the road with great care directly ahead, follow waymarks by the
side of a building and bear left into woodland. Out of the trees you are
now guided alongside a drystone wall as far as the promontory of
Crickley
Hill
, with its Iron Age hill fort. Bear right along the scarp edge to an ob-
servation platform, continue through the car park (with public toilets and
visitor centre) and by way of a wooden kissing gate into a meadow.
CRICKLEY HILL
Crickley Hill is the site of one of the great archaeological discoveries of the Cotswolds.
During the Neolithic period, some time between 4000-3000BC, more than 3 acres (1/
hectares) of the hill were occupied as a camp consisting of a single ditch and a bank.
A second occupation took place in about 700BC when Iron Age settlers used 9 acres
(3½ hectares) of the hill for housing, the storage of crops and livestock pens. A ram-
part and palisaded walkway surrounded this camp, and a 6ft (1.8m) ditch was dug.
A third camp followed a period when Crickley Hill had been abandoned for some time
by these first Iron Age settlers and, during this final occupation, round houses were
built. This term of settlement is thought to have ended with destruction by fire. On
the observation platform a series of information panels describe the site's fascinating
history.
Walk along the right-hand edge of the meadow and through a narrow
strip of beech woods. The waymarked path continues along the scarp edge
to Shurdington Hill, where you come onto the old drove-road of Greenway
Lane and turn right. As you walk along Greenway Lane the Devil's Chimney
can be seen standing proud of the steep cut of the scarp half-left ahead.
Our approach will double the actual crow-flying distance from here.
Greenway Lane leads to the B4070. Cross directly ahead and walk along
a minor road that takes you past Ullenwood Manor. Beyond the manor's
entrance, where the road curves to the right, break away left on a track
next to a golf course. In inclement weather the lower part of this bridle-
way can be exceedingly muddy and waterlogged. Follow the track uphill.
It goes through a patch of woodland, passes behind a few secluded houses
and brings you to a country lane (Hartley Lane). Turn left and wander
