On Wednesday (26thApril) a friend and I walked to Norton Camp.
Norton Camp is an Iron Age Hill Fort which is above Craven Arms, to the south east.
Wednesday was possibly going to be cloudy and dull but as it turned out it turned into a fairly sunny day.
On the ascent we had lovely views over Craven Arms as we started climbing up the slopes to Norton Camp. This is a muddy walk at this time of year, but it does dry out later in the year.
I took Dillie with me who was on high alert for marauding squirrels. She gets very frustrated when they escape up the trees. I think she sees it as not fair!
One discovery on the way up was a badger foot print in some soft mud. It looked as though it had happened either in the early morning or the evening before.
When we got to the hill fort I could see there had been some clearing of trees from the ramparts which makes them look more impressive.
I wonder at the organisation that would have gone into building hill forts.
The enclosure is now used for arable farm land which probably makes it sheltered.
Norton Camp slopes to the east, views of Brown Clee and Titterstone Clee which both had Iron Age Hill Forts.
In Norton Camp there are seven hut circles visible in the right conditions (I have never managed to spot them and a spring is thought to have existed within the enclosure.
From the ramparts on the western side The Burrow and Bury Ditches must be visible when there were no fewer or no trees restricting the views westward.
Having looked in through the entrance(there are three),we walked around the western side where there are steep slopes falling away from the ramparts.
This walk is on well trodden footpaths and in places there is dense undergrowth. On several occasions we heard rustling but couldn’t see anything. I knew it wasn’t squirrels, they don’t make that much noise and my squirrel detector (Dillie) wasn’t interested.
Walking quietly, we eventually saw some deer moving away from us, up the slope. I stopped and watched and found three heads with big twitching ears watching us. We stood watching each other for some time, until they started moving off (same direction as us).
I kept listening as we walked. I could hear them moving, although some way above us. At our junction back down into Craven Arms, I stopped and had a good look as I could hear movement and was rewarded with twitches and slight movements in the undergrowth.
We left the deer to enjoy their woods in peace. And we had had a lovely walk.
