Haughmond Hill

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Haughmond Hill is a small, shallow hill in the English county of Shropshire. It is covered by woodland for the most part, although there is an open cast quarry (for stone aggregates) in use. Its proximity to the town of Shrewsbury has meant that it has become something of a forest park, with guided paths, car parking and picnic areas maintained in places. The rocky summit overlooks beautiful countryside and Shrewsbury itself. The villages of Uffington and Upton Magna lie below and the B5062, Shrewsbury to Newport, road runs through the northern half of the woodland.

Deer can be found in the woods, which are mixed deciduous/coniferous and are to some extent used for forestry to this day.

The hill has several dubious connections with the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403. Queen Eleanor's Bower is a small enclosure on the hill from which the wife of Henry IV of England supposedly watched the battle's progress. The slightly rocky summit bears the name Douglas' Leap after the attempted escape of the Scottish Earl of Douglas. Finally, the "bosky hill" mentioned in Act V Scene i of Shakespeare's Henry IV part 1 is almost certainly Haughmond, which looms to the east of the battlefield:

How bloodily the sun begins to peer
Above yon bosky hill?
The day looks pale
At his distemperature.

Also nearby is Haughmond Abbey, now a ruin, and Ebury Hill a prehistoric fort.

Haughmond Hill from the east. The view from this angle helps to illustrate the broad flatness of the hill.

Coordinates: 52.71631° N 2.67944° W