Bickerton Hill refers to two low red sandstone hills that form the southern end of the Mid Cheshire Ridge in Cheshire, north-west England. The high point, Raw Head, lies on the northerly hill and has an elevation of 227 metres. Parts of the southerly hill are also known as Larkton Hill.
There is evidence of settlement on the hills dating as early as the Neolithic or Bronze Age. The earthworks of an Iron Age hill fort, Maiden Castle, are located on the summit of the southerly hill; they are a Scheduled Monument. The hills have been quarried and mined for copper since the 17th century, and a grade-II-listed engine house chimney remains as a remnant of the mining industry. Several caves occur in the sandstone, some of which have a history of habitation. The Sandstone Trail, a long-distance footpath, runs along the ridge, and the area is popular with walkers.
A large area of the southerly hill is protected as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) for its biological importance; much of this hill is owned by the National Trust. Its summit plateau has an extensive area of lowland heath, a rare habitat in Cheshire, and one that is particularly important for reptiles. A substantial population of lobed maidenhair spleenwort, a fern that is rare in Britain, is found here. Nationally scarce species observed in the area include the bleached pug and alder kitten moths, and the Malthus frontalis species of soldier beetle. The western escarpment of the northerly hill has also been designated an SSSI for its exposed Triassic sandstones.
History
Neolithic and Bronze Age Cropmarks near Rawhead Farm suggest a possible neolithic or Bronze Age settlement on the northern hill, which is of the "banjo enclosure" type, consisting of a circular enclosure with a narrow enclosed entrance.Revealing Cheshire's Past: Rawhead Farm. Retrieved 28 April 2010 Two flint artefacts have been found on the southern hill: a leaf-shaped flint of unknown date and a Bronze Age arrowhead.Revealing Cheshire's Past: Prehistoric findspot in Bickerton. Retrieved 28 April 2010Revealing Cheshire's Past: Prehistoric findspot in Bickerton. Retrieved 28 April 2010 A Bronze Age burial mound of the bowl barrow type is located on top of an unnamed knoll immediately to the east of the southerly Bickerton Hill ().Revealing Cheshire's Past: Bowl barrow 140m east of Long Lane. Retrieved 28 April 2010. Retrieved 28 April 2010
Maiden Castle
The remains of an Iron Age promontory hill fort, Maiden Castle, are located on the southernmost summit of the southerly hill at an elevation of 212 metres.Revealing Cheshire's Past: Maiden Castle promontory fort on Bickerton Hill 700m W Hill Farm. Retrieved 28 April 2010. Retrieved 28 April 2010 Maiden Castle dates from around 600 BC and is the most southerly of the seven hill forts in Cheshire.Forde-Johnston J. (1962) The Iron Age Hillforts of Lancashire and Cheshire. Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society 72: 9–46 The double line of earth ramparts are still visible, forming a semicircle that encloses an area of adjacent to the cliff edge."Bickerton Hill", National Trust (sign, Bickerton Hill carpark) The enclosure has a single entrance at the east side with inturned defensive banks. Archaeological investigations have shown that both ramparts are strengthened by dry stone walling; the inner rampart also has timber strapping. The fort was destroyed by fire in around 400 BC, although the area was probably used as a settlement until the Roman invasion of Britain in the 1st century AD.
The site is well preserved despite quarrying of the area during the 17th to early 20th centuries, as well as military training exercises during the 20th century.Habitats and Hillforts: Archaeological management issues: Maiden Castle. Retrieved 28 April 2010 The remaining earthworks have been designated a Scheduled Monument, and the site is owned by the National Trust. Since 2009, the trust has been removing trees, scrub and bracken from the site, as the roots damage the earthworks.English Heritage: Heritage at Risk Register 2009. Retrieved 28 April 2010 Animal burrows are another threat, and footpath erosion from visitors is also a problem, as the Sandstone Trail cuts across the earthworks. There is another Maiden Castle which is an Iron Age hill fort 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) south west of Dorchester, in the English county of Dorset.
Anglo-Saxon and Norman The name "Bickerton" is Anglo-Saxon in origin, and relates to bees.Phillips & Phillips, p. 24 A township was recorded in the Domesday Book survey, which was found "waste", or devastated, at the time of the survey, in common with many nearby townships.Husain, pp. 12–13 This is usually considered to be a consequence of William I's suppression in 1069–70 of uprisings in north-west Mercia.Phillips & Phillips, p. 28Husain, pp. 9–13 The township included half a league (about mile) of woodland, perhaps located on the hills.Husain p. 26
17th–19th century Copper mining at Bickerton was first recorded in 1696. The mine was owned by the Egerton family of Oulton, with eight miners being employed between 1696 and 1698. There were six shafts, one of which was deepened to in 1807. The mines were worked intermittently until 1906.Revealing Cheshire's Past: Bickerton Hill Copper Mines. Retrieved 28 April 2010 A rare remnant of this local industry is a disused mine engine house chimney in red sandstone, which stands by the A534 at the foot of the northerly hill near Gallantry Bank. The flue of a pumping engine that was used to drain the mine, it dates from the early 19th century and is a grade-II-listed building.Images of England: Sandstone chimney to former Copper Mine. Retrieved 21 February 2008 The remains of adjacent mining buildings were still standing in around 1920. The Copper Mine public house at nearby Broxton displays mining equipment and pictures.Cheshire Federation of Women's Institutes. The Cheshire Village Book, p. 43 (Countryside Books & CFWI; 1990) ()
Quarrying also took place at various sites on the hills, including Maiden Castle from the 17th century.Bawn et al., p. 10 Sandstone was extracted for building, and sand for use as a scouring agent. An iron rock-splitting wedge dating from the 17th century was found during excavations of Maiden Castle.
Mad Allen's Hole, a cave on the southerly Bickerton Hill, is believed by some to be the location of "Allenscomb's Cave" in which John Harris, "the English Hermit", lived for 46 years in the 18th century. According to a pamphlet of 1809, Harris was a man of property from Handley, who embraced a hermit's life when his parents refused him permission to marry the woman of his choice. He first inhabited a cave in nearby Carden Park, moving to Allenscomb's Cave in the 1760s.Bawn et al., pp. 6–7 Recent research has, however, cast doubt on the identification of Mad Allen's Hole with Allenscomb's Cave. Unlike the cave in Carden Park, no material dating to the 18th century has been discovered at Bickerton, and the name "Mad Allen's Hole" originated in the late 19th century, when the cave was occupied by an eccentric known as Mad Allen. In the early 19th century, the Bloody Bones caves on the northerly hill were occupied by brigands, who terrorised the surrounding countryside, stealing cheese from local farms and plundering graves, as well as selling sand for cleaning. Seven were captured and executed in around 1834.Bawn et al., pp. 7–8Latham FA (ed.), The Local History Group. Tattenhall: The History of a Cheshire Village, p. 35 (The Local History Group; 1977)
The Droppingstone Well, immediately north of the Raw Head summit, bears a plaque dated 1861. A photograph of 1910 shows the well in use by locals.Cheshire County Council: Notice south of Raw Head summit
20th–21st century The area around Maiden Castle was used for military training exercises during the 20th century, which included digging numerous two-man slit trenches. The heathland of the southerly hill went unmanaged from the 1940s until 1983, when of land were acquired by the National Trust; the trust's holding was extended by in 1991.National Trust: National Trust Acquisition Data (version 1.0; November 2009), pp. 157, 158 . Retrieved 24 April 2010 Much of the southerly hill and the western escarpment of the northerly hill were notified as two separate Sites of Special Scientific Interest in 1979.
The Sandstone Trail long-distance footpath opened in 1974; it then started in Duckington, immediately south of the southerly hill.Cheshire East Council & Cheshire West and Chester Council: The Sandstone Trail . Retrieved 28 April 2010 The Sandstone Trail Race was launched three years later.Deeside Orienteering Club: The History of the Sandstone Trail Race. Retrieved 28 April 2010 A 2008 proposal to construct a 60-metre wind-monitoring mast adjacent to Bickerton Hill met with local protest, Anon. Fight against blot on the landscape. Crewe and Nantwich Guardian (16 January 2008). Retrieved 11 February 2008Thompson A. Protests mount over wind mast plan. Crewe and Nantwich Guardian (30 January 2008). Retrieved 11 February 2008 and was rejected by Crewe and Nantwich Borough Council.. Retrieved 11 February 2008
Geography, geology and climate
The two Bickerton Hills lie south-west of the Peckforton Hills. They form the southern end and high point of the Mid Cheshire Ridge, which runs broadly north–south through Cheshire from Beacon Hill near Frodsham. The southern part of the ridge, including both Bickerton Hills, has been designated an Area of Special County Value.Cheshire East Council & Cheshire West and Chester Council: Interactive Mapping: Beeston/Peckforton/Bolesworth/Bickerton Hills Area of Special County Value . Retrieved 28 April 2010 The ridge line continues north–south over the northerly Bickerton Hill, turning approximately 30° to the west over the southerly hill. The two hills are separated by a valley through which the A534 runs. The nearest settlements are (anti-clockwise from the south) Duckington, Brown Knowl, Fuller's Moor, Harthill, Bulkeley, Gallantry Bank and Bickerton.
The summit of the northerly hill, Raw Head (), has an elevation of 227 metres and is the highest point on the Mid Cheshire Ridge. Raw Head was believed to be a Marilyn but was demoted in 2009 following a re-survey; the re-estimate of Raw Head's prominence is 148.5 metres.Dawson A. "Raw Deal". RHB e-group (15 April 2009). Retrieved 23 April 2010Dawson A. Marilyn News Centre: Summary of Marilyn updates since April 2006. Retrieved 23 April 2010 The high point bears a trig point.United Kingdom Trig Points: Search for trigpoints near SJ 50800 54800. Retrieved 21 February 2008 The summit plateau of the southerly hill has two high points, at Maiden Castle (212 metres, ) and the Kitty Stone (193 metres, ). The southern (Maiden Castle) high point is sometimes referred to as Larkton Hill; this name is also sometimes used to refer to the southeast of the hill, which partly falls within the Larkton civil parish.Ordnance Survey: Landranger Map 117: Chester & WrexhamCheshire East Council & Cheshire West and Chester Council: Interactive Mapping: Bickerton Hill . Retrieved 28 April 2010
The ridge is formed from a sandstone outcrop of the Sherwood Sandstone Group, dating from the Early Triassic period around 250 million years ago. The sandstones are exposed forming extensive crags on the west flank of the northerly hill, as well as in smaller areas of the southerly hill. There are several natural caves. The two-storey cave known as Mad Allen's Hole (on the southerly hill at ) has an entrance partially blocked by boulders and is accessible via a circular hole at the rear. The Queen's Parlour, a large triple-chambered cave directly under the Raw Head trig point, might be partially quarried.Revealing Cheshire's Past: Queen's Parlour, Raw Head. Retrieved 28 April 2010Cheshire County Council: A Good Yarn But You'll Need A Torch (30 May 2006). Retrieved 28 April 2010