Walks in the Forest of Dean
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Welshbury Wood and Iron-age Hill Fort

Welshbury Wood and its Iron-age Hill Fort are but a short walk from our holiday cottage to let in Green Bottom.

The entrance to the wood is from the footpath between Welshbury Wood and Chestnuts Inclosure, point 3 on the map. Click on the map to go to Streetmap at Welshbury.

18th of April, 2010. There is now a chain and padlock on the gate (which is not a right of way) and the stile (about 10m down from the gate and which had fallen) has been fixed again. However the land between the stile and the road may get overgrown and may need clearing occasionally.
There are two other gates, near the top of the hill, which, if locked, can be very difficult to negotiate. Therefore I suggest you do not use this 'official' footpath, but instead use one of the many tracks through Chestnuts Inclosure

Notable wild flowers in the wood include wild daffodils in the south corner (near point 4 on the map) and bluebells on the west edge of the wood. There are also ramsons (wild garlic) on the north edge. We also spotted an Eyebright - Euphrasia.

This walk involves a noticable climb up the field to the wood and some walk on small overgrown tracks, as well as walking through woodland off-path.

1. Welshbury Hill viewed from road	2. Near the top of the footpath	3. View towards the Severn	4. Path to Welshbury Hill Fort
5. On the path to the Hill Fort	6. A beech tree in Welshbury Wood	7. The top of Welshbury Hill Fort	8. Inner ring of Welshbury Hill Fort
9. Welshbury Wood at the top	10. Clearing in Welshbury Wood	11. A fire place where barbecues have been!	12. Earthwork 'rings' of Welshbury hill-fort
13. Earthwork 'rings' of Welshbury hill-fort	14. Path in Welshbury Wood	15. Path in Welshbury Wood	16. Track round west edge of Welshbury Wood

Photographs of Welshbury Wood

1. View up Welshbury Hill, taken from the road at Tibbscross. The trees on the horizon, left, are in Welshbury wood.
2. Welshbury Wood on left, Chestnuts Inclosure to the right. There is a clear field between them.
3. Through the clearing between the woods you get a magnificent view to the east over the Severn with the Cotswold hills in the distance.
4. Point 4 on the map: the path to the Hill Fort is easily missed: it's just in front of our dog Poppy, and it was quite overgrown at the time the photo was taken.
5. The path to the hill-fort is narrow.
6. A splendid old beech tree. Probably the tree listed as 5066 on the Antient Tree Hunt site
7. The bank on the left is part of the top earthwork.
8. There are 3 ditches with banks, as shown on the map. All are wooded and significantly overgrown.
9. The wood at about point 5 on the map. That's our Siamese cat, Misty, walking with us. See walks with the cats.
10. At about map point 6 there is a clearing which is evidently used for barbecues
11. The barbecue bonfire site! After this clearing, there is no longer a discernible path, so is shown pecked.
12. Earthwork at about 7 on the map
13. Earthworks between 7 and 8 on the map.
14. A path below the bottom earthwork: some exploration is needed to find a path through the understory.
15. The path here gets more noticeable and eventually joins the track at map point 8.
16. The track through the western edge of the wood.

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