From the top of Pope's Hill a good panoramic view can be enjoyed. These photographs were taken on a bright cold day in January 1999.
Introduction
The Valley of the Severn has been carved in to lowlands by the action of the River Severn as it meandered over the area since the last Ice Age. This has left behind ridges of gravel that form Terraces that roughly align Northeast Southwest along with the valley itself. Field boundaries are left much as they would have been in the Middle Ages and remain less effected by the Enclosure Acts than many other areas (for example Cambridgeshire). Small irregular shaped fields are bounded by rough hedges. Houses are dotted around representing the location of farmhouses though many are now private dwellings. Small villages are found often off the main road, each with a Parish Church often of considerable age, which makes one wonder how the church could be supported by such a small community. The answer must be that the villages once supported far more people than now, mostly farm workers, who have left the land for towns and cities such as Gloucester, Worcester, Tewkesbury, Monmouth, Bristol and beyond.
May Hill stands 100 ft above the Valley and is a prominant land mark visible from all directions with it's clump of trees at the top. Geologically its form is a anticline, bringing very old rocks to the surface, the May Hill Sandstone.
The Severn Valley is floored by heavy Lias Clay difficult to plough and drain, notice the flooded fields, the areas covered by gravels and river deposits tend to have lighter, well drained soils.
Gloucester(center distance) is the largest City in the Severn Valley, it is noted for its fine Norman and Perpendicular Style Cathedral and it's Historic Docks, now a tourist and recreation area.
The Cotswolds present a linear scarp on the Southeast side of the valley with steep narrow roads suddenly rising up from the valley floor, some of these are sunk below the field surface and are tree and hedge lined.
The River Severn here swings out in a bow almost an Oxbow, The orange bank visible is Garden Cliff, geologically of Triassic age, with a famous fossil rich "Rhaetic Bone Bed"above it. The town this side of the bend is Newnham with Arlingham on the other.
The View from the top of May Hill, Gloucestershire (SO 696 213)
It's a brisk climb to the top of May Hill but worth it for the view, these photographs were taken on a very cold day in January 1999.
Introduction
May Hill is a little to the north of the Forest of Dean, its best view is to the west, looking towards the towns of Ross-on-Wye and Hereford and in the distance, the Black Mountains of Wales.
The Wigpool is the dark headland in the left of the picture, it is a wonderful, quiet place with one minor road in and one out, as it goes nowhere visitors are few. Amongst the trees, are lanes that end as dirt tracks, here and there are the occasional cottage. Further from civilisation it would be hard to find in Gloucestershire, but that is the charm of the place, and why many have left the cities to live here. Geologically it is the Syncline that corresponds to the anticline of May Hill, it is formed of (from the outside in) Old Red Sandstone, Carboniferous Limestones with the fossil plant rich Drybrook Sandstone at the top, followed by the Upper Carboniferous Coal Measures.
Ross-on-Wye is only a hint in the distance in this view. Ross is a small buisy town with an old Market Hall raised on pillars at the crossroads. There is a good secondhand bookshop, and several tearooms as well as many public houses and a range of the usual shops.
The Welsh Hills are off in the far distance, the town of Hay-on Wye is in this general direction, a town full of secondhand books (I'm not allowed to go), as are the Black Mountains and Brecon Beacons of Wales.
Hereford is a large town, much the same size as Gloucester, it has a good Museum and Cathedral. Not really visible in this photo.
The Malvern Hills it is just possible that the extreme end of this range of hills can be seen behind the trees. The Malverns are well worth a visit, if only to visit the town of Great Malvern and it's indoor swimming baths, or to climb to the topof thehill from the British Camp car park. The geologist will find much here to see, pillow lavas at Clutter's Cave right at the top, Gullet Quarry with it's Silurian Beach, or the Wenlock fossils (Dalmanites Myops)round the back of Eastnor Castle.
The View from Painswick Beacon (SO 866 121)
Marked on maps as Painswick Hill. A reasonable walk throught the golf course brings you to the Trig. point at the very top of the hill, the view is generally to the north-west.
Introduction
The Beacon is an Iron-age Hill Fort with earth ramparts, with a flat area inside the very top where I assume the village was but now a golf course. These photographs were taken on a cold bright day in late December 1998.
Harescombe is the area in the foreground with Haresfield Beacon in the distance, this is another Hill Fort site with a view point. Notice the ramparts and quarry hollows in the lower part of the photo. The rock here is Oolitic Limestone for here we are standing on the Cotswold Scarp.
River Severn can be seen as a reflection in the middle distance, the older Severn Road Bridge can be seen on a very clear day (but not in this photo).
Holcombe is in the foreground with the Forest of Dean as the scarp in the distance, Cinderford and Popes Hill are about central to the view and May Hill is on the right edge.
Robinswood Hill an outlier of the Cotswold Scarp, is a country park managed by Gloucester City Council. To the left of the hill is Quedgeley and Hardwicke and to the right, Matson, and the artifical ski slope that runs down one of the lower slopes of the hill. The bump on the skyline is May Hill.
Gloucester City is spread out below, in the center is the Horton Road Gasholder, and to the left of it Gloucester Cathedral. On the skyline are the Malvern Hills.(This image makes good wallpaper for your desktop).
Chosen Hill or Churchdown Hill is another outlier of the Cotswold scarp, it has a pretty church and aircraft warning lights on the top. Hucclecote can be seen in front of the hill.
Cheltenham can be seen in the distance to the right of Chosen Hill, in the foreground is an Industrial Estate at Brockworth. Behind Cheltenham is a range of hills that include Bishops Cleeve.
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