Lymore Landscape

The landscape of Lymore is uniquely beautiful. A farmed landscape for the most part, with some scattered woodland, the Lymore Estate is an important feature of the Marches countryside along the Welsh/English border. As a result of its historical and geographical importance, this area has been the subject of a major Heritage Landscape Management Plan.

This web page aims to give some insight into the main features of the Lymore Landscape.

The Ffridd
The Iron Age Camp at the summit of this area of rough hillside is an ancient feature which once formed part of a medieval park. Its form is still visible today, but the original camp is overlaid by the pattern of large fields and scattered woodland. Butcher's Wood on the Ffridd was in existence by 1785, but enlarged by 1828.
Town Hill
This was part of the commons of the burgesses of Montgomery until 1787, when it was acquired by Lord Powis.
Lymore Park
Lymore Park is a historical patchwork of features from many different eras.
Ridge and furrow field scars, medieval park features, evidence of brick-making activity, road features, woodland plantations, possible settlement evidence and pools all contribute to the rich and interesting variety of the Lymore landscape.
Offa's Dyke Famous as the ancient boundary between England and Wales, much of the line of Offa's Dyke was incorporated into the modern national boundary in the Act of Union in 1536.
Cae Mwgal This was a single holding in the 16th Century, owned by the fraternity of Montgomery, bounded by an area of open field called Wickey Field.
Chirbury Hall This listed building is on the site of the original priory. The grounds contain the remains of a late 16 Century dovecote.
Chirbury Kings Orchard The reputed site of Aethelfaed's burgh of Cyribyrig, founded in 915, is an embanked enclosure to the west of Chirbury village. Archeological excavations have unearthed no sign of a palisade, nor any evidence of Saxon or medieval pottery, suggesting that this enclosure was probably never permanently occupied, or that it may not have been completed.
Walcot The Herbert family appear to have been in full control of Walcot by the close of the 16th Century. The open field system here was dismantled between 1536 and 1600.
Winsbury In 1785, the village of Winsbury consisted of just three houses and the farm. Ridge and furrow features are still visible around the area called Town Field. Earthworks nearby suggest a deserted village site.
Roundhill The remains of ridge and furrow are visible to the north and west of Roundhill (Rownall). Several 'squatters' cottages used to line the lane and along Offa's Dyke in this region, but these seem to have disappeared by 1828, or to have been upgraded into farm steads.
Hockleton
Hockleton is overlooked by a motte and bailey arrangement.
Dudston West and East Dudston Farms face one another at this site, which was once a larger village. Ridge and furrow evidence, plus the route of the pre-turnpike road are still visible. Detailed survey work suggests that the ridge and furrow pattern is not continuous through the line of Offa's Dyke, therefore not proving the existence of an eighth century farming community here.
Timberth
It is thought that Great Moat Farm was originally the manor of Timberth. This was a dispersed settlement and only sections of it survive according to its original form.
Sidnal
The original enclosure at what is now Sidnall Farm, is overlaid by some sections of visible ridge and furrow.
Gwarthlow
Gwarthlow is the only motte in the Lymore area not specifically connested to a present day farmstead. It is however, the largest, even though cultivation has taken away most of its ditch and all of the bailey.
The Ditches
The Ditches were originally Roman marching camps, intersected now by Offa's Dyke at Brompton Mill. They appear as crop marks on aerial photographs.

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