Bredon Hill

About Bredon Hill

Rising as a prominent, isolated outlier overlooking the Vale of Evesham, this expansive limestone Marilyn feels distinct from the nearby Cotswolds. Its broad summit, home to the Iron Age Kemerton Camp, is famously crowned by the stone Parson’s Folly tower, offering a panoramic vantage point over the Malverns and the Severn Valley.

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Did You Know?

• •The name is a classic tautology, combining the Brythonic Celtic word 'bre' and the Old English 'dun', both of which mean hill. Effectively, its name translates to 'Hill Hill Hill'.
• •The summit plateau is enclosed by the ramparts of Kemerton Camp, a significant Iron Age hillfort. Archaeological excavations in the 1930s discovered evidence of a violent end to the settlement, with the remains of over 50 individuals found near the inner gate.
• •The stone tower at the summit, known as Parson’s Folly or Bambury Tower, was built in the mid-18th century for John Parsons. It was specifically intended to raise the hill's natural height to a rounded 1,000 feet, though modern surveys show it still falls slightly short of that mark.
• •The hill was immortalised in A.E. Housman’s poetry collection 'A Shropshire Lad'. Despite the collection’s title, the hill actually stands in Worcestershire, though the summit provides a clear view across the border toward the Shropshire peaks.
• •On a clear day, the vista is dominated by the jagged profile of the Malvern Hills to the west, while to the south, the Cotswold escarpment curves away toward Cleeve Hill and Broadway Tower.
• •Local folklore claims the Banbury Stone—a large, weathered mass of limestone near the summit—wanders down to the River Avon for a drink whenever it hears the church bells of Elmley Castle strike midnight.