Shropshire's 10 Best Hillforts - Shropshire Hill Walks inc. Old Oswestry Caer Caradoc Bury Ditches

As a hill-walking addict from Shropshire, I see my fair share of hillforts, and they certainly add to the character of a hill. The Welsh Marches have lots of hillforts (when compared to other parts of the UK) and I'd like to share the 10 best that Shropshire has to offer. At the end, I provide a small insight into when hillforts were 'the thing' and the reason they were popular isn't really to do with defense and warfare, but much more to do with 'showing off' to neighboring tribes. With an impressive hillfort, your tribe is saying several things, we're rich and successful enough to spend money on making this fort and maintaining it, our postcode / 'house value' is better than yours, etc, etc, etc. The better your fort, the better your tribal society was, the better your tribal leader was, and it inferred that your warrior capability was also better. Roman occupation changed many things, and hillforts suddenly lost their appeal. They were suddenly no defense against the highly organised Roman military, so they soon lost their kudos. Instead, the local tribes transitioned into living in lightly fortified townships that were more biased to trade and less wasteful on unnecessary fortifications and clearly 'walking uphill to get home'.