Lickey Hills
The
Lickey Hills (known locally as simply
The Lickeys) are a range of hills in
Worcestershire,
England, eleven miles to the south-west of the centre of
Birmingham near the villages of
Lickey and
Barnt Green. Part of them form the
Lickey Hills Country Park of 525 acres (2 km²) belonging to
Birmingham City Council and a
golf club.
|
A view from the top of Bilberry Hill |
The three
hilltops geographically comprising The Lickeys -
Rednal Hill,
Bilberry Hill and
Cofton Hill - are the summits of the
Lickey Ridge, a formation of hard
quartzite. Beautiful views over the city and surrounding countryside can be seen from the top of these hills. In the hills there is an
obelisk commemorating
the sixth Earl of Plymouth (died
1833) as gratitude for his work in forming the
Worcestershire Yeomanry volunteer
regiment of
cavalry.
The Lickey Hills area is of significant
geological interest due to the range and age of the
rocks. The
stratigraphic sequence, which is the basis for the area's diversity of
landscape and
habitat, comprises:
*Barnt Green rocks -
Precambrian tuffs and
volcanic grits
*Lickey Quartzite - a
Cambrian quartzite*
Keele Clay - a
Carboniferous clay*
Clent Breccia - a
Permian breccia*
Bunter Pebble Beds -
beds of
Triassic water-worn
pebbles
The
Lickey Incline runs about 1.5 miles south of the hills — it is reputedly the steepest sustained
adhesion-worked
gradient (approximately 2 miles at 1 in 38) on the UK
railway system.
*Margaret Mabey,
A Little History of the Lickey Hills, The Lickey Hills Society, 1993, ISBN 0951983911
*
Lickey Hills Webpage*
Lickey Hills geology
