The UK's County Tops. Jonny Muir
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The Ridgeway between Haddington Hill and Pavis Wood
Did you Know?
BUCKINGHAMSHIRE
Famous native
Designer of the Albert Memorial in London’s Kensington Gardens, George Gilbert Scott (1811–78) was born in Gawcott. The 54m structure commemorates Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert, who died of typhoid in 1861.
Interesting fact
Aylesbury won £2 million in 2005 to become one of the UK’s six ‘cycling demonstration’ towns. The money was used to create new cycle routes in the town and to encourage people to ride to work and school.
HERTFORDSHIRE
Famous native
Born in Hitchin in 1980, cyclist Victoria Pendleton won gold in the women’s individual sprint event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She was subsequently made an MBE in the 2009 New Years Honours list.
Interesting fact
Parliament Square in Hertford is so named after the Parliament of England briefly relocated to the town during an outbreak of the plague in London in 1563. The government met at 1000-year-old Hertford Castle.
11 BERKSHIRE and HAMPSHIRE
Walbury Hill (Berkshire) 297m SU 3735 6163
Pilot Hill (Hampshire) 286m SU 3988 6011
| Location | Berkshire Downs, 11km SW of Newbury |
| Start | Car park (free) at high point of minor Faccombe–Inkpen road, 700m E of Walbury Hill summit, SU 3804 6159 (West Berkshire) |
| OS map | Landranger 174 (Newbury & Wantage), Explorer 158 (Newbury & Hungerford) |
| Difficulty | 2 |
| Enjoyment | ** |
| Distance | 6.5km (4 miles) |
| Ascent | 100m |
| Time | 1–1.5hrs |
Walbury Hill has a 3m advantage over Leith Hill, making Berkshire the highest county in southeast England. It is also the highest chalk hill in England. The hill’s altitude relative to its environs means it was once a defensive site, with an Iron Age fort encircled by banks and ditches positioned here. Walbury Hill overlooks Combe Gibbet, where the bodies of George Broomham and Dorothy Newman were draped in 1676, after they were convicted of murdering Broomham’s wife and son. Hampshire’s Pilot Hill has a less glamorous and gory history, although the two summits, which have a striking resemblance, can easily be linked.
Summit of Pilot Hill
Did you Know?
BERKSHIRE
Famous native
Former Chelsea and Southampton footballer Peter Osgood (1947–2006) was born in Windsor. Osgood, who won four England caps, was known as the ‘Wizard of Os’ by Chelsea fans.
Interesting fact
Berkshire is often referred to as a ‘royal county’ because Windsor Castle falls within its boundaries. A fire in 1992 damaged or destroyed more than 100 rooms at the 900-year-old castle.
HAMPSHIRE
Famous native
Victorian novelist Charles Dickens (1812–70) spent the first three years of his life in Portsmouth before moving to London. Revered for his contribution to literature, his best-known novels include A Christmas Carol and Great Expectations.
Interesting fact
Southampton residents were the first to taste-test cod and herring fish fingers in the 1950s. The town’s consumers (and others from South Wales) preferred the cod version of the fish product.
Route
From the car park, follow a rough farm track that rises in a NW direction to Walbury Hill along the route of the Wayfarer’s Walk, a 113km-mile path from the coast near Portsmouth to Inkpen Beacon in Berkshire. After about 600m, cross a gate into a field, where a track leads to a trig pillar marking the highest ground in Berkshire. Combe Gibbet, a little over 1km to the NW, can clearly be seen from here.
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