
The British Camp or Herefordshire Beacon
The Malvern Hills, Herefordshire / Worcestershire, England, UK.
3:55pm BST
© 2004 Robert C. Bilsland, All Rights Reserved.
The British Camp is located towards the southern end of the Malvern Hills. On the climb up from the car park there is a stone plinth with the following description engraved on it:
Malvern Hills Conservators, The British Camp or Herefordshire Beacon, (Height 1115ft)
One of the finest earthworks in Britain; built around the second century BC. Later enlarged and altered before the Roman Conquest, it dominates the vicinity and commands magnificent panoramic views esteemed by John Evelyn, the diarist, to be "one of the goodliest vistas in England."
The Red Earl's dyke running along the crest of the hills, was made by Gilbert DeClare, Earl of Gloucestershire, circa 1287, to mark the boundary between his territory and that of the Bishop of Hereford.
At a spring nearby, William Langland, the famous 14th Century poet, "slombred in a sleping" and dreamt his "vision of Piers Plowman."