Location: This prominent hill over 1,300 feet high can be seen from miles around. It is 8 miles south-east of Shrewsbury, and can be most easily climbed from the north-east side.
The Wrekin.
D'he Wrekin has several interesting features, but first the legend of its formation. It was attributed to a giant, but its construction was accidental: a giant with a grudge against the people of Shrewsbury set out with a spadeful of earth, intending to dam the River Severn and flood the town. But he became lost and was forced to ask the way of a cobbler he met near Wellington. He explained why he needed to reach Shrewsbury, and the
Quick-witted cobbler, who was carrying a sackful of shoes for repair, told the giant that Shrewsbury was so far away, he had worn out all these shoes since leaving the town. The giant, feeling tired and disheartened, dumped his load of earth and so the Wrekin was formed. 'I'he earth he scraped off his boots made another sizeable hill close by, now called the Krcall.
I'here was once an Iron.ge hillfort on the summit of the W rekin, but few traces are now visible. The names Hell Gate and Heaven Gate on the hill are said to refer to civil war battles. The Needle’s Kye is a cleft in the rock on the summit, said to have been formed at the Crucifixion when the rocks were torn asunder. It is just possible for an active person to climb through it, and girls used to do this, taking care not to look back else they would never be married. 'I’heir boyfriends met them with a kiss on the other side. This ritual has hints of a fertility custom, but its age is not known. .Also on the summit is the Raven’s Bowl or Cuckoo’s Cup, a hollow in a rock which is said to be always full of water though it is not fed by a spring. I'here was also (and maybe still is) a holy well on the Wrekin, St Hawthorn’s Well, whose water was reputed to be good for skin diseases. Sufferers had to drink the water and bathe the afflicted part in it before sunrise.
World History
