The Shropshire Hills are a dissected upland area and one of the natural regions of England. They lie wholly within the county of

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

and encompass several distinctive and well-known landmarks, such as the

Long Mynd The Long Mynd is a heath and moorland plateau that forms part of the Shropshire Hills in Shropshire, England. The high ground, which is common land and designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, lies between the Stiperstones range t ...

Wenlock Edge Wenlock Edge is a limestone escarpment near Much Wenlock, Shropshire, England and a site of special scientific interest because of its geology. It is over long, running southwest to northeast between Craven Arms and Much Wenlock, and is roughly ...

, The Wrekin and the Clees. The Shropshire Hills lie south of the county town of

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is sited on the River Severn, northwest of Wolverhampton, west of Telford, southeast of Wrexham and north of Hereford. At the 2021 United ...

between the Welsh border and

Much Wenlock Much Wenlock is a market town and Civil parishes in England, parish in Shropshire, England; it is situated on the A458 road between Shrewsbury and Bridgnorth. Nearby, to the north-east, is the Ironbridge Gorge and Telford. The civil parish incl ...

, extending as far south as

Ludlow Ludlow ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is located south of Shrewsbury and north of Hereford, on the A49 road (Great Britain), A49 road which bypasses the town. The town is near the conf ...

. To the north they are bounded by the Shropshire, Cheshire and Staffordshire Plain, to the east by the Severn Valley and Mid Severn Sandstone Plateau, to the southeast by Knighton and the Teme Valley and to the southwest by the

Clun Clun is a town in south west Shropshire, England, and the Shropshire Hills AONB, Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The 2011 United Kingdom census, census recorded 680 people living in the town.Combined populations for the t ...

and North West Herefordshire Hills.

Environment

The Shropshire Hills are listed as Natural Area No. 42 and also as

National Character Area A National Character Area (NCA) is a natural subdivision of England based on a combination of landscape, biodiversity, geodiversity and economic activity. There are 159 National Character Areas and they follow natural, rather than administrative, b ...

65 by

Natural England Natural England is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It is responsible for ensuring that England's natural environment, including its land, flora and fauna, ...

, the UK Government's advisor on the

natural environment The natural environment or natural world encompasses all life, biotic and abiotic component, abiotic things occurring nature, naturally, meaning in this case not artificiality, artificial. The term is most often applied to Earth or some parts ...

. The NCA covers an area of and measure around from west to east and north to south. The dominant pattern of the hills is a series of southwest to northeast ridges, scarps and valleys. They are characterized by steep, rounded 'whaleback' hills, often crowned with open moorland, with woodland dressing the steeper slopes. There are scattered farms in dales and sheltering in valleys; larger settlements being confined to the Stretton Valley and A49 corridor.''Shropshire Hills - Character Area 65''
at www.naturalengland.org.uk. Accessed on 7 Apr 2013.

Major summits

Roughly a half of the NCA lies within the

Shropshire Hills AONB The Shropshire Hills National Landscape is a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in Shropshire, England. It is located in the south of the county, extending to its border with Wales. Designated in 1958, the area encompasses o ...

. In addition, the region contains two

Special Areas of Conservation A special area of conservation (SAC) is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), also known as the ''Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora''. They are to protect the 220 habitats and ap ...

(The Stiperstones & The Hollies SAC; Downton Gorge SAC) and a national nature reserve (The Stiperstones NNR) as well as 73

Sites of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

, the latter totalling . Its major watercourses are the rivers Corve, Onny,

Severn The River Severn (, ), at long, is the longest river in Great Britain. It is also the river with the most voluminous flow of water by far in all of England and Wales, with an average flow rate of at Apperley, Gloucestershire. It rises in t ...

and Teme and the Ledwyche and Rea brooks. The average elevation is ; the highest point is

Brown Clee Hill Brown Clee Hill is the highest hill in the rural England, English county of Shropshire, at above sea level. It is one of the Clee Hills, and is in the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Geography Brown Clee Hill lies five ...

at .''NCA 65: Shropshire Hills - Key Facts & Data''
at www.naturalengland.org.uk. Accessed on 7 Apr 2013. Significant summits in the Shropshire Hills include: * Brown Clee (540m), * Stiperstones (536m), * Titterstone Clee (533m), *

(Pole Bank) (516m), * Caer Caradoc (459m), * Heath Mynd (452m), * Hope Bowdler (426m), * The Wrekin (407m), * Ragleth Hill (398m), * Lawley (377m).

References

{{coord, 52.522, -2.719, region:GB-SHR_type:landmark, display=title Natural regions of England Hills of Shropshire