Clent Hills

Clent Hills
The four stones at the top of Clent Hill at 52° 25′ 15.29″ N, 2° 5′ 56.12″ W
Highest point
Elevation	315 m (1,033 ft)
Prominence	45 m (148 ft)
Geography
Location	Worcestershire, England
OS grid	SO942797

The Clent Hills lie 10 miles (16 km) south-west of Birmingham city centre in Clent, Worcestershire, England. The closest towns are Stourbridge and Halesowen, both in the West Midlands conurbation. The Clent Hills range consists of, in order from north-west to south-east: Wychbury Hill, Clent Hill (and Adams Hill), and Walton Hill (and Calcot Hill). The north Worcestershire range of hills continues eastwards to include Romsley Hill, Waseley Hills and the Lickey Hills.

Clent Hill is the most popular hillwalking hill in the range, although it is not often mentioned because the whole area is referred to as Clent Hills. Just under a million visitors a year are estimated to come to the hills, making them Worcestershire's most popular non-paying attraction.

Clent appears in the Domesday Book as "Klinter", and may be derived from the old Scandinavian word klint for a cliff. Once part of a Mercian forest, the hills contain the remains of a multi-vallate, Iron Age hillfort on Wychbury Hill. According to local historian John Amphlett, a battle between ancient Britons and Romans was fought on Clent Heath.

The Clent Hills are graced with several classically inspired architectural works from about the 1750s. Most of them are in the private grounds of Hagley Hall but most of them are visible from public areas. Lord Lyttelton of Hagley Hall constructed the Wychbury Obelisk on Wychbury Hill in 1758, which is visible for many miles, even from the Clee Hills. Lord Lyttelton also had constructed many other follies including a Temple of Theseus, other small Greek and Roman temples, a full sized ruined mock castle (his lands did not contain a real one!) and The Four Stones on top of Clent Hill.