Harton Hollow

About the reserve

Walk in the woods along Wenlock Edge and you tread on an ancient barrier reef. Plants such as herb paris, sanicle and sweet woodruff grow here because they thrive on the limestone that formed from the fossilised remains of those ancient shelled creatures, making this one of the richest stands of woodland in the county.

Multitudes of corals and other shelled beings lived here 400 million years ago, in a warm clear sea, when this bit of land destined to become Shropshire lay in the southern tropics. As part of the Marches Way, footpaths twist and turn through the wind-blown woodlands along the top of the Edge, much of which is owned by the National Trust.

Directions: Harton Hollow is a small section of the woods north of Westhope and south of Harton on the brow of the ridge. From the car park a footpath takes you between gnarled, mossy trees and into the nature reserve, on to a lane and back up into the woods again.