A NEW chapter could soon open in the lengthy history of Titterstone Clee, the third highest hill in Shropshire.

Archaeologist Glyn Barratt believes it contains an unrecorded settlement with two house structures from the Iron Age. That takes the sites back to possibly 700BC but Titterstone's heritage could go back even further to Bronze Age cairns from 1,000 years earlier.

Glyn and his historian colleague Alf Jenkins are now involved in a project that largely concentrates on more recent history.

From the 1860s, labourers came from all over England and Wales to work in a range of industries, from clay to lime and from coal mining to stone quarrying.

Local enthusiast Major Adrian Coles says: "Clee Hill Village was built on the back of the quarry. Many thousands of people were employed there - now there are only 12."

Glyn and Alf are racing against time to record the oral history of the people who lived and worked on Titterstone. "We need to get it done as these witnesses are disappearing daily," said Alf.

This need led to the formation of the Titterstone Clee Heritage Trust, which has just received an £8,264 grant from Awards for All.

Major Coles, who sits for Clee Ward on Shropshire County Council, gave his support as the referee needed by Awards for All.

He said: "I think Alf and his colleagues are doing a marvellous job. The area is so important in the history of Shropshire and the whole country. It's almost as important as the Ironbridge Gorge.

"The work of Alf and his colleagues should be applauded and encouraged."

Even today, visitors feel that Clee Hill Village seems isolated. Alf, who is a "Clee Hill boy", said that the isolation produced "a particular brand of determined, hard working people whose life had no frills and was generally impoverished."

There are now cattle grids on both sides of the common on Clee Hill. Alf recalled: "Before the time of the cattle grids, the sheep were running around Clee Hill Village. At Ludlow Grammar School, we were regarded as a complete race apart from the way we spoke and the clothes we wore."

Brown and Titterstone Clees are rightly in a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Apart from the spectacular views in all directions, there is a massive industrial heritage. These include one of the world's first hydro-electric stations at Bensons Brook, which helped work the incline that used to take 25,000 tons of coal a year down to Ludlow.

There are also some of the earliest pre-fabricated concrete buildings in Shropshire.

A more contemporary artefact is the satellite tracking station on Titterstone, just beyond the "Kremlin" Inn.

The trust plans to celebrate its first anniversary from 11am on October 20 at Mahorall Farm at Knowlegate with a promotion of the hill's rich cultural and natural history and the local rural businesses.

Forthcoming projects include winning a grant to buy the 30 acre site of the Novers Limestone Mine and Works.

The Trust would like to manage it as a public access woodland available to schools and the local community.