Inkpen Hill
| Inkpen Hill | |
| Berkshire | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Stile on Inkpen Hill | |
| Summit: | 955 feet SU355619 51°21’20"N, 1°29’26"W |
Inkpen Hill is a hill in south-western Berkshire, at the edge of the county on the border with Hampshire. It is named after the village of Inkpen to the north. The hill is a thin ridge, forms part of the long ridge marking the county boundary, with Gallows Down and then Walbury Hill to the east, the latter providing the highest point of both counties, though Inkpen Hill is only a little lower.
A steep chalk escarpment drops down to the north the gentler dip slope to the south, and thus the summit of the hill provides a fine vista to north and to south. The top of the ridge is followed by a bridleway known here as the Wayfarer's Walk. The Test Way footpath meets it on this hill.
The county boundary runs up the ridge and curves slightly to the south on Inkpen Hill so that the summit ridge is wholly in Berkshire.
The great hill fort of Walbury hill is just a mile to the east, and a pair of tumuli on Inkpen Hill, and others along the escarpment, attest the ancient landscape this is.