Flint axes, arrowheads, and flakes found in the area are attributed to early
Bronze Age settlers, and the "Shire Ditch", a late Bronze Age
boundary earthwork possibly dating from around 1000 BC, was constructed
along part of the crest of the hills near the site of later settlements. The
Wyche Cutting, a mountain pass through the hills, was in use in prehistoric
times as part of the salt route from Droitwich to South Wales. A 19th-century
discovery of over two hundred metal money bars suggests that the area had been
inhabited by the La Tène people around 250 BC. Ancient folklore has it
that the British
