4 
CLIMATE. 
It has been estimated that sixty yards of elevation or 
rise in the land, are equal to a degree of latitude ; or 
that land sixty yards perpendicularly higher is, in 
respect to climate, a degree more north ; agreeable to 
this idea, the north-east of the county between Broms- 
grove and Birmingham, which is considerably more 
elevated, is also considerably later. In an excursion 
over the county the first week in September, 1805,1 
found the harvest finished in the early districts; but, in 
the latter, all kinds of grain, part cut, part growing, 
and many farmers had carried no wheat, and in some 
places the grain not ripe. 
To the north-east of Bromsgrove arises a ridge of 
hills, termed the Lickey, which continues in a chain to 
Hagley, and diverges easterly in various directions, 
rising in some of its peaks to 800 or 900 feet eleva¬ 
tion ; this district from its height, exposure, and 
inclement atmosphere, may be considered, in point of 
climate, as three or four degrees more north than the 
fertile parts of the county ; the other elevated grounds 
are Malvern Hills, a mountain or group of mountains, 
extending nearly from north to south, upon a base of 
about six miles in length, and from one to two in 
breadth, a line along the ridge of whose summits 
divides this county from Herefordshire : the highest of 
these summits, according to Dr. Nash, rises to 1513 
feet perpendicularly above the Severn. 
Abberley Hills, in the north-west, are of consider¬ 
able magnitude, and seen to a great distance ; they ex¬ 
tend over a parish of the same name, and probably rise 
to 800 or 900 feet perpendicularly above the Severn, 
and consist, according to Dr. Nash, of a cold wet clay 
on limestone. Witley Hill, south of the latter and 
near it, is also a strong soil on limestone, 
Bredon 
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