Route 23 Ellesmere to Welsh End & Hollinwood Geese on a frozen mere Cole Mere A watery wander touching Wales further lowered the surrounding ground. up’ carbon into the atmosphere. By Canal breaches or even minor leakages blocking the drains and clearing invasive This flattish section takes you through can have a devastating effect and are not birchwood scrub, nature reserve staff a variety of watery environments easy to repair, even with the deep steel and volunteers have been able to restore including two meres, two canals, two pilings you will notice in the canal banks. a natural wetland habitat for near- mosses (with access to a third), several Along the way you will come across a extinct whitefaced darter dragonflies, weirs and over innumerable ditches number of gracefully counterbalanced lift bog bush crickets and raft spiders as and bridges. Oddly, with all this water bridges as well as some steep humped- well as eighteen species of sphagnum around, the only mills you might see backed brick bridges. bogmoss. are former windmills now converted into private houses. Mere facts During the war Whixall Moss was used as a ‘Starfish’ site where fires, designed Whixall Moss and Bettisfield Moss 18,000 years ago melting ice left behind to look like pathfinder incendiary form part of a National Nature Reserve hummocky hills and hollows around flares, were lit to fool enemy planes and have been subject to substantial Ellesmere, creating dozens of lakes and into dropping their bombs in the belief environmental conservation initiatives, meres. Cole Mere is a classic kettle-hole that they were destroying populated designed to redress the damage mere made by a particularly vast chunk industrial areas. caused by extensive peat digging and of glacier. Its shores are surrounded agricultural reclamation. by beautiful woodland, two managed hay meadows and, at the eastern end, Marl Allotment You will find yourself in Wales for a mile a sailing club with nearby car park This is Whixall’s only common land or so in the Bettisfield area. Just south and picnic area. Why not take in the where marl clay was dug for use as an of Welsh End (now well into England) attractive walk around the perimeter as agricultural fertiliser. It is now a popular the east-west route of the Shropshire an optional half hour detour from the picnic area where butterflies thrive in Way crosses the north-south route. main route? deep grassland, surrounded by glades However Route 23 extends north a of alder, sallow, birch and oakwood. little to Hollinwood which is a more Moss country substantial junction point. The whole area around Whixall is a tangle of lanes with houses strung along Floating canals them. Peat was extracted from extensive The Shropshire Union Ellesmere Canal swathes of Whixall Moss, mainly for Llangollen Branch was constructed horticultural use. A few rusting buildings Whixall Moss to be higher in many places than the and bits of machinery are all that is left surrounding countryside. Bog drainage, of this fascinating but damaging local reclamation and peat removal have industry, which released so much ‘locked Allman’s Bridge The European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development: Europe investing in rural areas Blake Mere R e d B r o o k Discover Shropshire Route 23 Bettisfield A495 Park DIFFICULTY: level, mostly canal towpath. Wales / AY ILW 11 miles / 17.5 kilometres Engla Breaden Heath Fenn’s Moss DISMANTLED RA Ellesmere nd Bor Circular der der Hollinwood Whixall Marl Allotment A528 WAY Moss Welsh End DISMANTLED RAIL SHROPS Wales / England Bor Bettiseld H IRE UNION CANA ELLESMERE Bettisfield L Morris’ Bridge Moss Roving Bridge Old Corn Mill Allman’s Bridge The Mere Converted Visitor Centre Welshampton Cadney Bank Windmill A495 Boathouse Café A495 Balmer Heath Whixall Newton Wem Newton Dobson’s Bridge Marina Mere Moss Northwood Blake Circular Marina Mere Yell Bridge Moat Prees Branch Canal Spunhill Nature Reserve Abbey Green Colemere Lyneal Northwood White Country Park B5063 Mere Wood Lane The Roving Bridge Nature Reserve Colemere COURSE OF CANA A528 L Edstaston 01KILOMETRES 2 01MILES ½ You are not permitted to copy, sub-licence, distribute or sell any of this data to third Route Profile parties in any form. © Crown copyright and database rights The route is generally level 2012 Ordnance Survey 100049049 For more details and information visit: www.shropshirewalking.co.uk.