Along this 7.5 mile route out of Ellesmere you will encounter pheasant filled Spout Wood, Mill Wood, and a walk upstream alongside a pretty and windy brook, and cross over a former railway line, towards Welshampton. The attractive stroll eastwards from Welshampton reveals an excellent view of the Mere and the town of Ellesmere behind it. The Mere is a water filled ‘kettle hole’ formed by a retreating glacier. However, there is an appealing legend that it is a lake formed after a woman refused her neighbour water and was later drowned by a massive overflow.
Discover Shropshire Circular Walk 9 – Ellesmere
Up the spout and back to a water-filled kettle hole. A 7.5 mile walk out of Ellesmere to Welshampton and back to Ellemere via The Mere and Cremorne Gardens.
Walk directions
Start
Having negotiated your way northwards out of Ellesmere from the starting point in the Cross Street car park and across a number of increasingly irregular fields you will eventually enter the pheasant filled Spout Wood and then Mill Wood.
Step 2
The route then takes you upstream along a pretty and wriggly brook which you will cross and re-cross several times. Inevitably you may find some parts quite muddy.
Step 3
After a sharpish rise the path crosses an impressive bridge over the former Ellesmere to Whitchurch railway line and drops down to Welshampton.
Step 4
If you take short diversion to the church and search carefully you will find the grave of Moshushoe, son of the King of Basutoland, who died in Welshampton in 1863 while taking a break from theological studies in Canterbury.
Step 5
The attractive stroll eastwards from Welshampton towards Crimps Farm eventually reveals an excellent view of the Mere and behind it the town of Ellesmere and St Mary’s church.
Step 6
The path comes down to the Mere and through Cremorne Gardens before re-entering the built up part of the town, crossing Church Street, down Watergate Street and back into the main car park.