A 4 mile circular walk along field paths, quiet lanes and a stretch of canal from Whixall
Whixall
Whixall is the third largest inland village in England, civil parish in Shropshire, England, which is documented in the Domesday Book as having been in existence in 1086. The nearest towns are Whitchurch, to the north, and Wem, to the south.
The parish lies on the border with the county borough of Wrexham, Wales. Its close proximity to Wales is shown by a hamlet called Welsh End.
Within the parish boundaries (encompassing seven square miles) are various hamlets including Abbey Green. The Llangollen Canal of the Shropshire Union Canal and the short Prees Branch of the Ellesmere Canal run through the parish.
Ellesmere Canal
The Ellesmere Canal was a waterway in England and Wales that was planned to carry boat traffic between the rivers Mersey and Severn. The proposal would create a link between the Port of Liverpool and the mineral industries in north east Wales and the manufacturing centres in the West Midlands. However, the canal was never completed as intended because of its rising costs and failure to generate the expected commercial traffic. This stretch of the canal was built along the southern edge of Whixall Moss by William Jessop and Thomas Telford between 1797 and 1804 and became part of the Shropshire Union in 1846. Whixall moss can be easily accessed from the canal tow path by crossing Roundthorn Bridge towards Marl Allotment.
Fenn’s, Whixall and Bettisfield Mosses National Nature Reserve
Fenn’s, Whixall and Bettisfield Mosses National Nature Reserve is a national nature reserve (NNR) which straddles the border between England and Wales, near Whixall and Ellesmere in Shropshire, England and Bettisfield in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It comprises three peat bogs, Bettisfield Moss, Fenn’s Moss and Whixall Moss. With Wem Moss and Cadney Moss, they are collectively a Site of Special Scientific Interest called The Fenn’s, Whixall, Bettisfield, Wem & Cadney Moss Complex and form Britain’s third-largest lowland raised bog, covering 2,388 acres (966 ha). The reserve is part of the Midland Meres and Mosses, an Important Plant Area which was declared a Wetland of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention in 1997. It is also a European Special Area of Conservation.