The Ruabon Moors are an area of upland

moorland Moorland or moor is a type of habitat found in upland areas in temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands and montane grasslands and shrublands biomes, characterised by low-growing vegetation on acidic soils. Moorland, nowadays, generally ...

in Wales to the west of

Ruabon Ruabon ( cy, Rhiwabon ) is a village and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. The name comes from ''Rhiw Fabon'', ''rhiw'' being the Welsh word for "slope" or "hillside" and ''Fabon'' being a mutation from St Mabon, the original church ...

and Wrexham. They lie partly within Wrexham County Borough and partly within Denbighshire. In the northern part of the moors are the areas known as Minera Mountain and Esclusham Mountain. Further south are Ruabon Mountain and Eglwyseg Mountain. In the west the moors reach their greatest height at Cyrn-y-Brain, above sea level. To the north and north-east, the moors are bounded by

Minera Limeworks The Minera Limeworks were extensive lime quarries and kilns at Minera in Wrexham, Wales. It was located at , near the villages of Gwynfryn, Minera, and Coedpoeth and was locally referred to as ''The Calch''. History The Minera Limew ...

and the Clywedog valley. In the east they slope down to the villages of

Rhosllannerchrugog RhosllanerchrugogDavies, Jenkins and Baines (eds) ''The Welsh Academy Encyclopedia of Wales'', 2008, p.752 (also spelled Rhosllannerchrugog, or simply Rhos) is a village and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It lies within the histor ...

and

. There are several small reservoirs in this area. At the southern edge of the moors the cliffs of Eglwyseg Rocks overlook the River Dee and the Vale of Llangollen. On the western side there are more cliffs at

World's End World's End or Worlds End may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature Novels * ''World's End'' (Boyle novel), a 1987 novel by T. Coraghessan Boyle * ''World's End'' (Chadbourn novel), a 2000 novel by Mark Chadbourn * ''World's End'' (Sincl ...

while the Horseshoe Pass separates the moors from Llantysilio Mountain.

Llandegla Forest Llandegla Forest ( cy, Coed Llandegla) is a forest of planted conifers covering 2.5 sq miles (6.5 km2) in Denbighshire, north-east Wales. It is situated to the south-east of the village of Llandegla at the north-western edge of Ruabon Moors. ...

, a large conifer plantation, covers the north-western side. Ruabon Moors are part of the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

, hosting a wide variety of plant and animal life. Large parts of the moors are covered with heather. Where there are outcrops of limestone on the surface a number of scarce plants can be found such as prickly sedge,

dark red helleborine ''Epipactis atrorubens'', the dark-red helleborine or royal helleborine, is an herbaceous plant in the orchid family, Orchidaceae. As with many other species of orchids, the species is legally protected in some countries. Plantlife designated the ...

and

rigid buckler-fern Rigid or rigidity may refer to: Mathematics and physics *Stiffness, the property of a solid body to resist deformation, which is sometimes referred to as rigidity *Structural rigidity, a mathematical theory of the stiffness of ensembles of rig ...

. The moors are managed for

red grouse The red grouse (''Lagopus lagopus scotica'') is a medium-sized bird of the grouse family which is found in heather moorland in Great Britain and Ireland. It is usually classified as a subspecies of the willow ptarmigan but is sometimes consider ...

shooting. Huge numbers were shot in the past (an average of 4658 per year from 1900 to 1913) but numbers have now decreased dramatically. The area is also home to black grouse and a major conservation programme has caused their population to increase in recent years. Other birds which can be seen include

peregrine falcon The peregrine falcon (''Falco peregrinus''), also known as the peregrine, and historically as the duck hawk in North America, is a Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan bird of prey (Bird of prey, raptor) in the family (biology), family Falco ...

merlin Merlin ( cy, Myrddin, kw, Marzhin, br, Merzhin) is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a mage, with several other main roles. His usual depiction, based on an amalgamation of historic and le ...

, hen harrier, short-eared owl and ring ouzel. The area has been modified by human activity since prehistoric times when people built

cairn A cairn is a man-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the gd, càrn (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehis ...

s and cleared the original forest. Mining has taken place in the area since Roman times and there are still many shafts of disused lead, zinc, silver and coal mines dotting the area. During the Second World War bombs were dropped on the moors by German planes heading to and from Liverpool and a number of bomb craters can still be seen today. The area is popular with walkers and rock-climbers and the Offa's Dyke Path crosses the region. It is rife with controversy after two satellite tagged hen harriers mysteriously disappeared here in 2018 and a raven was found poisoned in 2019.

References

* William M. Condry (1981) ''The Natural History of Wales'', New Naturalist Series, Collins *Roger Lovegrove, Graham Williams & Iolo Williams (1994) ''Birds in Wales'', T & AD Poyser Ltd, London

External links

MineraHistory.com, World War II bombingRuabon Moors wildlife
{{coord, 53.033, -3.137, scale:60000_region:GB, display=title Mountains and hills of Wrexham County Borough Mountains and hills of Denbighshire Moorlands of Wales Marilyns of Wales