The Bog is a former mining community in

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

, England. It lies north of

Bishops Castle Bishop's Castle is a market town in the south west of Shropshire, England. According to the 2011 Census it had a population of 1,893. Bishop's Castle is east of the Wales-England border, about north-west of Ludlow and about south-west of ...

, east of the A488, at

grid reference A projected coordinate system, also known as a projected coordinate reference system, a planar coordinate system, or grid reference system, is a type of spatial reference system that represents locations on the Earth using cartesian coordin ...

. It was once a busy village with over 200 buildings. Now only a few remain. The local mines produced

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

and

barytes Baryte, barite or barytes ( or ) is a mineral consisting of barium sulfate ( Ba S O4). Baryte is generally white or colorless, and is the main source of the element barium. The ''baryte group'' consists of baryte, celestine (strontium sulfate), a ...

until the early 20th century. The mine at The Bog and the adjacent

Stiperstones The Stiperstones ( cy, Carneddau Teon) is a distinctive hill in the county of Shropshire, England. The quartzite rock of the ridge formed some 480 million years ago. During the last Ice Age Stiperstones lay on the eastern margin of the Welsh i ...

outcrop were only viable because of a geological movement; over time the movement of the tectonic plates landed at this site, combined with the movement of the earth it crumpled the layers and the softest layers were then eroded away. After mining stopped, the undisturbed remnants provided a range of wildlife habitats: birds nest in the old buildings, bats roost in the old mine tunnels, and reservoirs and ponds are ideal for aquatic life.

Visitor centre

The Bog Mine Visitor Centre, the main facility for visitors to the Stiperstones, is housed in the former village school and retains its old interior design. It provides historical information about the past workers, mining, and present-day work to restore the landscape. Facilities at the centre include toilets and car parking (with facilities for the disabled including reserved parking, toilets and ramps). Activities include walking, with two main circular walks called Mucklewick Walk and Flenny Bank Walk and a variety of riding routes. Improvements to the building, made possible by a Heritage Lottery Grant, include increasing the understanding of the mine remnants, providing new interpretation within the visitor centre, and the installation of a landscape painting by a local artist of the Stiperstones. The centre was threatened with closure in 2009, as a new co-ordinator and more volunteering staff were needed. However, additional staff were found and the visitor centre is still open and running, staffed by the Bog Visitor Centre Volunteer Group. The centre contains a framed tribute to 26 men and women from The Bog and nearby Pennerley who served the armed forces in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, of whom two men died in the war and the last survivor, an airwoman, died in 2010. Headed "Lest We Forget" and bearing photographs of each named person, it was compiled and funded by local man Clifford Evans who unveiled it in the latter year.

References

{{coord, 52.575, -2.951, type:city_region:GB, display=title Former populated places in Shropshire Mining communities in England Lead mines in England