The Bog is a Nature Reserve, and area of outstanding beauty near Bishops Castle in Shropshire. The information centre in the middle of the reserve is staffed by knowledgeable and helpful volunteers.
It is dominated by the Stiperstones a hill of formed of quartzite 480 million years ago. The summit suffered from continuous freezing and thawing in the last Ice Age which crushed it into pieces which you can see in the reserve. From the Stiperstones you have a fine vista of the Shropshire Hills including the Long Mynd and onto the North Shropshire plain and the Welsh hills.
There has been a reclaiming of the reserve back to its natural form. The pine tress and conifers have been removed and replaced with the original heather seedlings. Grasslands rich in herbs, meadows and natural woodlands have been restored to their natural habitat.
The bog lead mine in the village of Snailbeach is a site showing lead mining beginning in the Roman occupation of Britain. The rocks known as the Devil’s Chair have many stories associated with it. It goes that ghost of Wild Eric a Saxon Earl defied the Normans in the 10th Century rides the hills whenever the UK is threatened by invasion.
The Stiperstones provide a backdrop for the literature of Mary Webb who named it the Diafol Mountain in her novel The Golden Arrow in 1916.
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