Geography, Geology & Landscape

The landscape of Wem Rural is, as the name suggests, very rural in nature.

Much of the land is generally low-lying and quite flat, and is mostly made up of clay and marl – resulting from the action of the glacier that covered this area during the last Ice Age some 10,000 years ago. This is interspersed with pockets of loam, peat and sand deposits, which occur sporadically throughout the area.

The Ice Age also formed the boggy landscape of the ‘Meres and Mosses’ area of North Shropshire, including Fenns, Whixall and Bettisfield Mosses, as well as Cadney Moss and Wem Moss.

Of these, only Wem Moss falls within the boundary of Wem Rural Parish, but together these mosses form a unique and very special habitat containing one of the largest and finest examples of a raised bog in Britain. They are an internationally recognised area for both wildlife and scientific research.

The River Roden is the main local river. It has several tributaries, some of which originate in the north of the parish and in the Mosses area. These tributaries flow generally southwards to join the River Roden near Wolverley in the west of the Parish, before the Roden passes through Wem town, and then to the south through Aston. It continues roughly eastwards out of the parish on its journey to join the River Tern, which flows on to join the great River Severn.

On the northern edge of the parish, one of the Roden’s tributaries marks the English border with Wales as it passes through the Mosses. It leaves Wem Moss and passes under a bridge in Northwood where it forms the boundary with the neighbouring parish of Welshampton in Shropshire, England, in addition to part of the National border with Wales.
(An extract from the Community Plan)