The Bog Ropeway Trestle

On the 27th March 2018 the Stiperstones & Corndon Landscape Partnership (LPS) erected a ropeway trestle at the Bog Visitor centre (Stiperstones Shropshire SY5 0NG). The trestle designed by "Ropeways Limited" stands on the line of Bog's aerial ropeway, it is similar to steel trestles used on the ropeway and has been placed there as a memorial to all those who worked at the mine.

The trestle was built for a line serving a brickworks near Lancaster, which was closed and the trestles abandoned late in the 20th century. It was made available by Forterra PLC of Claughton Manor Brickworks, who have the distinction of having the last functioning ropeway in the country.

Bog mine was redeveloped before the 1st World War and different ways of transporting ore from the mine to the railway at Malehurst and of coal back to the mine were considered. Traction engines would cause extensive damage to the roads, and extending the railway from Snailbeach would be prohibitively expensive. The solution adopted was a five mile aerial ropeway which took less land and could cope with rough ground and gradients. Its drawbacks were its limited carrying capacity, problems in frost and high winds and the amount of maintenance it required. It was designed and constructed by "Ropeways Limited" during 1918, much of the construction work being done by German prisoners of war. The mine closed in 1925 and the ropeway with it.

The LPS finished at the end of March 2018, but the installation of the trestle was not quite complete. The erection of a fence and installation of an interpretation panel was completed by the local contractor in early May.

Before it finished the LPS had purchased some fine grit to be used for paths etc. around the area. Not all of it had been used and what was left was in a heap on the car park by the Institute at the Bog.

So at the end of June, Club members were enlisted to help move some of the grit and spread it around the ropeway trestle base inside the fenced enclosure. Andy Wood and Mike Shaw were joined by Nick Southwick, Peter Eggleston, Steve Holding and Kelvin Lake, transferring the grit from the car park to the back of the Bog Centre in Andy Wood's trailer. It was then moved by wheelbarrow into the fenced area and spread around the base to give a 'smooth' finish to the area.

A spare ropeway bucket donated by Forterra Ltd. was placed on the concrete base along with the iron axle, which is thought to be from one of the Bog ropeway trestles.

Bog Ropeway Trestle Topped Out

That wasn't quite the end of things. On the 27th October 2018, Andy Harris (watched by several Club members!) added the triangular top to the ropeway trestle using a 'cherry picker' from Freeman Hire.

It only took a couple of hours to complete the job, including balancing up the pulley wheels on the side of the trestle without the bucket by adding a length of rebar to indicate the line of the ropeway. Luckily it was a nice calm day, although a little cold so everyone present was forced to retire to the Bog centre for tea and cakes once the job was completed.