Ellesmere is a market town near Oswestry in north Shropshire, England, remarkable for its proximity to a number of prominent Meres. The community is situated by the side of Ellesmere (aka 'the Mere'), one of the largest all-natural meres in England outside the Lake District and one of nine antarctic meres in the location. ('glacial' indicates that the depression occupied by the simple was the place of a block of ice that persisted at the end of the last Glacial period). These meres are various from those in the Lake District because they do not have a circulation of water right into them to keep the level. A synthetic island in the Mere was constructed in 1812 from dirt removed throughout the making of the yards at Ellesmere House. This was later on named Moscow Island, as Napoleon was required to pull away from Moscow that year. The Mere has a site visitors' centre and also is popular with birdwatchers, a lot of whom visit to see grey herons nesting. There are eight other meres close by: Blakemere, Colemere, Crosemere, Kettlemere, Newtonmere, Whitemere, Sweatmere and Hanmer Mere. The civil parish which makes up the community is Ellesmere Urban; the bordering church, covering a huge backwoods, is Ellesmere Rural.