Lindow Moss, also known as Saltersley Common, is a raised peat bog divided almost equally between Wilmslow and Mobberley in Cheshire, England. One of the largest lowland peatlands in the county, it is best known for the discovery there of the preserved bog body of Lindow Man in 1984.[1] The site may have been of religious significance to the Ancient Britons, as a preserved Romano-British head was also found in the bog in 1983, Lindow WomanPartial remains of a female bog body discovered in a peat bog at Lindow Moss, Cheshire in 1983..[2]
The peat bog was formed in a collection of hollows left by melting ice at the end of the last ice age, about 10,000 years ago. The first written record of Lindow Moss occurs in 1421, when the lord of Mobberley and Wilmslow allowed his tenants to dig peat from the mossland for use as fuel.[3] The bog originally covered more than 600 hectares (1,483 acres), but is now a tenth of its original size.[4]
Peat extraction
Peat extraction, although controversial because of its environmental impact, continues on Lindow Moss to the present day, with agreements in place for extraction to continue until 2042. Beyond that date, the areas affected are to be infilled with inert waste and restored to agriculture.[1]
Flaura and fauna
A one-hectare (2.5 acres) area of the bog, known as Saltersley Moss, was established as a nature reserve in 1965 in an effort to preserve the peat surface, but as peat extraction continued the water table was lowered and the moss became drier, no longer able to support a typical bog habitat. Hence today birch, oak, alder, buckthorn and bracken have colonised the area. The reserve does though provide a breeding ground for the green hairstreak butterfly.[5]
Turner, R. C. “Discoveries and Excavations at Lindow Moss 1983–8.” New Discoveries and New Perspectives, edited by R. C. Turner and R. G. Scaife, British Museum Press, 1995, pp. 10–18.
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