Monument record 7575 - Tidnock Wood, formerly Tidnock Moss

<1> Leah, MD; Wells, CE; Appleby, C; Huckerby, E, 1997, The Wetlands of Cheshire (North West Wetlands Survey 4), p.88, 194-5 (Monograph). SCH3260.

Tidnock Wood was investigated by the North West Wetlands project, an archaeological and paleoecological study of the varied wetlands of Cheshire, undertaken between 1993-95. It is one of a series of wetlands in the area extending from Wilmslow in the north to Macclesfield in the east and Sandbach and Congleton in the south. Within this region a variety of wetland types are present from small basin mires west of Macclesfield to large mosses such as Danes Moss and Lindow Moss. The wetlands also display a wide variation in their degree of preservation. The group comprises two contrasting landscapes with the majority of wetlands in a region termed the ‘marginal belt’, with a smaller group centred around Bag Mere, on the fringes of the Cheshire Plain. The majority of the wetlands have developed in depressions and hollows in the surface of the varied glacial deposits.

Tidnock Wood is an extensive area of shallow, truncated peats which developed over sandy terrain and is almost completely forested. In many places up to circa 2m of humified peats survive, but otherwise, less than 0.5m of heavily dessicated peats survive. Unfortunately no proxy pollen stratigraphy was possible at this site, but on stratigraphic grounds it appears possible that a sufficently well preserved archive survives in places which might cover part of the prehistoric period.

Recorded on Bryant's map of 1831 as 'Tidnock Moss' (see source 2).

<2> Bryant, A., 1831, Map of the County Palatine of Chester (Maps and Plans). SCH2114.

<3> Various, Various, Oral communication to the HER, Winstanley, J 27/10/2014 (Oral Communication). SCH2330.

During forestry work a number of conifers, believed to have been planted in the nineteenth century when the wood was established, were cut down. A count of the tree rings from one of the felled trees indicated a planting date of c.1844.

<4> See map for surveyor, c.1837-51, Cheshire Tithe Maps and Awards, EDT 165/2 c.1849 (Maps and Plans). SCH3266.

Two adjacent plots recorded as Tidnock Moss Plantation.