Monument record 15394 - Holford Moss

<1> Leah, MD; Wells, CE; Appleby, C; Huckerby, E, 1997, The Wetlands of Cheshire (North West Wetlands Survey 4), p.191 (Monograph). SCH3260.

Holford Moss, located just south of Plumley, was investigated by the North West Wetlands project, an archaeological and paleoecological study of the varied wetlands of Cheshire, undertaken between 1993-95. The site is located in the north of Cheshire, within an area of wetlands/meres which lie to the north and west of the town of Knutsford and extend as far as Northwich. These wetlands are characterised mainly by areas of open water, although many are peat-fringed. Despite the fact that place-name evidence hints at the former existence of a number of mosses, as opposed to meres, surviving examples are not common in this region. The only large, extant moss site is Holford Moss which lies in the centre of a large brine extraction field. The presence of underlying saliferous beds appears to be the reason for the existence and/or the expansion of many of the wetlands. It is thought that Holford Moss originally may have developed in a salt subsidence hollow and, although it covered a much larger extent in the past, now exists as some 24 hectares of tree-covered former wetland.

Much of the site has suffered from truncation and dessicated peats of 1-2m are typical. Deeper peat deposits are restricted to a number of upstanding baulks which have survived the extensive turbary which occurred on the moss. The baulks stand nearly 2m above the surrounding land and, although the peat within them is thoroughly dessicated, some areas retain peats in moderate states of preservation up to circa 3m thick. These comprise a typical sequence of basal wood peats, Polytrichum peats, Eriophorum/Calluna peats and final S imbricatum peats. Pollen from the basal peats suggest the site began forming during Flandrain II or II. A single sample from 1.95m depth provides a pollen spectra with 99% arboreal pollen - 27% alder, 39% oak and 21% birch, also high amounts of fern spores. This suggests a damp carr type woodland. Despite the truncation, dessication of peat and turbary activity, the site has abundant preserved pollen and could provide a record of vegetation from the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods.

Holford Moss is depicted on Burdett's map of 1777, although it places it further south than its true location. It is probable that 'Common Moss', recorded by Bryant in 1831, is Holford Moss, although he places it to the south-east. A late seventeenth century document also refers to the 'Common Moss of Lostockgralm, Plumley and Peever'. It is thought likely that this is also Holford Moss as the boundary between the townships of Plumley and Lostock Gralam runs through its centre. In the Plumley Tithe Award (1844), the name 'Holford Moss' is used, with an area given of 44 acres and the land held in hand by Thomas Langford Brookes Esq. There are several intakes with moss names around the outskirts of the moss. In the neighbouring Lostock Gralam, the moss is subdivided into two irregular parts and is marked simply as 'Moss'.