Monument record 15404 - Stretton Moss

<1> Leah, MD; Wells, CE; Appleby, C; Huckerby, E, 1997, The Wetlands of Cheshire (North West Wetlands Survey 4), p.42 (Monograph). SCH3260.

Stretton Moss 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 one of a group of mosses located on the south side of the River Mersey, also including Appleton Moss and Whitley Reed.

Stretton Moss lies immediately to the west of Appleton Moss and although these are two discrete peat-filled hollows, the names in the past appear to have been partly interchangeable, although Stretton Moss is the most frequently used name and appears on maps from Greenwood (1819) onwards. A plan of 1829 reveals that the two mosses were regarded as being separated by the Gale Brook. The plan records the moss-rooms on Stretton Moss, together with the name of the individuals who held them; it also records the former owner. Additionally, appended on one side of the plan is a list of those who held the moss-rooms in 1751; the 1829 surveyor appears to have used a copy of the 1751 list that was made in 1769. The 1751 list is very informative as it details not only those who held the moss-rooms but also the parcel of land to which the moss-room ultimately related, moss-rooms being allocated initially to property rather than individuals. The names on the 1751 list correlate perfectly with the land holder in 1829. The original moss-rooms were a standard width of 16 yards, but in two instances, these had been subdivided by 1829 into two eight yard plots. The 1751 list records that any land 'unmeasured' (ie: not marked out as moss-rooms) is deemed 'Waste Mossing', and the cottagers and any other persons in Stretton , have a right to it for their own use. This plan illustrates very clearly the Cheshire moss-room system.