Monument record 15449 - Legh Moss

<1> Leah, MD; Wells, CE; Appleby, C; Huckerby, E, 1997, The Wetlands of Cheshire (North West Wetlands Survey 4), p.43 (Monograph). SCH3260.

Legh Moss was documented by the North West Wetlands project, an archaeological and paleoecological study of the varied wetlands of Cheshire, undertaken between 1993-95. It is recorded in the High Legh Tithe Award (1847) and the name marked on Bryant's map of 1831. The name 'Legh Moss' does not appear on the OS First Edition map (Cheshire sheet 17), although two 'Moss Farm' names ('Moss Farm' and 'Mosshouse Farm') do appear, along with a 'Moss Lane'. Ormerod (1882) quotes a document of 1324 in which 'John, son of Hugh de Legh grants to Richard of Sworton…common turbary in the marshes of Leigh sufficient for his Chief firing in Sworton'. It seems likely that this may be a reference to Legh Moss rather than Sink Moss (CHER 15409) as it is the closest area of peat to Sworton. Its absence from most of the cartographic sources suggests it may already have been enclosed by the late eighteenth century.