Monument record 15458 - Lifeless Moss

<1> Leah, MD; Wells, CE; Appleby, C; Huckerby, E, 1997, The Wetlands of Cheshire (North West Wetlands Survey 4), p.45, 48, Fig.29 (Monograph). SCH3260.

Lifeless Moss is a 'vanished' wetland formerly located to the north-east of Alderley Edge. It was investigated by the North West Wetlands project, an archaeological and paleoecological study of the varied wetlands of Cheshire, undertaken between 1993-95. It formed part of a series of wetlands in eastern Cheshire in an 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.

Despite its appearance on early maps, the name 'Lifeless Moss' had disappeared from the record by the time of the Tithe Award in 1840. Plotting of the 'moss' field names place it at SJ 850788, north of Moss Lane. No peat deposit is mapped on current soil or drift geology maps and field investigations failed to reveal any surviving organic deposits.