Monument record 15461 - Bag Mere or Blackmere

<1> Leah, MD; Wells, CE; Appleby, C; Huckerby, E, 1997, The Wetlands of Cheshire (North West Wetlands Survey 4), p.45, 52, 87, 89 (Monograph). SCH3260.

Bag Mere, sometimes known as Blackmere, 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.

Bag Mere, possibly a kettle hole site subsequently modified by subsidence, was investigated palaeoecologically by Birks in 1965 and was found to contatin up to 9m of organic sediments overlying sandy-silts and gravels. The organic stratigraphy comprised basal gyttjas followed by wood and monocotolyedon/sedge peats. Only the basal sediments were studied palynologically which proved to contain a pollen record originating in the late Devesian period. The depth of the organic stratigraphy alone, however, suggests that the potential for a palynological record spanning prehistory and a significant part of the historic period exists at Bag Mere.

In 1932, Butterworth (see source 2) notes that the substantial lake at 'Blackmere' was drained and put under the plough at the end of the eighteenth century. Also described is a legend that before an heir of the Brereton family dies 'there are seen in a lake adjoining (ie: Bag Mere/Blackmere) the bodies of trees swimming upon the water for several days together' so, potentially, draining of the lake could have been an attempt by the Brereton family to escape the legend.

The site currently has SSSI status.

<2> Angus-Butterworth, LM, 1932, Old Cheshire Families and their Seats, p.3-4 (Book). SCH2321.