Monument record 15474 - Mossley Moss

<1> Leah, MD; Wells, CE; Appleby, C; Huckerby, E, 1997, The Wetlands of Cheshire (North West Wetlands Survey 4), P.94-5 (Monograph). SCH3260.

Mossley Moss was investigated by the North West Wetlands project, an archaeological and paleoecological study of the varied wetlands of Cheshire, undertaken between 1993-95. It forms part 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, including Mossley Moss and its close neighbour Congleton Moss, 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.

Mossley Moss, together with Congleton Moss, lie to the south of Congleton. There are references to 'Mossley' (the moss clearing) from at least the fifteenth century. It lies just to the north-east of Congleton Moss in the area bounded on the south by Boundary Lane and on the north by the Biddulph Road (A527). The Enclosure Act for Congleton dates to 1795. On Mossley Moss, a total of 49 acres was to be enclosed, 'The whole to be invested in Trustees, the income to be devoted to the lessening of the rates of the town'. The Tithe Award in 1843 identifies the owners of this area to be 'The Trustees of Congleton Poor' and the workouse is situated on the northern edge of the moss. Most of the fields are called 'Moss Room' but the form is not typical of moss-rooms elsewhere, being quite large and regular in shape. By the time of the Tithe Award, the pattern laid down in the Enclosure Act had been fully implemented, and the whole of both Congleton and Mossley mosses was enclosed and under cultivation.