Monument record 15475 - Gleads Moss

<1> Leah, MD; Wells, CE; Appleby, C; Huckerby, E, 1997, The Wetlands of Cheshire (North West Wetlands Survey 4), p.87, 95 (Monograph). SCH3260.

Gleads 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 in a region termed the ‘marginal belt’, with a smaller group centred around Bag Mere, including Gleads Moss, 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.

Palaeoecological assessment of Gleads Moss proved impossible due to the impenetrable and flooded nature of the site, however, field walking produced an edge-dressed flake (CHER 2700).

<2> Bryant, A., 1831, Map of the County Palatine of Chester (Maps and Plans). SCH2114.

Recorded on Bryant's map of 1831 as 'Glead Moss'.

<3> Dodgson J McN, 1970-2, 1981, The Place-Names of Cheshire, Vol I, p.90 (Book). SCH3228.

The meaning of 'Gleads Moss' is 'hawk moss' (gleoda, a kite, bird of prey - dialect: glead).