Monument record 15489 - Breech Moss, Norley

<1> Leah, MD; Wells, CE; Appleby, C; Huckerby, E, 1997, The Wetlands of Cheshire (North West Wetlands Survey 4), p.111, 115 (Monograph). SCH3260.

Breech Moss, Norley, was investigated as part of the North West Wetlands project, an archaeological and paleoecological study of the varied wetlands of Cheshire, undertaken between 1993-95. This small wetland forms part of a series of wetlands around Delamere on the Mid-Cheshire Ridge, the sandstone escarpment which divides the eastern and western portions of the Cheshire Plain. During the last glaciation, the Mouldsworth drainage channel opened out here onto the east Cheshire Plain. The channel marks the point where a late-Glacial lake formed in front of the ice, which had temporarily stabilised along the western margins of the Ridge. Outwash sands were deposited in this lake and the final disappearance of glacial conditions resulted in an irregular surface, containing numerous hollows left by melting ice blocks. It was in these depressions that many of Delamere's wetlands subsequently developed.

Breech Moss, located in Norley, is situated on a small deposit of till in contrast to the fluvio-glacial drift which characterises much of the Delamere area. It is a small wetland of around circa 1.7 hectares and set in a deep hollow. At the time of survey, although most of the land was used as pasture, a few fields of arable existed to the west of the moss and provided an opportunity for field walking. No artefacts were recovered, but this may be misleading in that many of the fields examined lay on the tops or the slopes of minor hillocks and there had been substantial erosion of topsoil off the fields.

Breech Moss is one of 36 mosses listed on a plan of Delamere Forest prepared originally in 1817 (E Fuller). The name 'Breech' Moss may derive from 'brec', a breaking of land (Dodgson 1971), and may be a reference to early reclamation.