Monument record 15510 - Quoisley Meres - Big Mere and Little Mere

<1> Leah, MD; Wells, CE; Appleby, C; Huckerby, E, 1997, The Wetlands of Cheshire (North West Wetlands Survey 4), p.138-9 (Monograph). SCH3260.

Quoisley Meres, Big Mere and Little Mere, were investigated by the North West Wetlands project, an archaeological and paleoecological study of the varied wetlands of Cheshire, undertaken between 1993-95. They form part of a group of wetlands in the south-west of Cheshire, between Cholmondeley and the Shropshire border. The wetland type most common in this region is the mere, many of which are ringed by extensive areas of peat or other waterlogged deposits, however, small basin mires also occur. Pasture is the most common land-use in this region. These wetlands lie within, or on the fringes of, the belt of glacial deposits known as the Whitchurch moraine, which extends roughly along the county border and marks the southern boundary of the Cheshire plain. This landscape is characterised by the presence of numerous sandy ridges, hummocks and outwash plains and is thought to mark the boundary of the ice sheet during a temporary period of stagnation at the close of the last glaciation.

The mineral soils and waterlogged deposits around Big Mere and Little Mere were investigated and mapped as part of the North West Wetlands survey.

<2> Dodgson J McN, 1970-2, 1981, The Place-Names of Cheshire, Vol III, p.108 (Book). SCH3228.

The name 'Quoisley' is thought to derive from 'Cusa' (pers.n.) and 'leah', meaning 'Cusa's clearing'.

<3> Bryant, A., 1831, Map of the County Palatine of Chester (Maps and Plans). SCH2114.

Depicted on Bryant's map of 1831 with the name 'The Meres'.