Monument record 15517 - Bickley Moss

<1> Leah, MD; Wells, CE; Appleby, C; Huckerby, E, 1997, The Wetlands of Cheshire (North West Wetlands Survey 4), p.142 (Monograph). SCH3260.

Bickley Moss is listed by the North West Wetlands project, an archaeological and paleoecological study of the varied wetlands of Cheshire, undertaken between 1993-95. It formed 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.

Many of the mosses that once existed and are known through documentary sources and moss names now no longer exist as wetlands. The earliest reference for Bickley Moss is from 1394 in the Cholmondeley Deeds which mention 'Mora de Bykeley' (Dodgson, see source 2). The names moor and moss appear to have been interchangeable.

<2> Dodgson J McN, 1970-2, 1981, The Place-Names of Cheshire, Vol 4, p.8 (Book). SCH3228.

<3> Ordnance Survey, 1871-1882, Ordnance Survey County Series (Epoch 1) 25 inch to 1 mile - Cheshire (Maps and Plans). SCH2462.

'Bickley Moss' is centred at SJ 354288 349119 on the OS First Edition map. It lies just to the south of Moss Wood, formerly Cholmondeley Moss (CHER 15502).