Monument record 213 - White Moss

<1> Various, Various, Oral communication to the HER, Turner R C 1986 (Oral Communication). SCH2330.

White Moss has been a commercial peat extraction for many years. It is close to the end of its peat resource. At the north end of the site is revealed a buried sand land surface, of Neolithic or earlier date, on which the stumps of a pine, oak and birch forest stand. Has high potential for finding well-preserved early settlement. The foreman reports a single flint arrowhead from within the peat on the site.

<2> Various, Written Communication to the HER, Dr F Chambers et al (Written Communication). SCH3756.

Peat cutting at White Moss has revealed the remains of an extensive prehistoric forest preserved within the peat. Until recently the moss was an extensive peat bog, overlying glacial sands and a former late glacial lake, located in the southern area of the Moss. The composition and layering of the peat suggest that White Moss has been drier than Lindow Moss, with pine tree growth occurring on the surface at times. Pollen analysis of the peat and lake sediments suggests that the landscape of this part of southern Cheshire was dominated by Pine in the early post glacial period. The lake infilled and became a bog. In the surrounding landscape, other trees arrived, deciduous hardwoods such as Oak, Elm and possibly Lime, but Pine seems to have persisted on the fringes of the bog. At various times the Pine colonised the surface of the peat. Radiocarbon dating of the peat and Pine stumps will provide a time scale for these vegetational changes. Examination of the tree rings has created floating sequences 100 to 338 years long.

<3> Lageard JGA, Chambers FM & Thomas PA, 1999, Climatic significance of the marginalization of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) c. 2500 BC at White Moss, south Cheshire, UK, p.321-331 (Article in Journal). SCH3870.

Five Pine chronologies from 3520 to 2462 cal. BC, sedimentary stratigraphic sequence back to 11,000 radiocarbon years BP. Evidence for three woodland phases. Phase A containing long lived trees back to 3643 cal. BC. Phase B, 2881-2559 BC (with a decline concurrent with the ‘Pine Decline’ in the British Isles) and Phase C, evidence of regeneration between 2484-2199 cal. BC and 1972-1740 cal. BC. A significant disturbance event occurred during Phase B, between 2752 and 2743 BC. Though many agents are suggested as the cause and fire in the spring of 2800 BC evident, pollen and spore data suggests that a rising water table caused the mortality in trees. For the later part of this phase the trees are generally shorter lived and living in more marginal conditions. Evidence of Sphagnum growth at the end of Phase A suggests a similar cause for the decline of Pine evident.

<4> Lageard JGA, Chambers FM & Thomas PA, 2000, Using fire scars and growth release in subfossil Scots pine to reconstruct prehistoric fires, p.87-89 (Article in Journal). SCH3871.

<5> Lageard JGA, Chambers FM & Thomas PA, 1997, Recording and Reconstruction of Wood Macrofossils in Three-Dimensions, p.561-567 (Article in Journal). SCH3872.

<6> Chambers FM, Lageard JGA, Boswijk G, Thomas PA, Edwards KJ & Hillam J, 1997, Dating prehistoric bog-fires in northern England to calendar years by long-distance cross-matching of pine chronologies, p.253-256 (Article in Journal). SCH3873.

<7> Cheshire County Council, 1992-1995, Cheshire Past, Issue 1 (1992) , p4-5 (Newsletter). SCH870.

<8> Leah, MD; Wells, CE; Appleby, C; Huckerby, E, 1997, The Wetlands of Cheshire (North West Wetlands Survey 4), p.119, 122, 129-130 (Monograph). SCH3260.

White 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 lying between Crewe and the Shropshire border, with a further outlying group to the north-east, between Crewe and Alsager. Within this area, a variety of wetland types is represented from numerous small basin mires, often less than 1 hectare in extent, to the valley mire deposits found alongside some of the minor rivers and streams. Larger mosses (circa 10-20 hectares) such as White Moss, Oakhanger Moss and Wybunbury Moss, also occur. The underlying geology is masked by drift deposits made up of both till and fluvio-glacial sands and gravels. In places these deposits have resulted in the flat landscape characteristic of the Cheshire Plain, but in some areas, particularly to the south of Crewe, a much more varied and irregular topography occurs. Many wetlands developed in kettle holes left in the surface of these glacial deposits, although the role of subsidence of salt solution hollows also played a part in some cases, such as Wybunbury. In addition, it has been suggested that both White Moss and its immediate neighbour to the west, Oakhanger Moss, may owe their origin to the former presence of pingos. Together they represent one of the largest extant areas of peat in Cheshire, although much of White Moss has now been destroyed by mineral extraction.

Although the primary focus of Lageard's study at White Moss was the behaviour of prehistoric pines at the site, pollen studies were also undertaken in order to provide a local vegetation history context. A study of a scarce relict peat profile of 6.5m showed that the mire started life as a late-Glacial lake, represented by gyttjas dating to before circa 10,861-10,510 cal BC. The lower stratigraphy (the first 3.5m) contained a record of vegetation changes characteristic of the latter stages of the late Devensian/late-Glacial. The upper 3m of the core provided a record of the local vegetation during the Flandrian up to the Romano-British or early medieval period. There is some evidence that fire may have accelerated paludification of mineral ground at White Moss in the Mesolithic period, encouraging the local expansion of alder circa 4931-4686 cal BC. The microscopic charcoal record at White Moss indicated that siginificant fires were occurring in the local and regional environment between circa 4931-4686 cal BC and 3025-2707 cal BC.