Monument record 851 - Site of Fishpool Mere

<1> Cheshire County Council, 1974, County Treasures Record, 4/A.345 (Index). SCH1000.

The site of fishpond south of Fishpool farm, Oakmere. The pond is 500m east-west by 200m north-south. It is now wooded. It is possible that this former mere was used as a fish pool by a monastic grange. It is depicted as a fishpond on the Map of Delamere Forest of 1627 (see 2). It is suggested that this evidence means that it cannot have had monastic association.

<2> Allen E & Daines R, 1627, Survey of Delamere Forest, CR 63/2/692 (Maps and Plans). SCH2112.

<3> Ordnance Survey, 1871-1882, Ordnance Survey County Series (Epoch 1) 25 inch to 1 mile - Cheshire, SJ5667, 1875 (Maps and Plans). SCH2462.

This map depicts the pool, though it is clear that the western third has silted up and is now depicted as marsh or scrub. It is labelled 'Fish Pool'.

<4> Bryant, A., 1831, Map of the County Palatine of Chester (Maps and Plans). SCH2114.

This map depicts a large waterbody at this location. It is labelled 'Fish Pool'.

<5> Burdett, P. P., 1777, A Survey of the County Palatine of Chester (Maps and Plans). SCH113.

This map depicts a large waterbody at this location.

<6> Greenwood, C. & Greenwood J., 1819, Map of the County Palatine of Chester (Maps and Plans). SCH2115.

This map depicts a large waterbody at this location. It is labelled 'Fish Pool'.

<7> Heaton W, 1819, Plan of Delamere Forest (Maps and Plans). SCH2657.

Depicted on this map.

<8> Environment Agency, 2003-2020, Environment Agency LiDAR Surveys, 1m DTM Composite WMS (17/12/2019) (Digital Archive). SCH7819.

<9> Leah, MD; Wells, CE; Appleby, C; Huckerby, E, 1997, The Wetlands of Cheshire (North West Wetlands Survey 4), p.113-4, 189-90 (Monograph). SCH3260.

The site of Fishpool Mere, now an area of some 20 hectares of relict peats, 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 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.

Assessment of the relict peats, which occupy a probable palaeochannel, idenitified that the site was characterised by semi-natural vegetation dominated by rushes and contained circa 2-4m of peats and gyttjas. The pollen spectrum suggests that organic sediments started forming at the late/post-Glacial transition with the lowest sample indicating a predominately open, species-rich herbaceous community with some birch and a little pine and hazel. This grassland was replaced by a birch scrub typical of the early Flandrian. Above this at 3.25 m the vegetation was probably a pine and hazel woodland with some other trees and herbs present. It is likely that this assemblage represents the late Boreal period (i.e. the upper part of Flandrian I). The uppermost sample appears to post-date both elm and lime declines with only 42% arboreal, 36% herbaceous and 22% ericaceous pollen. Here there is also evidence of clearance activity and Cannabis/Humulus-type pollen is present along with charcoal (14%). These deposits have the potential to provide a record of the vegetation during the major part of the prehistoric period.