Lindow Moss, also known as Saltersley Common,  is a raised mire peat bog on the edge of Wilmslow in Cheshire.  It has been  used as common land since the medieval period.

It originally covered over 600 hectares (1,500 acres), but has since shrunk to a tenth of its original size. The bog is a dangerous place; an 18th-century writer recorded people drowning there.

For centuries the peat from the bog was used as fuel, and it continues to be extracted  - but now the process had been mechanised.

The site is known for its flora and fauna such as Tail Cotton Grass, Common Cotton Grass and Green Hairstreak Butterfly.

However its days are numbered through the continued extraction of peat and associated activities.

This website will give you details about the history of the Moss, the threats that face it and the fight to save it.

Lindow Moss Quick Facts:

It takes approximately 100 years to create one metre of peat.

• Lindow Peat Bog goes to a depth of about 30 metres and is a perfect carbon record of that environment over the last 4-5,000 years.
• Lindow Man (a.k.a. Lindow Pete) was found on April 19, 1984 and was dated to 200AD, since then excavations have gone deeper and have currently exposed a Bronze Age forest where tree roots face upwards.
• The bog started life as a Scot's pine forest and was "drowned" by a rising water table which eventually receded leaving an acidic environment which turned to moss then to peat.
• Peat bogs store Carbon Dioxide and are a very useful tool against the Greenhouse Effect.