Lindow Moss' origins go back to the last Ice Age. When the glaciers were melting the gravel sand and clay was carried from the Pennines and deposited on the Cheshire plains.

The resultant wetlands saw weeds, algae, mosses etc. thrive and in time peat formed which eventually sustained trees.  The trees' leaves and needles choked water supplies and killed flora at ground level with the result that the trees themselves died and were, in time, covered by more and more peat. And so the bog came into being. An unwelcoming place for animal life - including humans.

Traces of ancient Britons have been located in the area whilst the Celts would possibly have settled here - maybe taking refuge from invading Romans.

In the 15th and 16th centuries, the landless and poor would have been forced to live as "Bog Warriors" on this unpromising land, away from Wilmslow-proper

Some of the Moss was enclosed in the 1770s whilst the Moss was finally surveyed in the mid 1800s and then divded amongst local landowners.

Traversing the bog has been treacherous over the years with some pathways gradually constructed by putting layers of wood and vegetation onto the boggy surface - people and animals have fallen off these tracks to their deaths.

There have been fires over the years as the peat has ignited - often due to man's carelessness.

It is understood that gypsies inhabited the area since the Middle Ages - some just transiting through whilst others settled more permanently. Locations used included Strawberry lane, Greaves Road and the top of Moor Lane. The site of Lindow Common (prior to being turned into public common land in 1897) was used for gypsy horse trading and what is now Racecourse Road was used to put the horses through their paces.

The bog extended to 1500 acres at its peak but by the mid 1800's was only half of this and the figure now is only 150 acres as suburban sprawl and peat extraction have taken a heavy toll.

The 1850's saw the Crimean War being fought and volunteers rifle butts were developed at Lindow Moss for firearms training. This is where the Riflemans Arms pub (rebuilt in 1938) on Moor Lane got its name whilst Rotherwood Road (which runs through the bog) was once named Battery Lane.

Volunteers returning after the campaign in 1856 were often shell-shocked and ridden with diseases laced with stigma. Some eeked out a living on the Moss - on the edge of society both physically and metaphorically.

In the early 1900's many Irish workers came over to work on cutting the peat. Sany Lane, off Greaves Road, became the centre of the local drinking scene until the Boddington Arms was constructed. Sandy Lane developed the nickname "Long Bar" and was very much frowned upon by "polite society".

The last of the bog dwellings was demolished in the early 1970's and now it takes considerable detective work to deduce where they once stood.

The accidental discovery of Lindow Man in 1984 by peat cutters brought the Moss to international attention yet the extraction and destruction continues as you will read elsewhere on this website.

For further reading we recommend a purchase of "Lindow and the Bog Warriors" by Matthew Hyde and Christine Pemberton (Rex Publishing, 2002). This can be obtained by sending a cheque for £16.50 (£14 plus £2.50 mainland UK P&P) to payable to Rex Publishing, 32A Sunnybank Drive, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 6DY. Call 01625 529168 for more details.