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The Pilling Moss Bog Burst of 1745

The Pilling Moss Bog Burst of 1745

Contrebis 2018 v36 THE MOSS BURST OF 1745

William D. Shannon

Abstract The Pilling Moss Bog Burst of 1745 involved the eruption of the raised mire now known as Rawcliffe Moss, following a period of exceptional rain, but was probably also due to human activity, both from long-term -digging and also because of more recent land drainage and improvement for agriculture. More than 40 hectares of farmland were inundated, in places covered in peat up to five metres deep. Property was damaged, but no casualties were reported. Enclosure and drainage after 1830 have ensured that nothing similar can happen again.

Introduction The mosses, mosslands or raised mires of lowland have always been a noteworthy aspect of the local landscape, in the literature often carrying more than a hint of menace. Thus wrote of the presence in Lancashire of ‘certaine moist places and unwholsome called Mosses’ (Camden 1637, 745) while Celia Fiennes, passing through the county in 1698, avoided Marton Mere altogether as it was ‘very hazardous for Strangers to pass by it’ (Morris 1995, 161). The origin of the mosses lay in the melting of the glaciers, which left an extensive deposit of till covering much of lowland Lancashire. Largely flat or gently rolling, with poor drainage on soils, the post-glacial surface contained numerous kettle-holes and other depressions in which peat began to form. Under the wetter conditions of 9000–7000 years ago, the continued build-up of water-logged vegetation caused the middle of the mosses to grow higher than the surface of the land around the original hollow (Middleton et al. 1995, 35). Now ‘ombrotrophic’, or rain-water fed, and no longer dependent upon ground water, the mosses created their own water table and spread out over the adjacent land as characteristically convex raised mires, five metres or more deep in the centre. These raised mires covered extensive tracts in Lancashire, especially in south- from to Downholland, as well as the famous Chat Moss in the south-east of the county and the formerly equally well-known Pilling Moss in the north.

Daniel Defoe gave a vivid description of Chat Moss in the 1720s, although he also said ‘you will take this description of all the rest’. The surface, at a distance looks black and dirty, and is indeed frightful to think of, for it will bear neither horse or man, unless in an exceeding dry season, and then not so as to be passable, or that any one should travel over them. What nature meant by such a useless production ’tis hard to imagine, but the land is entirely waste, except for the poor cottager’s fuel, and the quantity used for that is very small. (Defoe 1971, 544) Defoe was wrong. For thousands of years before his time, local people had drained and cut the for peat, known locally as ‘turf’ or ‘torf’ (Sherdley 1986–7, 22) and the quantity taken from the mires for fuel was huge. Nevertheless, probably up to about AD 1500, the mosses were more or less in balance, still living and growing in many places, particularly since the onset of cooler, wetter weather after about AD 1350 (Hall et al. 1995, 125). However, from around AD 1500, although the deteriorating climate was probably making conditions even more ideal for moss growth, increased population pressure resulted in both an increase in peat digging and an increase in drainage, enclosure and improvement for agriculture. This led to an inexorable decline in the bogs to the point today that no ‘living moss’ survives in Lancashire (Dunlop 2001).

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Contrebis 2018 v36 Bog Bursts In some places, the term ‘flow’ is applied to raised mires, such as Wedholme Flow in and Moore & Bellamy (1974, 41) have claimed that: it is interesting to note that many of the mires in the region [Northern ] are known by the local name of ‘flows’ and there are many authentic accounts of catastrophic peat slides, bog bursts and bog flows whence these particular types of mire get their local name. Whether or not that derivation is correct, it is certainly true that under certain rare conditions, raised mires become unstable and may ‘burst out’, spreading moss and peat over the surrounding countryside. Perhaps because of their very rarity, there is not a great deal of literature on the subject, but it is of particular note that the early geologist Charles Lyell took an interest in the subject of the ‘bursting of peat-mosses’, as he saw it as one of the ‘modern changes of the earth’ that he considered could throw light on the whole question of geological processes (Lyell 1833). He discussed the Solway Bog Burst of 1771 and a more recent event that had occurred in Sligo in 1831. In both cases he saw the immediate cause as ‘recent inundation’, but had little more to say.

A more recent account of the Solway ‘eruption’ has, however, gone a long way to explain the phenomenon, whilst accepting that ‘there is considerable doubt as to what triggers bog bursts’. Normally occurring in the autumn or winter, ‘the most frequently associated causal factor was heavy antecedent rainfall, sometimes accompanied by snowmelt’ (McEwen & Withers 2008, 150). There is, perhaps, a difference between peat slides, which occur on steep slopes in the uplands and involve blanket bogs: and the bog bursts of the lowland raised mires. Both seem to be triggered by exceptional and extremely localised storms ‘of 500-year recurrence interval’ (McEwen & Withers 2008, 150). Raised mires under ‘normal’ conditions have an exceptionally high water content, of the order of 90 per cent. They are moreover by definition raised above the level of the surrounding countryside, and hence are potentially unstable. There appears to be a critical angle, of perhaps 20 per cent, which if exceeded as a result of the swelling of the bog through sudden inundation, may result in a catastrophic failure and resultant eruption. Not discussed by McEwen and Withers, human factors may also contribute, with marginal drainage and peat-cutting further impacting on the critical angle of the mire. Probably no-one has put it better than Thomas Pennant, who visited the site of the Solway eruption the year after its occurrence, having previously visited in 1769. The shell or crust that kept this liquid within bounds, nearest to the valley, was at first of sufficient strength to contain it: but by the imprudence of the peat-diggers, who were continually working on that side, at length became so weakened, as not longer to be able to resist the weight pressing on it. To this may be added, the fluidity of the moss was greatly increased by three days rain of unusual violence, which preceded the eruption. (Pennant 1772, 75)

No doubt this phenomenon has always occurred when the conditions were right – but the first known account of a bog burst is found in the writings of , who travelled through the country in the 1530s. In his Itinerary, he mentions staying with a Mr Lelande, no doubt a cousin, at Morley, on the edge of Chat Moss. Here is how he describes Chat Moss and its recent bog burst (Toulmin Smith 1964, 42). Chateley More a vi. miles yn length sum [way] brast up within a mile of Morley Haul, and [de]stroyed much grounde with mosse therabout, and destroid much fresch water fische therabowt, first corrupting with stinking water Glasebrooke, and so Glasebrook carr[ied] stinking water and mosse into Mersey Water, and Marsey corruptid carried the roulling mosse part to the shores of , part to the Isle of Man, and sum into Ireland.

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Contrebis 2018 v36 One suspects this tale may have grown a little in the telling, but a contemporary account, unearthed by Crofton, tells us that the event occurred on 20 January 1526. If the outpouring did not reach all the way to Ireland, it did pass downstream into the Mersey as far as . The Thursday weche [week] was ye xxth day of Januari in ye yere off ore lord god a mccccc xxvith […] A Gost [great] marshe grond callyd chatmos, in length space off v miles, in breade ij miles and a jd, as yt is thoght by grett abundance of Watr & mude congelet to geythur wythin the said mosse apon ye west end brake owtt wt treis growing theropon… […] thanket be to god, no crystyn body was perisshed, but yt they lost ther godes in ther howss, wt ther corne & hey in theyr bernes, & some swyne & doggs drownyd…[…] unto Holcroft & to Glazebrook bredgh, and so to the water off marcy [Mersey] where ther is a ffeyre boyt [ferry boat] att ye Holyn ffayre, wheche cold not goo for thycknes off mudd by the space of certayne dayes, the wheche mudd colowred ye water lyck to yncke downe unto Warington & so to Livurpole […] (Crofton 1902).

The next known such event took place at White Moss, Moston, near in 1633, an account of which was reported by Richard Hollinworth in his unpublished manuscript , now in the Chetham Library (Hollinworth 1656). Anno 1633. on New years day/the mosse/ being of a greate breadth & 4 or five yards depe rose out of his/ place & traveled towards the house of James knowles & environed it about/ carried a large stone trough before it & boer downe trees that stood in the way/ but being afterwards somewt broke wth a row of trees before the sayd/ James knowles house, it filled the brookes & rivers, Slew fish/ blackened the water made some fruitful land barren.

These early accounts described rather than explained, but the founding of the Royal Society in 1660 provided the stimulus for a more scientific discussion of these rare phenomena. The first report of a ‘moving bog’ in the pages of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society came in 1697 with a letter describing a bog burst in Limerick (Honohane & Molyneux 1695–7, 714). The first such account regarding an English bog burst came the following century when Edward Milward forwarded a letter he had received from the Reverend Mr Richmond ‘concerning a moving Moss in the neighbourhood of Church-Town, Lancashire’ namely, the Pilling Moss Bog Burst of 1745 (Milward 1744–5, 282). Churchtown is near .

The Philosophical Transactions Account The letter from Mr Richmond is relatively short and worth quoting in its entirety. Dear Sir, As you will probably hear, that this Neighbourhood is greatly alarmed with what they call a Miracle, it may not be unacceptable if I give you the History of it. On Saturday the 26th of Jan. 1744-5 [Endnote 1] a Part of Pilling Moss, lying between Hescomb Houses and an Estate of Mr Buttler’s, called Wild Bear, was observed to rise to a surprising Height. After a short Time it sunk as much below the Level, and moved slowly towards the South Side. In half an Hour’s time it covered 20 Acres of Land. The improved Land adjoining that Part of the Moss which moves is a concave Circle containing near 100 acres, which is well nigh fill’d up with Moss and Water. In some Parts it is thought to be five Yards deep. A Family is driven out of their dwelling House, which is quite surrounded, and the Fabric tumbling down. Mr Buttler, Whitehead and Stephen White, are the first Sufferers by this uncommon Accident. An intense Frost retards the Regress of the Moss To-

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Contrebis 2018 v36 day; but I fear it will yet spoil a great deal of Land. The Part of the Moss which is sunk like the Bed of a River, runs North and South; is above a Mile in Length, and near half a Mile in Breadth; so that I apprehend there will be a continual Current to the South. A Man was going over the Moss when it began to move. As he was going Eastwards, he perceiv’d to his great Astonishment, that the Ground under his Feet moved Southward. He turn’d back speedily, and had the good Fortune to escape being swallowed up. I have been at the Moss to make Observations every Day this Week. If any thing happens worth your Knowledge, you may depend upon hearing further from Sir, Your very affectionate Humble Servant, L. Richmond

Figure 1 Rawcliffe Moss, showing possible line of 1745 bog burst. Remaining areas of peat deposits shown, taken from British Geological Survey, Drift sheet 66. Roads, rivers, footpaths and place locations taken from Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Sheet 102. Numerals refer to spot heights, in metres above Ordnance Datum. The possible extent of Tudor enclosures is assumed from the line of the footpath that runs through Moss House, Wild Boar Farm and Turnover Hall to Tarnacre Hall, while later 17th/18th-century ‘improvements’ are indicated to the north and east.

The places named are readily identifiable. Hescomb House is now Eskham House, and Wild Bear is now Wild Boar Farm. The Butlers were lords of and had lived at Rawcliffe Hall. The Victoria County (Farrer and Brownbill 1912, vol 7, 271) lists a Richard Whitehead living in Upper Rawcliffe in 1656 but unfortunately gives no further details as to the family’s location. Similarly, a family named White is mentioned in Upper Rawcliffe, but again with no further details (Farrer and Brownbill 1912, 279). However, we have enough information to conclude that Richmond is talking about what is now called Rawcliffe Moss, and that the eruption flowed south off the height of the moss down to the vicinity of Wild Boar Farm, apparently leaving behind it traces in the remaining strip of peat which can be seen on the geological map (Figure 1). 44

Contrebis 2018 v36 Sobee came to broadly the same conclusion on the location of the burst, stating that there is no evidence for a bog burst on what is now called Pilling Moss, which is north-west of today’s Rawcliffe Moss (Sobee 1953, 145–6).

‘Pilling Moss, like God’s grace, is boundless’ The land use, geology, palaeo-ecology and of what they refer to as ‘the Mosslands’ have been discussed at length by the North West Wetlands Survey, with the authors estimating that at one time these mosses covered c. 2700 hectares (Middleton et al. 1995, 80). Elsewhere they quote a combined area for Pilling, Rawcliffe and Mosses as c. 8000ha, a figure derived ultimately from Garnett, (1849, 22), so the former figure is almost certainly an underestimate. Although historically the whole district has been regarded as a single unit, the Geological Survey emphasised that ‘Rawcliffe Moss forms a topographically distinct feature quite separate from Pilling Moss’, separated by the Skitham-Trashy Hill ridge, and the trough lying to its north (Aitkenhead et al. 1992, 76). The place-names of that ridge suggest isolated Norse occupation on hills or islands standing above the moss. Thus Skitham, a not-very-complementary name, contains the Old Norse (ON) elements skitr, politely translated as ‘dirt’, and holmr, ‘island’. Eskham also contains the same ON holmr, island, element, (Ekwall 1922, 160), while Trashy Hill and Copthorne, named for its hill or ‘cop’ some 13m above Ordnance Datum, tell a story of similar, if later, settlement. Moss Edge and Moss House speak for themselves and probably relate either to the first sixteenth-century encroachment onto Rawcliffe Moss itself or perhaps a little later.

Pilling Moss has tended to be the generic name for the whole of the extensive mosslands lying between the Wyre and the Cocker including what are now called , , Stalmine, Rawcliffe and Pilling mosses. Reflecting on their vast extent, the geologist Charles de Rance, who visited the area in the 1870s for the Geological Survey, reported a local proverb, ‘Pilling Moss, like God’s grace, is boundless’ (de Rance 1875, 10). However, describing the area further, he was less than flattering: ‘this area is very thinly inhabited, and those who live in the area are, I am informed, often subject to idiotcy and rheumatism’ (de Rance 1875, 80).

Saxton, in his Lancashire county map of 1577 showed ‘Pyllyn Mosse’ (extending from Stalmine to Garstang) as one of the four great mosses of Lancashire, the others being ‘Chatmosse’, ‘Marton mosse’ (on ), and the one south of the Ribble, extending from Penwortham to Martin Mere (near ), which he just called ‘the Mosse’. When in 1622 Michael Drayton published his lengthy poem about the landscape of England, Poly-Olbion, his Lancashire section was illustrated with nymphs personifying various features. Interestingly, the Chat Moss nymph is shown clothed and holding a black cut peat, perhaps to emphasise the economic importance of the mosses: but Pilling is personified by a naked nymph who has sunk nearly to her knees in ‘Pellen mosse’, suggesting that the characteristically spongy surface of this moss was unable to bear even the weight of a nymph (Figure 2). This shows the tendency for outsiders to regard these areas in their ‘natural’ state as unhealthy, unsafe, dreary, empty and impenetrable wildernesses.

Local people, however, had always valued such places, using them for summer grazing, wildfowling, for collecting rushes and reeds, and above all for cutting peat for fuel and turf for building. They were probably generally originally intercommons, shared equally by all the surrounding townships. The larger ones may have been ‘ moors’ owned at a level above the townships, and exploited as a resource across a wider area, a barony or even a whole county. Interestingly, many such mosses have unique names, not derived from the neighbouring townships – or at least did so prior to enclosure. Thus Chat Moss, Wymott Moss (Leyland), Theyle Moor

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Contrebis 2018 v36 (Middleton, Manchester), Weald Moors (Shropshire), Wedholme Flow (Cumbria) and Pilling Moss, where the name of the village is possibly derived from the moss rather than vice versa (Endnote 2).

Figure 2 ‘Pellen Mosse’, from Michael Drayton Poly-Olbion, 1622 (Author’s collection)

In 1557, John Rigmaiden, aged thirty, set about asserting what he saw as his right as Chief Lord to control the pasture and turbary on the whole of the moss (Shannon 2004, 2012). However, when William Kirkby, also thirty, inherited the manor of Upper Rawcliffe-with-Tarnacre in 1558, he denied that Rigmaiden and the Queen were superior lords and began to make enclosures in what he thought of as ‘his’ waste, on what he called Tarnacre Moor (Figure 1). At Easter 1559 a certificate was issued in the Duchy Court accusing the tenants of William Kirkby of unlawfully enclosing forty acres some weeks earlier (National Archives DL 1/43 R4). This is the first evidence we have of enclosures on the moss, although Kirkby also claimed his father had built some cottages and made some ‘Lytle Inclosures’. Unfortunately, as so often with Duchy Pleadings, we do not know the outcome of the case, but the issue was not resolved, and disputes continued into the 1570s. In 1575 an Exchequer Commission was required to inquire into enclosures in the same area, the Commissioners being instructed to ‘make a plott’ – or map (National Archives E 178/1199). We do not have that map, but evidence for the location of these early enclosures can be seen in another map, this one made in 1589 to illustrate a dispute in the Chancery Court of the (National Archives MPC 1/282). This new dispute was about an unlawful mill weir on the Wyre at Out Rawcliffe that had caused flooding up river from St Michael’s on the . However, the map maker, Edmond Moore, also showed enclosed fields in the vicinity of Upper Rawcliffe and along the highway from St Michael’s to Garstang. It should be noted that the , shown on Moore’s map, has been considerably straightened since then with several large meander loops removed. Although not discussed as such in the accompanying documentation of the case, the impression is given by the map that these enclosures are relatively new and are encroaching onto Rawcliffe Moss from the south and east, probably showing the work of Kirkby and his tenants (Figure 1). Yates’ map of 1786 (Figure 3) suggests that there had been some further encroachment onto the south and east of the moss during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, perhaps right up to the remaining areas of peat, as shown on Figure 1. The continued disruption to the drainage of the raised mire due to these enclosures and the continuing digging for peat both undermined the stability of the raised bog and were probably contributory factors in the bog burst of 1745.

The Last Lancashire Bog Burst? The cool, wet conditions suitable for bog bursts continued for at least another hundred years, as the effects of what used to be called ‘The Little Ice Age’ continued to be felt. However, the century after the Pilling Moss bog burst saw a hitherto unprecedented assault on the Lancashire mosses, through drainage and ‘improvement’ of the areas that had been beyond the reach of previous 46

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Figure 3 Extract from William Yates’ map of Lancashire, 1786 showing post-Tudor improvements on the moss, north of the Tudor encroachments. (Note that White Hall is misplaced on this map, and occupies the place where Moss House is located) (Author’s collection) generations. Additionally there were the activities of the Fylde Moss Litter Co, which cut peat from Cockerham/Winmarleigh Moss for horse bedding (Middleton et al. 1995, 81). Consequently no ‘living’ moss now survives anywhere in the county, although part of Winmarleigh Moss, designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest, shows ‘the last remaining area of active raised bog on the Lancashire Coastal ’ (Shinwell 1985, 303).

In 1849, Garnett wrote about the mosses north of the Wyre, as this transformation was taking place. [...] a dreary country it is in its natural state, but the hand of man and the blessing of Providence upon his exertions are fast converting this wilderness into a garden; oats and potatoes, turnips and even wheat, may be seen growing in the greatest luxuriance on the surface of a bog, perhaps thirty feet deep or more, for in some parts the moss is found to exceed even this, and the black peat-stacks of turf reared to dry for fuel may be seen standing in gloomy contrast with the smiling produce of the sickle. (Garnett 1849, 24)

A number of letters from Rev. J D Banister, vicar of St John’s, Pilling, between 1826 and 1876, were first published in the Preston Herald in 1869 and were republished by the Pilling historian Hugh Sherdley. These give a first-hand account of the process, contrasting the ‘recent improvements in agriculture’ with the ‘howling waste’ that had preceded them. Sherdley also reprinted the letter from Richmond about the Pilling Moss bog burst (Sherdley 1988–9). More details are to be found in Binns’ account of the events that followed an Enclosure Act of 1830, covering some 800 hectares of Rawcliffe and Stalmine moss, which involved parcelling out the land in allotments, building roads, making principal drains and field drains, then ‘scarifying’ and marling the moss, and planting quickset hedges around the new fields (Binns 1851, 152–6). In some places peat-cutting continued as late as the 1950s, with a Ministry of Agriculture report of 1958 stating that ‘peat cutting takes place on a limited scale in the Pilling-Rawcliffe area where parishioners still exercise their rights of turbary’ (Tew 1958, 16).

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The drains following the Enclosure Act were to be dug four feet deep, three feet wide at the top and one foot at the bottom (Binns 1851, 154). This allowed cultivation, but an inevitable consequence was the dramatic lowering of the water-table, thus ensuring that moss growth stopped and the surface of the bog was lowered. Hence no bog burst will ever occur again. Throughout the district today, the roads seem to run on causeways above the level of the surrounding fields. This effect, most noticeable in the Winmarleigh area, is largely due to the shrinkage of the fields as a result of the desiccation of the peat remaining after 150 years of drainage and cultivation.

Today there is nowhere in England and Wales, and probably nowhere in Scotland, where a bog burst on a raised mire could now occur, although peat slides on steep hills are still sometimes recorded on the blanket bogs of the North Pennines and Shetland. However, in several places, notably on Bowness Moss in Cumbria, attempts are currently being made, by blocking the drains and ceasing ploughing and grazing, to re-establish a large enough area of sphagnum moss to allow the re-creation of a living raised mire once again. If they are successful, we might one day witness again the spectacular phenomenon of a bog burst, like that of Pilling (Rawcliffe) Moss in 1745.

Author Profile William D Shannon, MA, PhD, FSA is an independent researcher in history. In March 2017 he was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. His main research interests and published papers concern the landscape, agricultural and cartographic in the early modern period, with particular reference to Lancashire and Cumbria. Email: [email protected]

Endnotes

1 Prior to the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750, the new year began on 25 March. The date noted here is thus 26 January 1745 ‘New Style’ and 26 January 1744 ‘Old Style’. At this time educated people sometimes wrote the date in this dual form (1744–5) to avoid confusion.

2 Ekwall could not interpret the village name, which he thought was derived from the Pilling Water. However, he also had no real explanation of the river name, other than that it would appear to be ‘Celtic’. (Ekwall 1922, 140, 165). It would seem more likely that the river was named after the district, and the village also. A similar argument for the Leyland Mosses as having originally been named Wymott, and the river taking its name from the district, can be found in Shannon (2015).

References Aitkenhead N, McC Bridge D, Riley NJ and Kimbell SF 1992 Geology of the Country around Garstang. : British Geological Survey, Sheet 67 Binns J 1851 Notes on the Agriculture of Lancashire, with Suggestions for its Improvement. Preston: Dobson & Son Camden W 1637 Britain, or A Chorographical Description of the Most flourishing Kingdomes...etc. London: F K R G & I for Heb A. Translated by Holland P (1st edn Britannia 1586) Crofton HT 1902 How Chat Moss broke out in 1526. Transactions of the Lancashire and Society vol. xx, 139–44 Defoe D 1971 A Tour through the Whole Island of Great Britain. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. Edited by Rogers P. First published 1724–7 de Rance CE 1875 The Geology of the Country around , Poulton and . London: Geological Survey of England & Wales Drayton M 1622 The Second Part, or a continuance of Poly-Olbion from the eighteenth song. London Dunlop DJ 2001 Mossland Report. Lancashire Biodiversity Partnership Ekwall E 1922 The Place-Names of Lancashire. Manchester: Manchester University Press Farrer W and Brownbill J 1912 The of the County of Lancashire. London vol. 7 Garnett WJ 1849 Farming of Lancashire. Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, vol. 10:1, No. XXIII , 2–51 48

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Hall D, Wells CE and Huckerby, E 1995 The Wetlands of . Lancaster: North West Wetlands Survey No 2 Hollinworth R 1656 Mancuniensis. Chetham Library, ms A.6.65 Honohane J and Molyneux M 1695–7 Part of a letter dated June 7th 1697 giving an Account of a moving Bog in Ireland. Philosophical Transactions 19, 714 Lyell C 1833 Principles of Geology. London: John Murray McEwen LJ and Withers CWJ 2008 Historical records and geomorphological events: the 1771 ‘eruption’ of Solway Moss. Scottish Geographical Magazine 105:3 149–57 Middleton R, Wells CE and Huckerby E 1995 The Wetlands of North Lancashire. Lancaster: , North West Wetlands Survey 3 Milward E 1744–5 A copy of the letter from the Reverend Mr Richmond...concerning a moving Moss... Philosophical Transactions vol. 43, 282–3 Moore PD and Bellamy DJ 1974 Peatlands. London: Paul Elleck Morris C (ed.) 1995 The Illustrated Journeys of Celia Fiennes, 1685–c.1712. Stroud: Alan Sutton National Archives, The. DL 1/43, 1 Eliz (1559), Duchy Pleadings, Tarnacre National Archives, The. E 178/1199. Exchequer Commission, Pilling, 17 Eliz (1575) National Archives, The. MPC 1/282. Map of the River Wyre by Edmund Moore, 1589 Pennant T 1772 A Tour in Scotland and Voyages to the Hebrides. London. Available at https://archive.org/details/atourinscotland01penngoog Shannon WD 2004 Approvement, Encroachment, Agreement: Enclosing the wastes of Lowland Lancashire in the Early Modern Period. Lancaster: Lancaster University, unpublished MA dissertation Shannon WD 2012 The survival of true intercommoning in the early-modern period. Agricultural History 86:4, 169–191 Shannon WD 2015 Moss rooms and hell holes: the landscape of the Leyland Dispute Maps, 1571–1599. Landscape History 36:2, 49–68 Sherdley H 1986–7 Torf. Over Wyre Historical Journal vol. IV, 22–3 Sherdley H 1988–9 Letters written by the Rev. J D Banister concerning St Mark’s Church, , and the reclamation of Pilling Moss 1869. Over Wyre Historical Journal vol. V, 4–13 Shinwell DW 1985 The Distribution and Origins of the Lowland Mosslands. In Johnson RH (ed.) The Geomorphology of North-West England. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 299–313 Sobee FJ 1953 A History of Pilling. Exeter: Wheaton & Co. Tew JFB 1958 Lancashire: A Survey of the Uncultivated Lowland Moss Areas. London: Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Agricultural Land Service, Technical Report No. 3 Toulmin Smith L (ed.) 1964 The Itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543. Carbondale, Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press vol. 5

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