Irlam Moss
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Irlam Moss by Keith Williamson as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk
Irlam Moss
Image: © Keith Williamson Taken: 6 Apr 2005
Typical mossland scene from this area west of Manchester. Irlam Moss is part of Chat Moss, a vast boggy area that challenged George Stephenson during the construction of the Liverpool to Manchester railway in the 1820's. In his recount of his travels (1720's) Daniel Defoe described it as follows: "on the road to Manchester, we passed the great bog or waste called Chatmos, ... The nature of these mosses, for we found there are many of them in this country, is this, and you will take this for a 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 exceedingly dry season, and then not so as to be passable ... What nature meant by such a useless production, 'tis hard to imagine" Much has been reclaimed as fertile farmland over the years.
Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Image Location
Latitude
53.455421
Longitude
-2.445719