Chat Moss, Lancashire
Historical Description
Chat Moss, a bog in Lancashire, traversed by the Manchester and Liverpool railway, 8 miles W of Manchester. It occupies an area of about 12 square miles, varies in depth from 10 to 35 feet, and was naturally so spongy that cattle could not walk over it, but to a considerable extent has been reclaimed and placed under cultivation. The difficulties of constructing the railway over it were enormous, and the overcoming of them was an achievement of Stephen-son almost as wonderful as his improvement of the locomotive. There are now two railway stations upon it.
Church Records
Ancestry.co.uk, in association with Lancashire Archives, have images of the Parish Registers for Lancashire online.
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Lancashire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Chat Moss are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)