Lindow Common is a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

(SSSI) on the western edge of the town of

Wilmslow Wilmslow ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the borough of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It is south of Manchester. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census the parish had a population of 26,213 and the built up area had a p ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

, in the northwest of

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It is also designated a Local Nature Reserve. The Common was an area of

heathland A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and is characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a coole ...

where, in centuries past, villagers could graze their cattle, but over the last century or so, birch trees have overrun many areas, so that much of the Common is covered by trees. In the middle of Lindow Common lies the Black Lake. The Welsh for Black Lake is ''llyn ddu'', the derivation of ''Lindow''. The name Lindow is also used for one of the historic

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

es of Wilmslow, and of the adjacent Lindow Moss, much of which is covered in an ancient

peat Peat is an accumulation of partially Decomposition, decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, Moorland, moors, or muskegs. ''Sphagnum'' moss, also called peat moss, is one of the most ...

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and musk ...

. It was at Lindow Moss that a bog body, Lindow Man, was discovered in 1984. Lindow Man is now on display at the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

. Lindow Common was managed by Macclesfield Borough Council's Countryside and Ranger Service. The common is now managed by

Cheshire East Cheshire East is a unitary authority area with borough status in Cheshire, England. The local authority is Cheshire East Council, which is based in the town of Sandbach. Other towns within the area include Crewe, Macclesfield, Congleton, Wilms ...

Council. Current work at Lindow Common is aiming to start selective removal of birch trees, in order to promote regrowth of heather (''Calluna vulgaris'') to return the area to heathland. This is one of only two sites in Cheshire with areas of lowland wet heath. A racecourse once existed around the outskirts of the Common. The racecourse is no longer there, but the road around the perimeter is called Racecourse Road. The Common features (under its Welsh name ''Llyn-dhu'') in

Alan Garner Alan Garner (born 17 October 1934) is an English novelist best known for his children's fantasy novels and his retellings of traditional British folk tales. Much of his work is rooted in the landscape, history and folklore of his native count ...

's popular children's fantasy novel '' The Weirdstone of Brisingamen''.

References

External links

Lindow Common from wilmslow.orgNews from LindowLowland raised peat bog, from Cheshire Wildlife TrustLindow Common Nature Reserve page, fromCheshire East CouncilHeathland local action plan
{{coord, 53.3266, -2.2503, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Cheshire Local Nature Reserves in Cheshire Wilmslow