248 Mr. W. H. Bailey on 



far below tidal water, as even a depth of 50 feet places it 

 much below the tidal water now coming up to Warrington. 



The trees found in the Moss may have grown on the 

 banks of the lake, or more probably may have been washed 

 down from the upper reaches of the Irwell, for many similar 

 trees are continually discovered in the excavations of the 

 Ship Canal along the whole course of the valley. These 

 trees are trunks only, having no small timber about them, 

 no branches, or evidence of decayed wood near them. We 

 may infer that if these had grown in situ, branches and 

 roots would be in the vicinity. There can be little doubt 

 that these bare trunks have drifted from the forests of the 

 upper lands after storms. 



It may be of some interest to state that the Moss is 

 subsiding gradually ; the farmsteads built on piles driven 

 through the Moss into the earth beneath are in some cases 

 now 10 feet above the level of the surrounding land, and 

 those built upon the Moss without the support of the piles 

 are from 5 to 15 feet below the surrounding level. 



The geological formation of the strata at Chat Moss 

 has been described by Mr. W. Brockbank, in a paper read 

 before this Society in 1866, {Proceedings, Lit. and Phil. 

 Soc. of Man., Vol. V. p. 91.) In one place Mr. Brockbank 

 found 17 feet of peat moss, 18 inches of sandy clay or loam,, 

 and then a depth of 26 feet 6 inches of boulder clay, and 

 below that, soft red rock. Generally the bed of the moss is 

 sandy. 



In consequence of the imperfect drainage, after long 

 continuous rains the Moss became so full of water many 

 years ago as to cause its upper surface to move. 



Leland describes an accident of this sort, which occurred 

 in the reign of Henry the Eighth, as follows : — 



" Chatelay More, in Darbyshire, is three or four miles in 

 " bredthe, and six miles yn length sum way brast up within 

 " a mile of Morley Hall, and destroied much ground with 



