Manchester Memoirs^ Vol. Iviii. ( 1 9 1 4), No. 8. 5 



N. of Knutsford. The lake itself, and the whole of the 

 land surrounding it, is on the estate of Lord Egerton of 

 Tatton. No road, or even public footpath, touches its 

 banks, and in consequence its fauna is comparatively 

 undisturbed and its waters uncontaminated. Of its cir- 

 cumference of about 3,160 yards, woods and willow beds 

 bound it for nearly 2,300 yards. 



The surface area of the water at the time of the last 

 ordnance survey revision — March, 1893 — was ii8"252 

 statute acres. Henry Green, in " Knutsford, its Traditions 

 and History," 1859, gives the area as 115 acres, which 

 may have been then correct, but the statement in Bag- 

 shaw's " Cheshire Directory " for 1850, that it is 156 acres 

 is manifestly erroneous. Green's calculations were pro- 

 bably based on an informal survey conducted by Captain 

 Cotton about the year 1840. 



Measurement on the 2 5 -inch Ordnance Survey gives 

 the greatest length — from the north to a little west of the 

 outflow brook — as 3,850 feet (1,283 yards), and the 

 greatest breadth at right angles to this line as 2,100 feet. 

 This only differs slightly from Captain Cotton's measure- 

 ments of 1,250 and 695 yards. It is quite possible that 

 the area has increased to this extent in seventy odd years. 



In 1893 the surface level was 6y feet, but there is no 

 record of the level at the time of Cotton's investigations. 

 Although the drainage area is inconsiderable, the water 

 will rise several feet after heavy rains, considerably in- 

 creasing the area in one or two places where the banks 

 are low. In May, 191 3, practically the whole of the Gale 

 Bog, over six acres in extent, and an even larger area at 

 the south end of the mere, were submerged for many 

 days. 



The mere lies in a great hollow, a deep depression or 

 subsidence. Except at the south-west, where the inflow 



