Approximate Location
OS Grid Reference: SJ 90756 70470
Latitude / Longitude: 53°13′52″N , 002°08′24″W
After meeting Gaberlunzie at Pyethorne Wood Colin, Susan, Gowther, Fenodyree and Durathror mount his magical horse together and are swept off at a vast speed, eastwards, across the Cheshire landscape.
“After a while, they left hedges behind, the land became broken and uneven, but they did not falter. Wide trenches opened under them, one after another, dangerously deep; and ghostly, broken walls, gaping like the ruins of an ancient citadel, lowered on either side. It was as though they were riding out of their own time back to a barbaric age, yet they were running only by the peat stacks of Danes Moss, a great tract of bogland that lay at the foot of the hills.“
Garner, A., 1960 (1989 edition), The Weirdstone of Brisingamen. William Collins / Lions. London. p202.
Over 22 hectares (54 acres) of Danes Moss are managed by the Cheshire Wildlife Trust as an important reserve of lowland raised bog – one of the scarcest ecological resources in Britain. Despite this, an area to the north of the reserve is at risk from the construction of 950 houses across 136 acres of the South Macclesfield Development Area. This project is opposed by the Wildlife Trust and many local residents through the Save Danes Moss campaign.
Along with the wildlife and ecological resources, Danes Moss is also criss-crossed by some very ancient “holloway” tracks – footpaths created over many centuries, or even millenia, of footfall.
