Lytham St.Annes Coat of Arms

 
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Lytham St.Annes, Lancashire, England
 

 

Original newspaper report on the "movement" of Pilling Moss in January & February, 1745.

Preston Journal, February 22, 1745 
 
PRESTON, February 8.

We are inform'd, by Letters from Garstang, St. Michael's, and other neighbouring Townships, near Pilling-Moss, that (three Miles below Garstang, and within a Quarter of a Mile of the River Wyer) full half a Mile in Length of the south-east Part of  the said Moss has broke down, occasion'd by several Lakes or Tarns of Water, which lay higher up upon the Moss, and which by the late heavy Rains and Snows, have overflow'd their usual Bounds, and by the prodigious Weight of the Water, the said Moss was forced and carried forwards upon the Land adjoining to it, whereby upwards of forty Acres of Arable and Pasture Land is entirely covered with Moss Ten Feet deep, so that the said Land, with several Houses are render'd useless.

The said Moss was first observ'd to move on Saturday the 26th of January last, to the great surprize and Terror of the Neighbourhood, and on the Day following seem'd to stand still; but all the last Week it was observ'd, by several Hundreds of spectators, to continue moving; which occasion'd a great Allarm in the neighbourhood, who assembled together in the utmost Consternation, each being fearful that his Land might undergo the same Fate.

The Losses which the Proprietors of the cover'd Land have sustain'd cannot at present be ascertain'd; yet this Is possitively asserted, that several Land Owners and Leasehold Tenants are entirely ruined. Tho' the Reasons above are assign'd, yet various are the Conjectures of the Curious.