Malkins Wood, Botany Bay Wood and Chat Moss

Open land between Boothstown village and the Bridgewater Canal to the south has almost disappeared as a result of housing developments in the 1990s, and the new 'Bridgewater Park', a narrow strip of scrub and walkways along the north of the canal may be regarded as scant compensation. South of the canal, however, there remains a large area extending to the M62 motorway which is not only undeveloped, but which is largely inaccessible. This area is one of reclaimed mossland, and it represents a welcome wedge of open land on the western side of the Greater Manchester conurbation.

Beyond the Bridgewater Canal, south of Boothstown, there are no roads giving public access onto the moss, and few public footpaths offering genuine access. As a result, the area is completely unknown to most Boothstown residents, despite being of tremendous historical interest.

The best known part of the moss is Chat Moss, which represented an enormous challenge to George Stephenson when he built the Manchester to Liverpool railway in the 1820s. Chat Moss was described by Daniel Defoe in the 1720s as follows:

From hence [Warrington], on the road to Manchester, we passed the great bog or waste called Chatmos, the first of that kind that we see in England, from any of the south parts hither. It extends on the left-hand of the road for five or six miles east and west, and they told us it was, in some places, seven or eight miles from north to south. The nature of these mosses, for we found there are many of them in this country, is this, and you will take this for a description of all the rest. The surface, at a distance, looks black and dirty, and is indeed frightful to think of, for it will bear neither horse or man, unless in an exceedingly dry season, and then not so as to be passable, or that any one should travel over them. What nature meant by such a useless production, 'tis hard to imagine; but the land is entirely waste, except for the poor cottager's fuel, and the quantity used for that is very small.

On 3 July 2003, the Salford Advertiser newspaper carried a report about the threat to the environment of Chat Moss. It read:

The battle is on to save Salford's countryside. The farmers of Chat Moss are under threat, and at last week's full council meeting councillors threw their weight behind a campaign to save them. Also at the meeting Cllr Roger Jones proposed a motion to support the farmers, stressing that the high quality land would turn into nothing but a bog or building site if it was left to the mercy of peat extraction companies and developers. He said that the distinctive countryside makes up a fifth of Salford's geographical area. Of the 54 farmers still working on Chat Moss only three are still growing vegetables, because mass suppliers now dominate the produce market. He said, "The bottom line is we've already seen off most of the farmers, and in a couple of years we will have seen the rest off. If in 40 or 50 years time there are no more farmers and all the top soil has been stripped off, what will we be leaving for our children? There's going to be nothing but a big bog." He added that developers Peel Holdings have their eyes on the site and would be prepared to wait years while the moss was run into a bog so they could move in and build there. He appealed to the council to actively preserve the moss by finding ways to buy the local farmers' produce and making sure the land was not sold off. Seconding the motion, Cllr Eddie Sheehy added that buying produce from local farmers would bring great environmental benefits by reducing the distance food had to be transported. The motion received enthusiastic support from members of all parties.

To the north of Stephenson's railway, and south of the Bridgewater Canal at Boothstown, there are three distinct areas:

Firstly, and a little to the west of Boothstown, towards Astley, the area south of the canal is scarred by the remains of open cast mine workings, and in places is barren (picture, left). This area is now part of a landfill site, where regeneration of previously barren areas will be undertaken.

Secondly, the widest area is covered by open farmland. Until 2004 the largest farm was Malkins Wood Farm, with the growing and drying of grass for animal feed being the most significant activity until recent years. In the light of proposed developments (including a racecourse proposal) Malkins Wood Farm ceased to be an independent farm in 2004, though the land is still farmed along with Moss House Farm.

Thirdly, to the south of Malkins Wood Farm beyond Shaw Brook, and extending east towards Worsley is an area of woodland known as Botany Bay Wood. Shaw Brook (pictured left) is fed by a stream called Sniggly Ditch, thus called because it once abounded in young eels, known in Lancashire as snigs, and appreciated for the making of snig pie.

During the construction of the Bridgewater Canal, the wood was planted on an area used to dump spoils from the canal workings. Moss Canal, an arm of the Bridgewater Canal which ran south towards the wood until this century, was used to carry waste from the canal workings to the area of the wood. The name was given to the wood by the workers, who felt so remote that they might have been in Botany Bay itself.

Part of Botany Bay Wood lies on Worsley Moss, where the remains of 'Worsley Man' were found in 1958 (skull pictured, right). He is believed to have lived in the second century BC, and to have been the victim of a human sacrifice. It is thought that he was garrotted, and had his throat cut before he was left in the moss.

From the canal at Boothstown, it is possible to look across this landscape, but there is no public access to the two farms, nor to Botany Bay Wood. You should not think of entering the area, as much of the land is protected by a gamekeeper, and by the farmers' large dogs. There are no roads other than the roughest tracks. The area has retained its mystery, and is known to few residents. The picture on the left shows Bill Johnson, the gamekeeper circa 1950s.

In the year 1299 Henry de Worsley, Lord of the Manor of Worsley, granted to Robert de Worsley, his son by his second wife, the land to the south of Boothstown, then called Mokens. It stretched from the boundary of Astley in the west, to Irlam in the south, and to the Hollin Wood in the north-east. In 1413 John Booth of Barton 'caused waste by felling and carrying away eighty oaks worth six shillings and eight pence each in a certain wood called Mokens.' Today this area is known as Malkin's Wood.

Early in the 19th century it was acquired along with Booth's Hall by Robert Haldane Bradshaw, Superintendent of the Bridgewater Trust. Upon his retirement, Bradshaw sold the land to the 1st Earl of Ellesmere (then Lord Francis Egerton). The 1st Earl founded the modern farms (Malkins Wood farmhouse dates from around 1850), with Malkins Wood Farm originally intended as a rabbitry, and Grange Farm (now adjacent to the M60 motorway in Worsley) established as a model dairy farm.

The land passed from the earls of Ellesmere to Bridgewater Estates Ltd. when that company was founded in 1923. The land continued to be let to tenant farmers. Shooting rights, formerly for the use of the noble family, were let to businessmen. The whole game reserve of woodland and farmland, protected from trespass and development, has become a wildlife sanctuary. In the wood are foxes and deer; rabbits and hares may be seen in the fields and margins; there are water voles and a rich variety of birdlife; the rare white mole has been seen, while the common mole abounds.

Between the wars, there were magnificent views from the canal bank of lime trees along the main approach to Malkins Wood Farm. Sadly, the lime trees were cut down during the war. In the 1940s, Leslie Turner (pictured left), a local bird photographer with a national reputation, was granted access to the preserved area. On one windy occasion, while studying nestlings, he joined by rope the tree containing the nest with an adjacent tree into which he climbed, so that both trees moved together and kept his focus constant. A newspaper or magazine photograph of a woodland bird in the 1950s or 1960s was likely to have been taken by Turner in Botany Bay Wood.

Much to the surprise of Leslie Turner, there was once an elephant in the wood, though admittedly it was dead! It had been known as Lil when it gave rides to children at Belle Vue zoo in Manchester, and upon its death it was arranged that Manchester University would have the skeleton. The private woodland so close to the city was an ideal place to allow the flesh to be devoured by the insects, birds and animals, away from the knowledge of a sentimental public.

Today Malkins Wood Farm and Botany Bay Wood provide a green oasis bounded by the rapidly expanding conurbation (the picture on the right shows Botany Bay Wood from Malkins Wood Farm). Limited access has ensured that the area remains unspoilt, and the expanse of moss and farmland is visible from the trunk roads and motorways.

The area provides a refreshing back-drop to the canal, and is enjoyed by all Boothstown's residents. It is to be hoped that this valuable environmental resource will be protected for the benefit of future generations, and that there is the will to resist the pressures for development which have obliterated other large areas of open land in the last twenty years.

On 3rd October 1998 the Manchester Evening News newspaper reported proposals by Peel Estates Ltd to undertake large-scale development of the land south of the canal, especially at Malkins Wood Farm. The proposals include the opening up of the land to wider public access. There would be a series of trails, play areas and visitor centres in Botany Bay Wood and on the present farmland between the wood and the canal. The proposal signalled the end for Malkins Wood Farm, since it was propsoed to build a new horse-racing course on the land. It would be a major project that would involve the construction of a new access road to the site from the East Lancashire Road to the north.

For more on this proposed development, see the page New Development Plans.

Acknowledgements

Recollections of Malkins Wood Farm were provided by C.E. Mullineux. Special thanks to Mr. and Mrs. John Topp. All words on this page by TS and C.E. Mullineux (copyright (c) 1997) except quotation from Daniel Defoe's A Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain, published by Pengiun Classics, edited by Pat Rogers. Photographs copyright (c) Tony Smith.

^* Historical notes on Chat Moss derived from The Origins of Lancashire by D. Kenyon, Manchester University Press, 1991.

This page last updated: 5 March 2005.