Local people who remember the discovery of Lindow Man on the Moss may be surprised to be reminded it was 30 years ago last weekend, on 1st August 1984, when the exciting archaeological finding was unearthed.
To mark this anniversary, Transition Wilmslow organised a Dawn Walk on Lindow Common and Lindow Moss.
Professor Anthony Jones, one of the organisers of the walk, said "The discovery itself was very dramatic. Rick Turner, Cheshire's County Archaeologist at the time, recalls being shown a well preserved human right foot and skin of the lower leg by peat cutters under about a metre depth of uncut peat. After skilful excavation and analysis by the British Museum, Lindow Man was hailed as Britain's first bog body. He is believed to have been killed, probably during a ritual sacrifice, by two blows to the head and garrotting, after which he was left face down in the peaty waters. The acidity of the peat kept him well preserved over the years."
Professor John Handley, who led the walk, said "Today's Dawn Walk was a tribute to Lindow Man from Transition Wilmslow. We started out in darkness by Black Lake, listening to the swallows in the reed beds, followed by a walk on to the Moss itself. After a series of evocative readings about Lindow Man and the Moss, we joined the Wildwood Seed group for a druid ceremony on the peat excavation site, where the spirit of Lindow Moss and its inhabitants was honoured and celebrated and a wreath was placed in a bog pool in memory of Lindow Man."
This was one of a series of events designed to raise awareness of the Moss from local community group, Transition Wilmslow.
Jean Hill, a member of the group, said: "We would really like to see the Moss restored as a site of great historic, ecological and natural significance for the people of Wilmslow. We have published our vision for the Moss on our website and we continue to work with a strategic partnership of interested groups to take this work forward. Our next event is a Day School on 18th October at the Wilmslow Guild."
Photo: Lindow Man on display at the British Museum in June 2010 by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net).
A tribute of bog flowers to Lindow Man from the members of Transition Wilmslow.
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It was also listed in our events calendar for several weeks and on the home page in our Featured Events section, as we thought it would be of interest to many of our readers.