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This footage provides a rare cinema graphic insight
into peat cutting activity at Lindow Moss in Cheshire
during the 1960s.
Taken by Cyril Bradley,
owner of a peat extraction company
from the 1950s to the 1970s,
it provides a stark contrast to the current mechanical techniques
used to remove the peat from the Moss.
Although there was some use of machinery,
most of the peat was dug out by hand.
Workers, coming from as far afield
as Mow Cop on the border with Staffordshire,
were paid two shillings and sixpence
for every yard of peat dug using a combination
of a hay knife and spade.
Digging generally took place between August and March.
The peat turves were then stacked for drying,
before transport by a minature train,
to the yard at the junction of Newgate and Rotherwood Road.
As can be seen
peat cutting was hard physical work.
In winter, the peat would become frozen,
whilst during the summer months it could be extremely hot.
Lindow peat was used as a compost material for gardeners,
as well as for chicken farming and mushroom growing.
By the turn of the 1970s
intense competition from Fisons,
who also owned land at Lindow Moss,
drove Cyril to sell out to Buxton Mushrooms.
Two lorry loads of peat were transported daily
to the mushroom caves in the Peak District.
Since Cyril retired
Lindow Moss has changed ownership several times.
Today, the peat is used for mixing into compost
in the South West of England.