Bog bodies could be lost to builders’ bulldozers

THE next Lindow Man could be bulldozed, archeologists fear, as a housing developer plans to build on peatland.

Developers plan to excavate 24,000 cubic metres of peat in Macclesfield, near Cheshire, removing around a quarter and using the rest for landscaping.

Archaeologists warned of the potential loss of significant discoveries, including “bog bodies” preserved for thousands of years. Lindow Man, an Iron Age murder victim, was found in 1984, a few miles away on Lindow Moss.

Historically, peat bogs were stripped for horticulture or dried out for farming, releasing carbon. Millions of pounds are now being invested in restoring them.

Thousands of tonnes of carbon dioxide could be released by the Macclesfield works, according to a report commissioned ahead of a council decision next week.

Neil Redfern, the executive director of the Council for British Archaeology, said the peat would hold “enormous amounts of environmental data” from stored pollen and plants and should not be written off as “archaeologically sterile”.

Martin Bell, a professor in archaeological science at the University of Reading, said bog bodies “could be found”.

Cheshire East council’s planning committee is due to meet on Wednesday to discuss the Bellway Homes plan. The council said it could not comment because the application was live.

A spokesman for Bellway said it planned to retain “the majority” of peat on site and, where material was removed, “we propose to utilise within landscaped areas”. He added: “Keeping this peat in situ would positively impact carbon emissions and retain the stored CO2 on the site.”