Greenhead Moss Community Nature Park
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The history of our site

Our park has changed proprietor, purpose and public use over the centuries. Here you can download articles about different aspects of the site from planning & land use changes to the story of the 17th century body found in the bog or view some pictures of the site taken during the land reclamation works.
 
Do you know the history of our site?
In preparation for our new visitor centre, we are hoping to get a recreation of the bog body's face for our entranceway. We are also looking for any historical photos, memories or maps of the site in the past. Contact us if you know of any.

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Workers of the "Benhar Moss Litter Company" that operated on Greenhead Moss

A short history of the park
10,000 years ago - peat starts to form in Greenhead area
4,000  years ago - people begin farming around Wishaw
2000 years ago - people cutting local peat for fuel
300 years ago - Covenantor /soldier buried in bog
120 years ago - coal mining at its height in local area
1932 -  Covenantar / soldier uncovered on bog
1989 - Perchy Pond Local Nature Reserve designated
1996 - Commercial peat cutting stops
1998 - Landfill operations cease
1999 - Greenhead Moss Community Trust formed
2000 - Trust raise funds to employ staff on site
2001 - Initial regeneration works completed
2001 - Greenhead Moss wins numerous awards for community engagement and site regeneration.
2006 - Greenhead wins 'People's Millions' money with votes from the public
2007 - Earthship Visitor centre build begins

A long history of the park!
Click on the titles below (opens in another page)

A planning history of the site

17th Century body found in Greenhead Moss

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Shoes of the 17th Century body found in Greenhead

Some historical pictures of the reclamation work:
(Click on the pictures to enlarge)

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Natural solutions - Reed beds
Our reed beds were built in a framework of stone gabions and planted up with Phragmites australis and Typha species to filter out water pollution. When the park was established, the quality of water leaking from the opencast and landfill area caused some concern for the Perchy Pond Local Nature Reserve. The water quality is still checked regularly but we have no records of any contamination since installing the reed beds. They work by 'silting up' the beds and filtering any pollution through this silt. A technology not unlike that to be used in our earthship!

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The crater - before the start of reclamation
The crater was once used as a landfill site to fill a hole made by the opencast coal mining activity. Once this was completed, the site was 'capped' by a series of soil, clay and stone layers and evenutally sewn with the wildflower meadows that you see today.
In this picture you can see the depth of the peat in the background - this created a lot of work in trying to stop the peat bog from leaking water and drying out, a job we are still working on today.
Picture taken around 1997.