Gents Mag 1771 pp.567-568

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	introduction
	list, 3rd qtr 18th century
	Gentleman's Magazine 1771 pp.567-568
Solway Moss   flood, 1771
	Eruption of Solway Moss Thursday, 12. A letter from Edinburgh, of this day's date, gives the following particulars of the ravages sustained by the moveable moss: "Solway moss still continues to move, and it began to flow on Saturady last with more rapidity than it has done for three weeks past. The following is a list of the names and number of the farms destroyed by the eruption of Solway flow in Cumberland, together with the number of farmers who possessed these farms, and the rental ofthese lands, as present paid to Mr. Graham of Netherby, proprietor of Solway flow, and the lands now covered by it. Taken at Solway flow, on Tuesday, Dec. 3, 1771.
	Names of the farms. Farmers. Rental. L.s.d. Closgap, 3 29 10 0 Patonston, 3 22 0 0 Browhead 3 17 10 0 Lake, 3 20 0 0 Henrystown, 1 10 0 0 Cullenston, 1 14 0 0 Smallholmstone, 1 14 0 0 Peartree, 2 29 10 0 Yadefold, 2 27 4 0 Todbank, 1 7 12 0 Dykestone, in part as yet, 4 12 0 0 Mirrinstoun, in part as yet, 1 12 0 0 Twelve tenements, 23 220 6 0
	The above farms are so greatly destroyed, that twenty three families of the farmers, besides cotters, are obliged to leave their ruined houses; some of them being knocked down by the force of the eruption, others of them covered almost to the top of the side walls by the moss. The following four farms are only partly covered, the houses being inhabited, viz.
	Farms. Rental of what is covered. L.s.d. Oakbank, 2 0 0 Meadoff, 12 0 0 Cargate-head, 4 10 0 Know, 8 0 0 26 10 0 Rental of the other 12 towns, 220 6 0 Total 246 6 0
	This is the present rental of all the land that is covered by the eruption of the moss; and, if these lands are set, on an average, at twelve shillings per acre, the quantity of ground covered must be four hundred acres and fifty-three poles. The land upon which the moss has flowed, is covered by it from twelve to thirty feet deep. The eruption began on Saturday the 15th of November last, about eleven o'clock at night. It broke out from the Solway flow, on the north-east side, by a gullet of about a hundred yards wideness. At a very short distance from the mouth of the gullet, it spread at the wideness of almost a mile square, over above four hundred acres of the best land in the north of England. It still continues to flow out of the gullet in a very rapid current, carrying along with it a large quantity of moss, which it forces from below the surface, and, even in some places, the solid surface along with it, which, by floating upon the moss that hath covered the lands in the beds of Esk, gives them altogether the appearance of having been a moss from time immemorial. As it flows at present, so it must, from the very nature of the thing, continue to flow for ages. That it may do least damage, its course should either be diverted to the river of Sark, on the west side of Solway flow, or else a clear passage made in its present direction to the river of Esk; both of which are practicable, but at considerable expence. However, if some such method is not taken, much more exceeding good land will be covered by it. The cause of the eruption is so evident, from the situation of Solway flow, and of the adjacent lands on the east side of it, with the former management of those who have casten their peats on the Solway flow, that it is more wonderful to the person who hath taken the above account, that the Solway flow hath stood so long, than that it hath now broke out, and overflowed so great a quantity of ground upon the beds of Esk. It will be next to impossible, ever again to clear the covered land by burning the moss; though it appears probable to me, that there is a possibility of clearing it by water. The greatest part of the surface of the old moss is still whole; but it is now so much out, that, though formerly level, the middle of it is like a large glen between two hills, declining from each other."
	continued
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	-- Solway Moss

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