{{Short description|Bog in Cumbria, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox Protected area | name = Meathop Moss | iucn_category = V | image = File:Meathop Moss - geograph.org.uk - 1373014.jpg | image_caption = The photo is taken outside the nature reserve looking towards the protected area | location = Cumbria, England | coordinates = {{Coord|54|13|39|N|2|51|29|W|region:GB_type:landmark|display=inline,title}} | area = 82 ha | visitation_num = | visitation_year = | governing_body = }} '''Meathop Moss''' is a [[raised bog]] located north of [[Meathop]] in [[Cumbria]], England. Protected as a [[nature reserve]] by the [[Cumbria Wildlife Trust]], Meathop Moss is notable for its insect life.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.english-nature.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1001143.pdf| title=Meathop Moss | publisher=[[English Nature]] | accessdate= 14 August 2016}}</ref> In 1965 it was designated a [[Site of Special Scientific Interest]] under the [[National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949]]. Along with two other raised bogs near the Kent estuary, it was included in the [[Witherslack Mosses]] [[Special Area of Conservation]] which was designated in 2005.
==Etymology== [[Meathop]] is a locality near the village of [[Lindale, Cumbria|Lindale]]. ''Moss'' is a dialect word meaning bog.
==History== The bog developed above a [[shingle beach]] after the last glaciation.<ref name="WG">{{Cite web |url=http://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/news/11317136.Splendid_walk_around_Lindale__Halecat_and_Meathop/ |title=Splendid walk around Lindale, Halecat and Meathop |last=Edmondson |first=J |date=11 July 2014 |publisher=[[Westmorland Gazette]] |access-date=12 July 2014}}</ref>
===Charles Rothschild and the "Rothschild List"=== The site was identified by the [[entomologist]] [[Charles Rothschild]] (1877–1923) as being of ecological importance. He was particularly interested in the site as the habitat of the [[large heath butterfly]] and the [[silver-studded blue]]. This was to lead to the creation of the nature reserve in 1919.<ref name="WG16">{{Cite news |url=https://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/news/14314462.meathop-moss-nature-reserve-to-be-made-accessible-to-all-thanks-to-35000-grant/ |title=Meathop Moss Nature Reserve |last=Dickinson |work=Westmorland Gazette}}</ref> Other than the prevention of the over-collection of butterflies, the reserve did not have a management plan. According to an article in ''Cumbrian Wildlife'', the magazine of the Cumbria Wildlife Trust, the creation of the reserve was not driven by conservation in the modern sense, it was an example of rich collectors protecting their collecting sites from the riff-raff.<ref name="CW">{{Cite magazine |last=Harpley |first=David |date=May 2019 |title=Extinction |magazine=Cumbrian Wildlife|issue=114|pages=10-11|publisher=[[Cumbria Wildlife Trust]]}}</ref> However a more positive assessment could be made of the overall achievement of Rothschild in relation to conservation.
In 1899 Rothschild (at the age of 22) bought [[Wicken Fen]] and presented it to the National Trust: it was arguably Britain's first nature reserve.<ref>This claim for Wicken Fen is make on its website www.wicken.org.uk. Other contenders include [[Walton Hall, West Yorkshire]].</ref> He organized surveys of other sites deserving protection and a "Rothschild list" of 284 sites in Britain and Ireland, including Meathop Moss, was drawn up. It was published in 1915 by the Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves (the forerunner of [[The Wildlife Trusts]]).<ref name="WT">{{Cite web |url=https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/blog/rothschild-reserves-100-years-stephen-moss |title=The Rothschild Reserves 100 years on |last=Moss |first=S |date=2012 |publisher=The Wildlife Trusts |access-date=2019-05-20}}</ref> In the century after the surveys took place many of these habitats became degraded.<ref>Rothschild, Miriam and Marren, Peter (1997) ''Rothschild's Reserves: time & fragile nature''. London: Harley ({{ISBN|0-946589-62-3}})</ref> Meathop Moss received more protection than most, being leased by the society as a nature reserve.<ref name="WT2">{{cite web | url=http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/who-we-are/history/rothschild-reserves/meathop-moss-cumbria | title=Meathop Moss | accessdate=14 January 2016|website=Wildlife Trusts|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304061650/http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/who-we-are/history/rothschild-reserves/meathop-moss-cumbria|archivedate=4 March 2016}}</ref>
===SSSI=== In 1965 it was designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
===Cumbria Wildlife Trust=== The Cumbria Wildlife Trust, which was created in the 1960s as the Lake District Naturalists' Trust, took on the reserve. However, the Trust did not purchase the reserve until 1998. It was helped by the [[Heritage Lottery Fund]].
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.cumbriawildlifetrust.org.uk/reserves/meathop-moss Meathop Moss], Cumbria Wildlife Trust
[[Category:Nature reserves in Cumbria]] [[Category:Protected areas established in 1920]] [[Category:Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Cumbria]] [[Category:Sites of Special Scientific Interest notified in 1965]] [[Category:Nature reserves of the Cumbria Wildlife Trust]]