Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and British Geological Society (BGS) have both defined the area of peat situated on Carrington Moss as illustrated below . The grey line is the proposed route of the Carrington Relief Road
within the defined areas of peat on Carrington there already exists several industrial sites operated by Basel; Manchester United Training ground; the current development on Heath Farm, the Former British Gas site (Light blue) and approved planning at Voltage park and Asphodal Farm (Purple)
A BGS Geochemical Survey was published in 2002 shows very high levels of heavy metal contamination on Carrington Moss, were only the high Cu level could be explained naturally with the presents on peat.
The heavy metal levels and ratios suggest that a large amount of industrial waste such as furnace slag and power station ash was disposed on Carrington Moss
Ba = Barium | CaO = Calcium Oxide |Cu = Copper | Cr = Chromium | Co = Carbon Monoxide| Cd = Cadmium | Fe2O2 = Iron Oxide | Pb = Lead | Mo = Molybdenum | Ni = Nickel | Sn = Tin| V = Vanadium| P2 O5 = | Zn = Zinc
Night soil is a historically used euphemism for human excreta collected from cesspools, privies, pail closets, pit latrines, privy middens, septic tanks, etc. This material was removed from the immediate area, usually at night, by workers employed in this trade. Sometimes it could be transported out of towns and sold on as a fertilizer.
Between 1889 and 1899 591, 000 tonnes of night soil was sent to Carrington. An average of 730 tonnes per acre was deposited on the uncultivated area of Carrington Moss
The British Medical Journal 11 October 1902
The Lancet, 19 Dec. 1885
The Lancet, 3 Nov. 1900. We almost had a hospital in Carrington