1964: SCHWINGMOORS | Tonight | Weird and Wonderful | BBC Archive

When did you last encounter a schwingmoor?
The Chartley Moor Nature Reserve is the biggest schwingmoor in Britain. Or perhaps you know schwingmoors by another name - quaking bogs.
They occur when a layer of peat grows on top of a body of water, thick enough that plants and trees can grow quite happily, floating on the water.
But, as reporter Christopher Brasher discovers, you could never mistake it for solid land.
Clip taken from Tonight, originally broadcast on BBC tv on Thursday, 9 April, 1964.
You have now entered the BBC Archive, a time machine that will transport you back to the golden age of TV to educate, entertain and enlighten you with classic clips from the BBC vaults.
Make sure you subscribe so that you never miss a single stop on our amazing journey through the BBC Archive - kzbin.info?...

[@JamesZaraza-wv3gt]

“…because it schwiggs” That explains everything I ever needed to know.

[@darinmullins4770]

But its spelled schwing ?

[@jamesrowden303]

@@darinmullins4770 Yeah. Like when a hot female walks past. Schwing! kzbin.info/www/bejne/qavOmKyiq6mMd5Y

[@acidfacejake3739]

You can tell it schwiggs, because of the way it is. Neat.

[@MarvMetal]

@@darinmullins4770 seems like a german lean word. schwingen means to swing, a pendulum would have a "schwingmasse" a mass thats supposed to swing back and forth. "Schwinge" is a kinda outdated way do describe a birds wing, they schwing them up and down to fly. Bogs being called Moor in german as well, makes this a sure case of compound-word stealing for me. They could have easily gone for swingmoor or swingbog, but preserving the "Sch" in Schwing means business

[@darinmullins4770]

@@MarvMetal one the first things that came to mind was Waynes World (schwing ) !

[@DeanandLisa1803]

Bloody hell! I was watching this and the rod poked up through my carpet..And I’m in Australia 😮

[@user-mb8op5hx7h]

😂😂❤🇬🇧

[@lawrencemartin1113]

And a woman in her kitchen in Melbourne got on the phone and said, "Hey, cut that out!"

[@EvelynTokamp]

Thanks for the laugh, excellent! Best wishes from the NL.

[@PhyllisGlassup2TheBrim]

😂😂😂🙃

[@labibbidabibbadum]

We always thought the strange sticks were a fast (and weirdly intermittent) growing tree.

[@kwacker45]

Excellent 😅😅

[@SirPano85]

That explains how bamboo grow so fast!

[@zooziz5724]

We had these in Lithuania too, ever since I find out about them in a school trip I got a little fear of forest now. In this video the floor of the forest is moving however that is not a case all the time. It is just a solid ground , it feels like and you might approach what looks like a puddle without much of a thought and that might be your doom. It's not a puddle but an opening to the swamp and around it the moss that forms what looks and feels like a solid ground is weak. So you can fell turiu the floor of the forest and into the swap. And I was told that there's plenty of danger with swap water in these conditions one is that the roots and the moss can entangle you and you'll just drown. If you submerged under the water you might not be able to get your way out because of the dirt and other particles in the water you won't be able to see the opening to the surface. And then there's something about gasses sawps collect gasses under the layers of mud or something like that and it's a fragile balance , you falling in might cause a eruption on the layer of mud that's holding those gases, when they get released it displaces water and you can't swim anymore because of the boyency (?). Essiantelly theres not enough water for you to swim into because of the gas mixture and you just sink to the bottom. Same thing that happens in urban environments in waste pools I think. I have never walked into the forest the same ever again. You just simply can't tell the difference they somehow even exists on what appears to be like a hill or something where your think that water would just flow down.

[@FindTheFun]

Watch the movie "Come and See" if you haven't already. It's about Belerussian refugees in WWII hiding out in bogs like this and they almost drown in them.

[@PocketPisky]

🤯

[@seanrcollier]

Other than that though, it's perfectly safe.

[@zooziz5724]

@@seanrcollier well not really :D I only describe scenario where it's easy to see the danger in reality there are cavities covered by thin layer of moss or vegetation waiting to be popped by unsuspected stranger. These places are relatively safe that is true, but compared to regular forests they have more dangers.

[@seanrcollier]

@@zooziz5724 Oh... well, then, other than THAT too, they sound perfectly, perfectly safe. :)

[@DPF1]

Correspondent Chris Brasher - 1956 Olympic gold medallist (3000m steeplechase), pacemaker for the first sub-four-minute mile, and helped found the London Marathon.

[@chriswalford4161]

A reporter or correspondent back then……

[@DPF1]

​@@chriswalford4161You are correct, I don't know why I typed "presenter". Original comment duly changed - thank you.

[@stephenphillips8956]

And I wore Brasher walking boots for many years, another of his achievements.

[@olliefoxx7165]

​@@stephenphillips8956Did he design the boots or sponsor them? Perhaps both.

[@DPF1]

@@olliefoxx7165 designer and company founder (apparently).

[@isaacmartin2026]

The officer's a real sweetie. Seeing the transition between formal explanation to freeform anecdote at 3:44 was a joy.

[@Julian_Wang-pai]

I once lived very close to the M6 in North Staffordshire. Apparently several 'kettle holes' were encountered locally during its construction there. Kettle holes were formed when very large blocks of partly buried ice melted (at the end of the last glacial phase of the Pleistocene ice age) forming pools that eventually became moss-filled bogs or Schwingmoors. What a wonderful name.

[@primesspct2]

Yes it is very fun to say! They should have figured out a way to work it into Wayne's World!

[@UATU.]

I love that he’s dressed like a professional in a lovely coat for stomping around in a bog. I used to go 4x4 wheeling in Canadian muskeg covered in mud and bug spray. It was terrifying and exhilarating. This man has style.

[@dukecity7688]

Yes he does! He strongly looks like my father. Hello Canada from boston ma.

[@knightowl3577]

I went there twice on school trips as a kid. It poured with rain both times and was freezing cold. Although our teacher was really enthusiastic, it's hard to be impressed by the unusual nature of the moor when your wellies are full of water.

[@zakelwe]

When i was a lad we had to dig out peat for the fires using a teaspoon wearing sandals.

[@caitgems1]

Snob

[@HomerSlated]

@@zakelwe Why was your teaspoon wearing sandals?

[@JohnBailey39]

@@HomerSlated Because it would look silly wearing brogues without socks.

[@Julian_Wang-pai]

Schwingmoor, not just more

[@eckosters]

Beautiful, I wish I’d seen this in the mid 1980s when I was doing my PhD research on the peat deposits of the Mississippi Delta plain, some of which likely originated as “Flotants” (floating marshes). The vegetation there is completely different from this British one, which is dominated by oligotrophic plants such as mosses, whereas the Mississippi Delta marshes are all dominated by eutrophic plants

[@olivere5497]

Crime pays but botany doesnt ey?

[@patricknorton5788]

​@@olivere5497An awesome channel! Good tie-in!

[@adamelliott2302]

That's interesting. I'd not heard of such in the Mississippi Delta. Where abouts in the Delta where the areas you studied?

[@mattmarzula]

Why didn't you just look it up on KZbin or Wikipedia..?

[@patricknorton5788]

@@mattmarzula Kinda rude, aren't you?

[@nextworldaction8828]

I had no idea any place like this existed!

[@fernandojorge7764]

What about the cameraman who managed to take stable shots while threading on pudding

[@rickwilliams967]

What the hell does that mean? Threading on pudding?

[@rnash999]

@@rickwilliams967 Treading.

[@TestEric]

With film, and a 100lb camera!

[@olliefoxx7165]

​@@rickwilliams967You've never tried "threading pudding"? Very difficult. Give it a try.

[@user-ty1ef4iv6x]

Sounds like a new Olympic sport !

[@JohnEvansChaoseed]

Super interesting, and I love the reserved delight the commentators bring to the presentation.

[@petetrundell5454]

"...Beautifully sprung matresses" "Cut! Good lord, old chap. What were you thinking? This is the BBC!"

[@zakelwe]

"Are there any animals living in it?" He should have said " Frogs and toads you fool !"

[@Lost_on_stage_again]

I was curious about fish?

[@huw3851]

I find walking across boggy areas like that a bit nervy and a few times I decided 'that's enough of that', and backed out. But I didn't realise full grown trees could stand in them.

[@a64738]

Lot of people has lost their lives at boggy areas like trying to cross it and falling tough it and drown...

[@TheEudaemonicPlague]

I feel fortunate that we have a quaking bog in Illinois--too bad it's hours away. We visited it about thirty years ago, but haven't gotten back. There, they laid out wooden walkways, so people don't accidentally fall in. There's also recently (only decades old) prairie returned to all native plants by it. Awesome place to visit...Volo Bog.

[@josephgreeley5569]

Now I have to write a mystery based on this Bog. That is incredibly cool. Wish I could go visit it.

[@primesspct2]

Yes that would be a brilliant site for a mystery! One has to wonder if they can "lose" a body out there. Just keep pushing and pushing until you get the body under? I would love to see this place, in person, and up close!

[@markallen7924]

Went out on schwingmoor years ago and we were told to not walk 'Indian Style' across it as if you were to tread in the foot steps of the person in front of you, you could break the surface and never get out!

[@primesspct2]

That is exactly what I wondered? Are there holes in this where you could "fall" or get sucked in, and not be able to get out?

[@malcolmmoon1175]

Very interesting 😢

[@jeffreyyoung4104]

I was walking on something similar when my leg went through. I got off of the raft of vegetation, as the stuff I was on, was not 40 feet thick, and it extended over a flowing river. Had I fallen through, I would have disappeared.

[@dvdbramble]

So good to hear presenters speaking clearly and authoritatively without patronising the viewers. Compare and contrast with Countryfile and similar today.

[@ferrumignis]

Yep, back when the BBC was actually worth watching.

[@andyhurrell]

Yes, today's presenters would probably be trying to sell you an ideology.

[@E-Kat]

And they don't say " I was like"😊

[@dvdbramble]

@@E-Kat Indeed, a particular bugbear of mine too!

[@E-Kat]

@@dvdbramble it's so reassuring to see other people having the same opinion on this subject. I thought, I was very odd, as even Elon Musk speaks in this manner, which is an instant turn off for me. I'm very disappointed that he couldn't resist turning into one of these " I was like" people. One would thought, our language would improve with time, not regress. We might revert to making inarticulate sounds soon. If you haven't seen it already, I recommend watching " Idiocracy", a prophetic film about the future, which we have sadly entered now. Thank you again.

[@thekinginyellow1744]

I understand that the local council has approved this location for a block of flats.

[@brucedohner3825]

I hope this isn't true . . .

[@jordanwalsh1691]

@@brucedohner3825 It's not, I think this person was just making a joke about how often building projects are approved for totally unsuitable areas (prone to flooding, landslides, etc.)

[@dylanharvey4769]

Weird places like this need to be preserved. Weird places like this need to be shown and communicated to generate interest in nature. Gotta show this one to my class next year.

[@mweskamppp]

This winter was so wet that all the soil (former peat) became soft. One boy played and got stuck in the mud with hypothermia and was lucky the landowner came along and pulled him out. I have seen rows of trees fell over because the soil was not able to hold the roots anymore. A truck tried to give space to a tractor, left the tarmac and keeled over when the wheels sunk in.

[@tkralva.6668]

And now 60 years later, how much of this is left untouched and protected as a reserve.

[@mka4pol]

"You're gonna need some bigger boots."

[@Veronica.John10-10]

I approve of this Jaws reference.😂

[@thomasm1964]

I wonder if Chat Moss of railway fame is one of these. If so, it would explain just why the Liverpool and Manchester Railway was such a massive challenge for George Stephenson.

[@olivere5497]

Whats shocking is that neither, I say, neither, Vince Cable or Nicola Strugeon are actual cables or sturgeon.

[@Tigerbeard]

I forget where and who and my search skills are failing me tonight - IRRC, one of the great Victorian railway lines, crosses a wide marsh like this. The line was floated across the marsh on bundles of sticks. Today, as the mainline intercity train crosses the marsh, the track deflects downwards by a couple of feet.

[@thomasm1964]

@@Tigerbeard That is Chat Moss. I just wasn't sure whether it is considered a schwingmoor. It might just be a peat bog. Still one hell of an engineering feat though.

[@hubby-tubadventures01]

@@olivere5497 AND does Jeremy Irons or is he really an actor. I feel these comments could evolve.

[@olivere5497]

@@hubby-tubadventures01 he could be a robot made with rusty iron, wrapped in a blanket of human flesh

[@gordonmculloch4904]

And he’s wearing Gannex raincoat. Made popular by Harold Wilson.

[@gegwen7440]

Yes after he picked up his very large brown envelope from the owner of Gannex who he most probably also gave a peerage to ? Was there not a bit of scandal at the time about it ?

[@1258-Eckhart]

It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing. The ideal tree to invite to a dance is the alder, which thrives in such quagmires.

[@EvelynTokamp]

@@algrant5293 Es schwingt mit Schwung ;) Am surprised that the German word is used.

[@EvelynTokamp]

@@algrant5293 shwig

[@goodun2974]

Best to mind what your "alders" told you, and stay away from those quicksand-like bogs! 😉

[@jaxonboys3366]

Same as the Okefenokee swamp in Ga. " trembling earth".

[@goodun2974]

Yup, I was thinking the same thing.

[@dukecity7688]

What a wonder! I love getting these gems.

[@jasonayres]

..And tonight on, "Wish You Were Here?"🏖

[@yixnorb5971]

To quote Bob and Ted's Excellent adverture.............Schawinng.

[@jagoq53]

Wayne's World, surely?

[@yixnorb5971]

Best in the midwest

[@mweskamppp]

In my area is the same thing. Most is drained, peat and flower soil is made from it. the old farms are all built on oak beams hammered down into the sand below. From my place to one city in Netherlands it covered 100km distance. There is a museum not far from me with plows 2.5m high. The first plough was a fowler model from Leeds.

[@irvgiles1482]

Excellent info on something I never heard of. From now on I will be looking for ground movement any time I walk in a forest.

[@CTCDetroit]

Excellent footage so you can imagine how bog bodies formed after the human was executed or disposed of.

[@iplanes1]

When I worked at Rolls Royce Aero Engines in the 70s Chris Brasher's brother Tony was my boss. Where are they now?

[@uncletiggermclaren7592]

It was filmed 60 years ago, looks at least in his 40s in the clip. I assume he is in an urn, or a grave now.

[@blacksmithden]

I'm not entirely sure I'd be bouncing up and down on that.

[@dawidjagusiak]

There's a lot of bogs like this in New Zealand. They act like nature's sponges, can stop water during floods and hold it during draughts, they are very beneficial for the environment.

[@goodun2974]

I am reminded of a folk song from the Irish Rovers: "Oh ro, the rattlin' bog, the bog down in the valley-oh......". Farther on, midsong, it continues and builds into: "Now in that nest there was a bird, a rare bird and a rattlin' bird/and the bird in the nest and the nest on the branch and the branch on the limb and the limb on the tree and the tree in the hole and the hole in the bog down in the valley-oh....." My siblings and I sang this in the car when we were little kids on long road trips with our parents.

[@randomfandom184]

I love this song performed by the minstrels of mayhem

[@hoilst265]

Schwing!

[@Dan23_7]

Balla balla shwing.

[@ngrader]

When I first came here, this was all swamp. Everyone said I was daft to build a castle on a swamp, but I built in all the same, just to show them. It sank into the swamp. So I built a second one. That sank into the swamp. So I built a third. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp. But the fourth one stayed up. And that's what you're going to get, Lad, the strongest castle in all of England.

[@darklingeraeld-ridge7946]

Marvellous - the nature, and the beeb … may they both thrive forever

[@jeremykille4689]

Not the beeb, I've had it with their social engineering, lying and wokery.

[@darklingeraeld-ridge7946]

@@jeremykille4689 you were watching the wrong channel then. But perhaps you prefer Tory lies.

[@jeremykille4689]

@@darklingeraeld-ridge7946 I have eyes and ears, I don't need to believe anyone or anything, I merely observe.

[@darklingeraeld-ridge7946]

@@jeremykille4689 unimpressive powers of observation then

[@jeremykille4689]

@@darklingeraeld-ridge7946 Jimmy Saville, colour blind casting, biased reporting on October 7th, refusal to call hammas terrorists. Inappropriate music playing over the Iran drone attack, anti white bias, pushing medical interventions at the expense of children. Calling rapists she. These are just a few that spring to mind, but I expect this comment will removed.

[@victoriabarclay3556]

This reminds me of hounds of the Baskervilles

[@E-Kat]

That was very brave of the team to record this!

[@TreestumpJones]

I wonder how many people have accidently fell through the surface, never to be seen again.

[@mid-walesrover681]

That's a lot of stored carbon.

[@grhinson]

Good energy source there indeed

[@olivere5497]

Think of the garden centers!

[@amistake]

Carbon

[@JesseP.Watson]

Indeed, someone should consider burying it so it doesn't escape! Nothing worse than carbon floating around, could turn into food or a life-form or God knows what, terrifying stuff it is!

[@the_fifth_wheel]

@@JesseP.Watson Food and Lifefprms?!? We don’t want that kind of thing around here, oh no that just won’t do.

[@gambrell8186]

Am I the only one who heard the splash at the end, and thought "oh my gosh, did he fall in??" 😆

[@steveday4797]

Wouldn't surprise me if it's a housing estate now

[@phily8093]

More likely some form of sewage plant or rubbish dump.

[@zakelwe]

Moss side, Manchester.

[@yorkiebuck]

no it's still there. National Nature Reerve. Google it.

[@willcatch]

@@zakelwe😂

[@uncletiggermclaren7592]

Well, you must have missed the part where they say it is a National Park and protected now. Which it still is, AND the watershed that it forms a part of is protected from being drawn on for irrigation.

[@huntermccoy7641]

Its amazing I never new we spoke the same language until I heard them say feet and yards. History is incredible

[@charrogate]

A brilliant interview depicting the remnants of 🇬🇧 imperial 📏measurements and 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 RP speech of the time. Most (unaware) interesting mossy boggy topic too 🤔 Keep rolling these 📽️ gems out 👍

[@margin606]

​@@westerncherokeewireless642The UK is in the weird no-man's land of using both 🙄

[@charrogate]

@@westerncherokeewireless642 This was filmed in 1964 before 📏the metric system was introduced.

[@charrogate]

@@margin606 Metric is the dominant unit other than on roads (MPH) and aviation (feet). 🌡️ Fahrenheit is hardly used.

[@margin606]

@@charrogate Pint of bitter?

[@charrogate]

@@margin606 Yes, cheers ,🍻

[@havingalook2]

Fascinating.

[@chrisd9610]

It took me a minute to realize why he was measuring the depth in feet and the other guy spoke of fox droppings every 7-8 yards.

[@jamesrowden303]

Those sound effects are positively lavatorial.

[@robertedwards1240]

Wonderful!

[@darkranger116]

alright now i want to see a schwingmoor boat!

[@victoriabarclay3556]

That’s crazy scary. In San Francisco Bay area they built on sandy land fill to extent land into water and when a quake hits, the whole building could get toppled or sunk

[@FalloutUrMum]

The thing about his method of pushing those rods down end to end, those rods are insanely bendy and as soon as they are submerged in the water there's nothing keeping them connected to the rod above. So if they were still end to end, then the ones at the bottom would easily bend under the pressure he's pushing down, or they would just disconnect and move aside once they're fully in the water. So he could probably have done that bit Almost endlessly without getting a result

[@redbeki]

I hope it's still there and not been drained and built on or anything like that ?

[@RW-nr6bh]

It's still there unchanged

[@GS-lu2zu]

Chartley Moss National Nature Reserve, still there surrounded by fields.

[@moulindaccessoire.3072]

Very informative.

[@goawaygosh]

I wonder how many bodies are hidden there?

[@morgothra4483]

I'm only aware of 6.

[@goawaygosh]

@@morgothra4483 soon it’ll be 7

[@morgothra4483]

@@goawaygosh 🤔

[@halonothing1]

Looks like a fine site for a parking lot.

[@cyberles8830]

Had no idea bogs went so deep!

[@Arc-popz]

Whoa! A drunk jog thru the bog can be deadly slog

[@AhJodie]

Different peoples around the world have built things similar to these to grow food and live.... the one in the video seems creepy to me! I love this though, and never knew this existed, thank you for sharing!

[@Ildrathing]

This really highlights the importance of carbon sequestering bogs and fens also as a sweetwater retainer, among many other important things. These ecosystems need to be protected and restored around the world !

[@dagwort]

While working for AT&T along a small river in south Alabama, what I thought was just mushy ground turned out to be floating bog, and I was actually 30 feet from true ground. Scared me s***less when the "ground" around me wobbled like a water bed (just like at 4:45). I fell through it up to my hiips just before I reached real shoreline. Alligator territory, too. Not quite a floating forest though.

[@cedhome7945]

Be funny if it went in a u shape and poked up behind him !

[@NOT.MI5.MI6.]

😆😆

[@syedalamgir5838]

Nice video

[@The1stDukeDroklar]

Ok, that is trippy.

[@Mickster71]

I thought they called it a moor, because you could push a stick into the ground moor and moor😮

[@lindaj5492]

Thank you, YT random algorithm!

[@kkeiros]

"Artaaaax, noooo!!!"

[@wmason1961]

I do believe that the british accent has changed dramatically in the last 50 years.

[@valkyrie1066]

A raft of...peat? Huh. I was kinda picturing it being maybe two feet deep....

[@coolmacatrain9434]

2:42 Faron Woods...

[@Thoroughly_Wet]

Bogs are crazy

[@rossdtool]

That’s how coal beds were created millions of years ago. Low oxygen peatland beds that kept piling up for hundreds of feet over decades.

[@samdumaquis2033]

Wow

[@db7266]

I can't help but wonder if there are the remains of ancient animals preserved way underneath there...

[@isilder]

Its a rattlin bog !

[@halonothing1]

Tim Hunkins still has an active KZbin channel. There's lots of c9ntent from his old show, too. Full episodes, I think.

[@harlequinems]

The government : Perfect land for a council estate!

[@YABBAHEY1]

Ah, back when television was educational & entertaining

[@edwardfindley8483]

The question is has Cunk been there?

[@Max_Griswald]

I'd love tonhear what Philomena has to say about it...

[@3yebeams]

Wonder how many bodies are buried there?

[@paulsmith5469]

I think the problem is that he's using 9 schwing when your supposed to use a 39 and a half foot pole.

[@TheWoodgineer]

Proof David Mitchell is a time traveler

[@seanrcollier]

Scwigg! Ok. Ok. Party on, Garth.

[@shannontaylor1849]

I heard tales of folks lost to the bogs up north on the AT but called BS until I hiked the Pinhoti, BMT and AT and I think it's absolutely possible in maybe 2 doz. sections to slip one heel off a wet single plank-log bridge and not recover. DAF.

[@blueabattoir]

That’s where ET lay their eggs.

[@EvelynTokamp]

I thank you to not use my initials, @blueabattoir.

[@gsclare6308]

Drying out as we speak...

[@demoisellelenina]

Dont drop the phone down.

[@margin606]

If it's not the bog it's the toilet 😔

[@morgan1719]

He'd be surprised if the Bog People replied by jabbing him back

[@buds8423]

Certainly a rattlin’ bog!

[@kieferngruen]

It would be interesting what actually lives in the water under the vegetation.

[@davepowell7168]

Floating bogs can be risky

[@-xirx-]

Not if you wear a three piece suit!

[@manchagojohnsonmanchago6367]

Hahaha yes Very risky

[@deadskunk8733]

Meanwhile in Beijing a small child is telling his mother about a strange stick coming out of the ground.

[@christhesmith]

That'd be Australia, mate!

[@wolfganggugelweith8760]

What’s about Woodwose there?

[@michaelbyrne5507]

It's what Metrocentre in Gateshead is built on.