Saturday, 11 May 2013

Turf Burning


Exmoor's rolling moorland: a wild, windswept and boggy place

In the areas where peat is found - mostly in the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere - it was also a common fuel source and is still used for this purpose today.  On a non-commercial scale peat for burning is also in decline as the hand digging of the bogs, the drying out process and the carting all takes time for very little financial gain.  The days of the 'turf cutter' being paid sixpence a load have long passed.

Turf cutting creates deep trenches across the bogs

On Exmoor, in England's West Country, peat is always referred to as 'turf', a dialect word, that means something very different from the velvety, green sward of gardeners.  Turf was still being cut there into the 1970's and was one of the very first tasks I was given when arriving as a lad to work on a remote hill farm.  It was back breaking labour turning the individually cut pieces over and over to allow the wind to dry them before stacking them in heaps which later would be carried back to the farm to supply the fires that were needed all year for both heating and cooking.

 Cut turf in Ireland's Connemara


Curlew and Red Deer on Exmoor

Connemara turf stacked ready for carting - cut to a very different shape to Exmoor

Recently, on Exmoor, it has been realised that turf cutting kept the bogs 'open' providing a valuable wildlife resource and although not reinstating the practice the National Park has instigated the Exmoor Mire Restoration Project. This has involved blocking old drainage systems and re-wetting over 300 hectares; the project is on-going.  Visit there website by clicking here to find out more.


Exmoor is still as beautiful as ever and my love for it never diminishes but, without the scent of the turf fires, there is that little 'something' missing.  However hope may be around the corner: the entrepreneurial Irish are selling peat incense blocks by mail order so that you can have the scent anywhere.  I may even take a few blocks and light them on Exmoor for old times' sake.

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  2. Thank you. The trouble is that everybody wants an answer in black or white whereas, in reality, most things are a varying shade of grey!