May: This month in peatland restoration
With the coming of spring, the groundworks for peatland restoration were paused– nesting birds take precedence until late summer. However the work of the South West Peatland Partnership (SWPP) continues.
During May, works have centred around setting up monitoring equipment on upcoming sites, attending local events such as Ten Tors to chat all things peatlands, and further focussing in on how peatland restoration can ensure our peatlands continue to act as a vital records of the past. As an Historic Environment Officer (an archaeologist), at this time of year I’ve been out and about reviewing the progress of the restoration done over the previous autumn and winter and developing plans for future sites.
Martin walking across an area of Dartmoor. Image: Jakob Pegler
Like others across the UK and worldwide, the SWPP is working to slow the flow of water leaving upland landscapes and restore hydrological function to dried and degrading areas of important peatbogs. At the planning stage, a large part of my job is to identify archaeological features that are on the route of restoration vehicles getting to and from site. These are mapped, brought to the attention of contractors, and marked out on the ground. I am glad to say that none have been damaged. We invest in low-ground pressure vehicles and we then travel over a broad area rather than concentrate on a single trackway. Sometimes this is not possible, for example where some of Dartmoor’s many tinworks restrict access. In such cases, we protect bottlenecks by laying down rubber matting to reduce impact. In recent weeks, I have visited sites like the remote Tavy Head, a site that had hundreds of vehicle movements over the winter season to access our works. I am particularly pleased to see that routes on the open moorland here have recovered well from the prolific restoration season.
As we head into June my time is now focussed on helping colleagues with the planning of restoration proposed for 2024-5 upcoming season, making sure that historic environment considerations are a key part of the process at every stage. As well as checking the location of known features, and sometimes finding new ones to add to the Historic Environment Record, I am also commissioning surveys and reports by archaeological contractors. We have recently carried out research into all the written accounts of Cranmere Pool – visitors from the eighteenth century onwards generally found it a bit underwhelming if they found it at all. Following on from this we will be carrying out palaeoecological analysis of the peat around and within the pool to see if we can learn more about its history; how far back it dates and how has the environment varied over time? Perhaps we will discover just how much water it ever held and whether it was an important site to our ancestors. These results will inform peatland restoration works in the area around Cranmere Pool, due to commence later in 2024.
The SWPP also worked with the National Trust last season on over thirty hectares of restoration works on the peatlands of the Upper Plym. This is a fascinating historic landscape of peat cuttings, tin extraction and the production of peat charcoal – used for metal working. The remains of peat charcoal kilns, known as meilers, were often mistaken in the past for hut circles, cairns or natural features. I am commissioning work to survey them and examine a series of samples that will hopefully help to date this activity.
The Dartmoor of summer picnics, farming and holidaymakers often seems a long way away from its industrial past; It’s exciting to be carrying out this and other research to help us all collectively understand how humans have shaped this fascinating cultural landscape through time as we work to better improve the peatlands for water quality, wildlife diversity and climate resilience.
Written by Dr Martin Gillard, SWPP Historic Environment Officer