MMO2509 - 19th Century peat cutting on northwest facing slopes of Lucott Moor (Monument)

A small but intensive area of peat cutting, probably of 19th Century date, can be seen as numerous densely spaced and irregularly shaped pits on aerial photographs of the 1940s onwards, centred on circa SS 8453 4347 on Lucott Moor. The cuttings are difficult to define but appear to be composed of intercutting sinuous pits approximately five metres wide, covering an area of circa 0.3 hectares. It is possible that these cuttings reflect the cumulative nature of much of the peat cutting on Exmoor, where one family may cut the same peat beds, known locally as 'turfs', for generations as part of their commoners rights. They may also be related to much more extensive and dispersed cuttings visible about 200 metres to the east. Due to the difficult nature of the evidence which can vary in appearance on aerial photographs from year to year, the transcription attempts only to convey the general character and area of the excavations, and should not be taken as a definitive record of the extent the pits. Peat cutting has probably taken place on Exmoor from the medieval period onwards, but its heyday was probably in the first half of the 19th Century, although small scale cutting probably continued well into the 20th Century. [1-3] A study of the archaeology and history of peat exploitation on Exmoor’s moorlands provides additional background on the practice and sites. [4] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [5]