MMO2525 - Post-medieval peat cutting on Black Mires (Monument)

Evidence of peat cutting can be seen as densely grouped irregularly shaped pits on aerial photographs of the 1940s onwards. The pits cover an area of nearly 2.5 hectares centred on circa SS 84184352, on a north facing spur on the slopes of Black Mires Hill, above Weir Water, Porlock Allotment. The pits are closely spaced and possibly intercut, displaying stepped sides in plan, which has been interpreted as evidence of sustained and systematic peat cutting, perhaps by several generations of the same family in a preferred location, as part of their commoners' rights. Several of the pits to the south of the group appear to be overlain by the course of the Simonsbath to Porlock Mineral railway. If this is the case, they are therefore probably of possible 18th or early 19th Century date. However, further fieldwork is required to establish the relationship between to two features. 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 area and character of the excavations and should be taken only as indicative of the extent of individual pits. The heyday of peat cutting on Exmoor was in the first half of the 19th Century, although cutting probably took place on a smaller scale from the medieval period well into the 20th Century. (1-4) This was surveyed during a measured field survey in 2013, undertaken as part of the Dig Porlock project, run by the Exmoor Moorland Landscape Partnership Scheme. [6] A study of the archaeology and history of peat exploitation on Exmoor’s moorlands provides additional background on the practice and sites. [7] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [8]