The history of moorland drainage on Exmoor
There is a long history of moorland improvement for agriculture on Exmoor and drainage is just one of the methods used in conjunction with applications of lime and slag and ploughing.
Records of Moorland drainage by the Knight family and others From “The Heritage of Exmoor” by R. Burton and “The reclamation of Exmoor Forest” by Orwin and Sellick.
John Knight and his son in particular were responsible for the cutting of surface drains at Great and Little Buscombe, Trout Hill, East and West Pinford, The Chains, etc (from Orwin and Sellick). During this period others were also involved in the drainage works. In 1836 at Ashcombe 628.5 chains (7.8 miles) of ‘Floting’ drains were cut by George Crocombe. Similarly at Blackpitts and The Chains- Richard Blae cut 2741 perches (8.5 miles) of surface drains (from R. Burton).
Drain dug by Knight Family on Burcombe – photo D.Smith 2007
Moorland ploughing
Ox-teams were used for ploughing and reclaiming land from 1824 onwards. Steam was trialled in 1876 using a Fowlers Sutherland plough and a steam engine and tackle manufactured by Barfords. In 1877 some 400 acres of moorland was worked by the steam engine and the Sutherland plough which made a furrow 12 inches deep and nearly 2 ft wide. This broke up the iron pan and dried out the peat. Following this operation the land was generally cross ploughed and then limed.
The recent history of drainage on Exmoor
from “Moorlands at a Crossroads -The State of the Moorlands of Exmoor, 2004” A Report to The Exmoor Society by Land Use Consultants
The period until the mid 1960s saw the moorlands subject to increasingly intensive agricultural management and reclamation and in certain areas, such as the Brendon Heaths, to afforestation. This continued a trend (though not a constant one) that had been taking place since at least the beginning of the nineteenth century, with landowners and their tenants responding to Government encouragement and taking advantage of technological developments to increase the productivity and profitability of moorland land. It is worth pointing out that the reclamation of the moorlands had not been a steady process – indeed during the late nineteenth century, and again in the 1920s, agricultural depressions saw some land that had been improved revert to rough grazing.
Recently reclaimed moorland at Lower Sheardon. From Air photos it can be seen that in 1945 this area was a turf pit for domestic fuel. By 1995 it was reclaimed. Photo D. Smith 2007
Research undertaken by Elizabeth Rowan in 1995 used analysis of maps and aerial photographs to estimate and map moorland loss. The rate of loss estimated from these sources fell from 1,086 ha between 1954 and 1966, to 483 ha between 1966 and 1977, 224 ha between 1977 and 1988 and 14 ha between 1988 and 1995.
These sources make clear that the main reasons for the loss of moorland was reclamation to agriculture, followed by afforestation on areas such as the Brendon Heaths (with an area totally around 500 ha being planted with conifers in the early 20th century). Notwithstanding the different definitions of moorland used in these various estimates, it is clear that the rate of loss has declined significantly since the 1960s to the current situation where the moorland area has been relatively stable since the mid 1980s.
A study by the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology analysed the information presented in the Porchester Report against Sinclair’s five areas of moorland, and concluded that the greatest relative loss of moorland between 1947 and 1976 took place in the Brendon Heaths (38%), followed by the Coastal Heaths (21%), the Southern Heather
Moors (18%), the Northern Heather Moors (14%) and finally the Grass Moors of the Centre Moors (10%). Figure 2.6 shows that the impact of the moorland loss in the last fifty years has been to fragment and create incisions of more productive, but less wild, land into the main moorland blocks. Areas such as the North Molton Ridge and the moorland north of Pitsworthy Farm have become isolated, while Mill Hill has become a ridge of moorland fringed by improved agricultural land.
End of Drainage in 1980’s
The beginning of the end of moorland drainage and reclamation on Exmoor was Lord Porchester’s report in 1977 that heralded the introduction of management agreements with land owners which were designed to prevent further drainage operations from taking place.