Turfing on the peat moors along with the messages on the backs. I thought at first these might be reproduction cards however postal dates suggest otherwise.

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Peat is the partially decayed remains of organic matter such as reeds, sedges, mosses and even trees. It forms in wet environments where acidity and  low levels of oxygen halts decay.

Peat has formed in the Avalon Marshes over thousands of years starting around 6,000 to 7,000 years ago and continuing to about 400 AD. The lowest layers of peat started as reedswamp, then wet woodland and finally huge raised bogs.

Peat is central to the character and history of Somerset’s  Avalon Marshes. It preserved its outstanding archaeology, was a vital fuel for local people,  provided rich grazing through dry summers and in the 20th century through the peat industry was a big employer of local people.  The worked out areas are now nature reserves  but  peat extraction still continues today and is an important part of the local community and economy. 

The waterlogged peat of the Avalon Marshes  gives us a window into the past. It has preserved a uniquely rich archaeology,  in particular the Sweet Track and Glastonbury lake village.  It also gives an indication of what the surrounding landscape was like through the pollen record preserved in the peat.

Wet peat is like a sponge but peats such as sedge peat can be dried into hard blocks, known as “turves”, which can then be burnt as a fuel.

We know that peat has been burnt for thousands of years. The Romans used it to heat “salterns”, pans used to extract salt from sea water by boiling off the water.  The communities who lived on the “high” lands of the adjacent hills and islands often had turbary rights to dig peat on what was the common land of the marshes. Each parish would have an area of peat moor for grazing, for thatching reeds and fuel. Local families would cut and dry peat during the summer months ready for cold winter days.  Some of this peat might be sold in local towns as an important source of income.

Ruckling 

The process of cutting peat had a language of its own.  It was a manual process which saw whole families out on the “moors”;  father digging the “mumps” and then splitting them into “turves”; wives and children building the “hyles” “tates” and” ruckles”; grandparents helping where they could.  It was hard physical work; a wet mump could weigh 12kg (28lb), and ruckles were taller than a man and contained around a thousand turves.