"Torf"

by Hugh Sherdley

One hundred and fifty years ago the universal fuel used by the cottages and farms in the North Fylde was peat, or "torf", twelve months' supply being dug and dried in the summer months. With the coming of the railway and the availability of cheap coal from the Lancashire coal field, the use of peat as a fuel declined. The 1939-45 war saw a temporary increase in its use, due to coal being rationed and more expensive. The last time peat was dug on Pilling moss for domestic use was in the mid 1960s..

Peat consists of semi-decomposed and compressed vegetable matter. The Pilling moss peat is mainly sphagnum moss, cotton grass, heather, and alder and silver birch brushwood, all types of plant life which flourish in wet, undrained conditions. Research seems to indicate that the Fylde moss lands began to form about 3,000 years ago, when possibly a change in land levels impeded the natural drainage. This lack of drainage and the water-logged conditions would kill the forest trees, mostly oak, growing in the district. The remains of these are found as "moss stocks" in some parts of the moss lands, many of them of considerable size.
With artificial drainage, and the reclamation of the mosses, which began early in the 19th century, the peat began to dry out and consolidate. One hundred years ago it was recorded that in some areas it was twenty feet deep. At the present day, where it has not been removed, it averages six to eight feet in depth.

"Torf delving" began in the late spring, March or April, and the first operation was "feying", taking off about eighteen inches of sod and top soil. This uncovered the upper surface of the peat bed, which was marked out in rectangles 11" by 9", using a handled board with nails driven into it at the appropriate spacing. The peat was then dug out in blocks 6" thick. Each block was then sliced horizontally in two, producing two peats which when dry measured about 7" by 9" by 2" thick. This size differed in other peat-producing districts of Britain, where the peats measured about 18" by 4" wide.

After cutting out the wet and heavy block of peat it was picked up with a fork and placed edge-upwards on a special "torf barrow". This was a long, low barrow with a narrow platform and a head board, but no sides or tail board. This barrow was loaded with ten blocks and wheeled to level ground behind the peat-cutting and tipped on its side, thus depositing the peat in a row on the ground, all standing on edge. After a few days drying in this position, the next operation was "plucking", or pulling over each peat through 90° to allow the edge which had been in contact with the ground to dry. This action was followed by "bullernecking", which turned the turves (still standing
on edge) a further 90°.

Next, in a few more weeks, depending on the weather, came the process of "meemowing", which was building the turves into small pyramids of nine turves, the object of this was to get as much peat off the ground as possible to assist drying.

By August or September, in a reasonable summer, the peat would be dry enough to build into a "howk" or "round robin". A circular base of eleven turves, laid flat, was set out on level ground and the "howk" was built up on this with air spaces between the turves to a height of 6 feet. The turves in the centre of the "howk" were thrown in loosely and not packed closely. Considerable skill was required to build a howk; a badly constructed one would be liable to collapse.

Before the wet weather and frosts of winter arrived, the "torf" was carted to the farm or cottage and stacked, sometimes outdoors in a stack 10' by 6' by 7' high but preferably under cover to ensure keeping them absolutely dry.
A peat fire gives considerable heat. Its chief disadvantage is the residue of ash, which is very fine and dusty and if not handled carefully is liable to drift all over the house. Peat fireplaces usually has a large grate with a corresponding ash pit underneath, which was only emptied once a week. Peat ash was considered to be a valuable fertilizer, being rich in potash.

The rights of peat delving were governed by old customary laws, which basically permitted every householder to dig peat on the moss for his own use.

Tenant farmers on the moss had the right to delve on their land for their own use but not for sale. Owner-occupiers could sell their peat and in the 19th century much Pilling peat was hawked in the streets of Lancaster and Preston. The peat for sale was often dug by professional "torf delvers" who were paid on a piece-work basis, the work standard being a "fall", which was 560 turves, two men, working together one "delving", the other "putting out" could produce a fall in an hour.

Cottagers also had the right to turbary, the land owner letting out a strip or "dale" for a small rent. The cottager had to work the peat himself or pay a piece-worker. He was not permitted to sell any of it.
There is still a considerable amount of peat left on Pilling moss but it is very doubtful if it will ever be delved in the foreseeable future.

It used to be said that "God's grace is as boundless as Pilling Moss", and a rhyming couplet said "Once a forest, once a sea, now a moss and ever shall be".