The long lives and troubled times of our bogs

Here on this ribbon of bog road 

where curlews cry and teal and mallard burst from darkening bog-holes 

I stand cathedralled. 

- Bernadette McCarrick 

Going to the bog to start turf-cutting at this time of year was a tradition that extended back for centuries. Few events in the calendar of rural living created as much anticipation. Cutting turf was no ordinary task, it wasn’t just fuel for the fire, it was an act of faith.

Far back 

Before we discover anything about the origins of turf-cutting, let us first journey back in time to discover the origins of the bogs themselves. In the grand scale of time, we don’t have to go back all that far. Clara Bog Nature Reserve in County Offaly, managed by National Parks and Wildlife, provides us with the back story.

At the end of the last Ice Age about 10,000 years ago, peat formation began in Ireland. As the ice sheet began to melt it left behind gravel ridges where the meltwater was trapped and shallow lakes were formed. Plants such as reeds grew along the edges of the lakes. As these plants died, they decomposed at a slow rate due to the wet environment. This was mainly due to the lack of the oxygen which prevented microbial breakdown. The remains of the plants built up on the lake bed as a layer of peat.

Over time, the peat layer became thicker and the area of open water was much reduced. The water that is fed into a fen is groundwater and is rich in minerals. Some fens have progressed into raised bogs. This progression takes place over hundreds of years as the peat and water turn from alkaline to acidic conditions. The change in these abiotic factors attracts a different plant and animal community.

Sphagnum moss, known as the ‘bog builder’, is adapted to grow in low nutrient and acidic conditions become the dominant plant. As well as the Sphagnum moss, peat also contains roots, leaves, flowers and seeds of heathers, grasses and sedges. It is not difficult to understand why bogs are often referred to as living, breathing organisms.

Deep down 

Keeping our bog example in the one place, Clara Bog began to form between 8,000 and 10,000 years ago when a lake was filled with a layer of dead vegetation forming fen peat. This coincides with the time that raised bogs began to form in Ireland. Raised bogs have an average peat depth of 9 to 12 metres. Clara Bog is now 10 metres deep. Clara Bog Nature Reserve continues with the story of how bogs have grown geographically.

Outside the Midlands, most peatlands in Ireland, especially in the West, are described as blanket bog. They form in areas where the average annual rainfall is greater than 1,200mm and where rain falls on at least 235 days each year. Blanket bogs began to form between 4,000 and 7,000 years ago and so are much younger than raised bogs.

Because of tree clearance in these areas, along with the high rainfall, minerals such as iron were washed down to the lower layers of soil. The minerals accumulated to form an impermeable layer called an iron pan. This then caused waterlogged conditions that favoured peat formation.

The average peat depth of a blanket bog is 1.2 to three metres. There are two main types of blanket bog: lowland blanket bog that formed below the 150-metre contour line and mountain blanket bog that formed in areas above 150 metres. The latter is mostly found in mountainous regions throughout the country and includes much of the bogland on the Ox Mountains.

What’s the story?

But what of turf-cutting? When did it begin and where will it end? Patrick Abbot, writing in The Atlas of the Irish Rural Landscape (Cork University Press, 1997), provides some interesting information on these questions.

In modern times, many blanket bogs have been modified by human action. The cutting of peat for fuel began in the 17th century and continued at an increasing rate until the mid-20th century. Starting in the 1700s, the raised bogs of Ireland were exploited as a source of cheap fuel. Most of this was cut by hand, and laid in the sun to dry before being burned. At the time of the Famine, peat was often the only source of fuel available.

In 1934, the Irish Free State set up the Turf Development Board, which bought land under compulsory-purchase orders and cut turf. Half of Ireland's raised bogs were destroyed (at a rate of 800,000 tons per year) between 1814 and 1946. After World War II, the government set up Bord na Móna to cut peat by mechanical means and this simply accelerated the process. In 1969, there were just 100,000 hectares of raised bog left in Ireland, of which Bord na Móna owned 45,000 hectares. Most of this will be exhausted by the middle of the coming century.

Abbot’s information piece concludes on a more hopeful note when he suggests that in recent years, there has been increased awareness of the importance of raised bogs to science. In the Republic of Ireland, there are plans to set aside 10,000 hectares of raised bog for conservation purposes. In Northern Ireland, which has fewer raised bogs to begin with, almost all raised bogs are being preserved as Areas of Special Scientific Interest.

Kiss of life 

It is safe to say that the days when a poverty-stricken people saving a plot of turf to boil their bacon and bake their bread are long gone. Indeed, apart from fuelling such simple tasks, it was always considered that if you required a decent fire, you had to resort to either timber or coal.

At a time when government policy is moving from brown to green, at a time when no new house has a chimney and those that have chimneys are getting rid of them, the continued use of turf as a heat source seems well outdated.

So, why, in this day and age, are we still drawn to cutting turf? There are possibly just two reasons: necessity and romance. At least I hope these are the only two reasons. Firstly, for certain people in certain situations, turf might well be their only option and secondly, no one is begrudging anyone a few bags of turf for their sitting room fire so they can cozy up in front of Netflix on a cold winter’s night. However, if you find yourself going to the bog to cut turf solely to maintain your claim or to poke your finger in the eye of Big Brother, please think again.

The bogs of Ireland have taken one hell of a beating. They have suffered death by a thousand cuts, some of these cuts, delivered in industrial proportions by agencies of the state. If turf is not essential for your heating requirements, I would respectfully suggest that there is more pleasure to be received from gifting your turf banks back to nature. While they are still living and breathing, our bogs need the kiss of life, not a final death blow.