Thorne and Hatfield Moors form the largest area of lowland raised peat bog in the United Kingdom. They are situated in South Yorkshire, to the north-east and east of Doncaster near the town of Thorne, and are part of Hatfield Chase. They had been used for small-scale extraction of peat for fuel from medieval times, and probably much earlier, but commercial extraction of the peat for animal bedding began in the 1880s. The peat was cut on the moors and, once it had dried, transported to several works on narrow gauge tramways, locally called trams. The wagons were pulled by horses to works at Creyke's Siding, Moorends, Medge Hall, Swinefleet and Hatfield. There was also a network of canals supplying the Moorends Works.
The industry suffered a downturn between the two world wars, as working horses were replaced by lorries and peat demand dropped, but after the Second World War peat was used by the horticultural industry in increasing volumes, and harvesting expanded again. From 1947, experiments were made with locomotives on the tramways, and they soon replaced horses. A total of 23 had worked on the system by the time it was closed down. The extraction process was mechanised in the 1960s, with the introduction of machines that could cut and stack the peat turves. In 1981 mechanical loading of the turves into the trains was introduced. Surface milling of the peat was introduced in 1985, which completely stripped the surface of large areas of the moors.
Some environmental bodies considered the moors to be worthless, but tireless campaigning by William Bunting after the Second World War, culminating in direct action by a group known as Bunting's Beavers in 1972, resulted in a change of policy. The nature of the moor habitat has gradually been recognised as an ecological resource. From 1971 the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust has managed a small area of Crowle Moor for conservation, and the Nature Conservancy Council bought another small area in 1985. A major change occurred in 1994, when Fisons company gave English Nature of moorland, although they retained the right to continue extracting peat on some of it. By 2002, Scotts owned the cutting rights but most cutting of peat effectively ended in 2001, since the government buy-out in 2002 of the extraction rights from Scotts occurred before the cutting season had begun. Removal of peat stockpiled on the moors continued into 2006. Since then the moors have been managed as a National Nature Reserve by Natural England. Scotts still have a works at Hatfield, which processes imported peat.
In addition to the peat industry Hatfield Moor has been the site of part of the UK gas industry since 1981. Hatfield Moor gas field was discovered accidentally while drilling for oil, and a major blow-out and fire occurred. Gas was extracted from 1986 to 1998, and when the gas field became depleted, it was reused to become the first onshore gas storage facility of its kind in Britain.
Hatfield Moors () is a 1400.7 hectare (3461.1 acre) biological site of Special Scientific Interest in South Yorkshire. The site was notified in 1954. The site is managed by Natural England.
Location Thorne Moors and Hatfield Moors together cover an area of some , and are a small remnant of a much larger wetland system that once covered around known as the Humberhead Levels. The moors lie to the east of the town of Thorne and the M18 motorway. Thorne Moors are situated to the north of the M180 motorway, while Hatfield Moors lie to the south of that road.
Thorne Moors are also called Swinefleet Moors, and both terms describe Crowle Moor, Goole Moor, Rawcliffe Moor, Snaith and Cowick Moor, and Thorne Waste collectively.
History
The moors had been used as a source for domestic fuel, in the form of peat, since at least the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and probably as early as the Roman or pre-Roman periods. In the early 1800s, peat was still being formed: William Harrison reported that a short time after moving to Thorne, a rise in the surface of the moors has obscured Crowle Church, previously visible from his home.
The area saw major changes in its hydrology in the 1630s, as a result of the drainage works of Cornelius Vermuyden. The River Don was routed northwards from Stainforth, passing to the west of the moors; the River Idle routed along the southern edge of Hatfield Chase, and a new channel was cut for the River Torne, which was isolated from the surrounding land by new flood banks. These works had less effect on Thorne Moors, which became isolated from Hatfield Moors with the completion of the Stainforth and Keadby Canal in 1802, running in an east–west direction between them. The moors were "warped" during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, a process by which silt-laden floodwater from the River Trent and the River Ouse was allowed to cover the land, resulting in silt building up on the surface. The Swinefleet Warping Drain can still be seen, running along the eastern edge of the moors, and connecting to the Ouse below Goole. It was last used for this purpose just before the First World War, in connection with land reclamation near Medge Hall, Crowle. This was the last known occasion on which warping was used in the moors to the south of the Humber.
The Thorne Moors Improvement Company was set up in 1848, authorised by the Thorne Moor Drainage and Improvement Act. They were charged with improving parts of the bog. Their activities increased in the 1880s, when they began to lease areas to companies who extracted the peat commercially for use as animal bedding. In order to do this, ditches had to be cut to begin the process of drainage. As the extent of the workings increased, a Dutch company cut canals in the peat. Horses pulled barges from canal paths alongside in order to remove the peat from the moors. Subsequently, a network of small railways were constructed along the canals to transport the peat.
In The Gentleman's Magazine 31 August 1727, George Stovin made reference to Hatfield Moor: "Here is great plenty of furze buſhes, and variety of game, such as hares, foxes, kites, eagles, curlews, ducks and geese; there is no house or cottage near it, and but a few old oaks, fallows, and birch; the house is a little stud-bound one, and seems ready to fall".
Until the mid-twentieth century, all peat was cut by hand. Although the effects of the industry on the ecology of the moors were serious, hand cutting mainly affected the surface of the moors. It left behind trenches and ditches, which soon became waterlogged, and were re-colonised to become part of the diverse habitat. Once the cutting process was mechanised, peat could be cut from a greater depth, and at a faster rate, resulting in less ability for the moors to recover. Mechanical peat cutting was introduced to the moors in the early 1960s, and the process was similar to hand cutting, in that the peat was extracted over a small area but to a considerable depth. More destructive to the ultimate regeneration of the moors was the introduction of peat milling in 1985, where a thin layer of peat was stripped from a wider area. Thus in 1910, around 56 tonnes per acre were extracted from of the moors, whereas in 1985 the yield was 10 tonnes per acre over double that area. As early as the late 1960s, academics and conservation agencies expressed concerns that the moors had been so badly damaged by peat extraction and farming that they were not worth saving.
Environmental campaigning A scheme to cover the moors with ash from coal-fired power stations, and possibly municipal rubbish, was proposed in 1962, and again in 1969. Another plan of the 1960s was to build a regional airport on the moors; this proposal was revived in 1971. Further ash-tipping schemes were voiced in 1974, as was a third plan for an airport in 1976. There were also plans to use the moor as a dump for colliery waste in 1978, when Thorne Colliery was upgraded and reopened.
William Bunting
Although official attitudes did not place much value on the moors, William Bunting moved to Thorne after the Second World War and became an advocate for moor preservation. Thought to be rude and irascible, he began a campaign to recognise the ecological importance of the moors. He asserted that the enclosures of the 1800s, when common rights were replaced by private ownership, had been illegal, as was much of the commercial exploitation of his time. He seemed to have a good deal of evidence to support his claims, and took several major utilities to court over acts which he felt were illegal. He won a series of high-profile cases, which he used as publicity to advance the case for conserving the moors. In 1972, Bunting began direct action, aided by local residents, local naturalists, and students. During the week, the peat extraction company Fisons would cut drains to begin the process of lowering the water table. During the weekends, Bunting's Beavers, as his team became known, would walk onto the moors and construct dams across the new ditches, to retain the water levels. By the summer, the Beavers appeared to be winning the battle, and their activities were featured on BBC television. Fisons dynamited eighteen of the dams, but the activists were undeterred and began rebuilding them. Finally, Fisons conceded defeat, and negotiated with the Nature Conservancy Council on the future management of the moors in 1974. The government granted some Site of Special Scientific Interest status in 1981. Although this had little immediate effect, it has contributed to subsequent appreciation of the area and its importance as an ecological resource.
Conservation
The first small step towards conservation of the moors occurred in 1971, when an agreement was reached between the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust and Fisons on the management of on Crowle Moor. In 1985, the Nature Conservancy Council bought of Thorne Waste, which had been part of the area worked by a canal network. The Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust purchased a total of in 1987, which included the area they had been managing since 1971. The first large-scale transfer of land occurred in 1994, when Fisons gave to English Nature, the successor to the Nature Conservancy Council. The agreement allowed Fisons to lease back the active peat fields from English Nature, and to continue to extract peat until 2025. However, they agreed to leave a minimum of of peat, so that the moors could recover once extraction ceased. Areas that were not being worked were managed for conservation. At this time, English Nature also took control of parts of Hatfield Moors. The areas they managed were designated as the Humberhead Peatlands National Nature Reserve in 1995, and were extended by another in the following year.
Most extraction of peat from the moors had ended by 2004, after the peat extraction rights, then owned by Scotts, had been bought by the government for £17 million. A small-scale operation was still active in 2005.
Environmentalists continued to campaign for recognition of the ecological value of the moors. In 2002 the government agreed to buy the peat extraction rights from The Scotts Company (now trading as The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company). The agreement was signed in April, before the cutting season began, and no cutting occurred on Thorne Moors after 2001. Stockpiles of cut peat continued to be removed from the moors until 2005. Scotts worked with English Nature to return worked areas to a condition where they could start to regenerate, until their involvement with this contract on Thorne Moors ended in March 2006. Since 2005, of Thorne Moors have been designated as a national nature reserve. This includes the area bought by the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust, which now manage most of Crowle Moor on behalf of Natural England, the successor to English Nature.