A project to restore the peatlands of Exmoor in which South West Water is the main funder has revealed previously unknown archaeological secrets, according to a new book about the work.

The Exmoor Mires Project is in the process of restoring 2,500 hectares of peat bogs by blocking drainage ditches.  South West Water, together with project partners the Exmoor National Park Authority, the Environment Agency, Natural England, Historic England and local landowners, launched the Exmoor Mires Project in 2010 to slow down water leaving the moor, thereby enhancing river flows and improving water quality.

The work involves using excavators to build ditch blocks - the project employed Dr Lee Bray as Historic Environment Officer to ensure that the archaeology of Exmoor was protected and properly recorded.

Dr Bray and his team investigated potential archaeological remains before mire restoration took place, resulting in the identification of around 550 previously unrecognised potentially archaeological features, including over 100 features which are probably prehistoric in date.

Findings included:

• significant, previously unrecorded prehistoric features including cairns, burial mounds and standing stones
• more extensive remains including an occupation site dating to the Mesolithic and Neolithic between 6000BC and 3000BC
• the first evidence on Exmoor of a remnant soil pre-dating peat development
• important advances in our understanding of Exmoor's changing environment
• extensive new evidence for 19th century iron mining on Exmoor.

Dr Bray said:

"From an archaeological perspective, the project's work represents an unprecedented investment of resources in Exmoor's historic environment.

"Sometimes peatland restoration is seen as being in conflict with archaeology but this project has demonstrated how archaeological investigation, if properly planned for, can be an intrinsic element of peatland restoration. We hope that the Exmoor Mires Project will act as a benchmark demonstrating how the historic environment can be integrated with peatland restoration in future."

The results have been presented in a book, 'The Past and the Peat', published by Exmoor National Park Authority.

Vanessa Straker, Historic England Science Adviser for the South West, commented:

South West Water and the project partners should be congratulated for taking a holistic and sensitive approach to this important landscape and I'm delighted to see the results captured in this fascinating book."