Integrating Heritage Assets into Peatland Restoration: Finding, Assessing and Valuing the Palaeoenvironmental Archive

Peatland restoration projects aim to improve the delivery of ecosystem services. Cultural heritage and Historic Environment assets are usually identified as co-beneficiaries of restoration but are not commonly well-integrated at the planning or design stages. This paper considers the heritage value of upland peatlands and methods for integrating these values in ecosystem services approaches. Taking Exmoor National Park as a case study, an extensive walkover survey identified 119 small mires and assessed their cultural heritage asset potential. Many were not previously recognised as part of the Historic Environment potential of the upland. A novel valuation system based on proximity of mires to known archaeological sites, and the condition/depth of the peat matrix refined this to 37 high ‘value’ sites. Whilst ‘value’ remains a difficult term for some within cultural heritage management, we argue that it is not a case of whether we value this resource, but how we do this.