Turbary

Turbary is the ancient right to cut turf, or peat, for fuel on a particular area of bog.^[1] The word may also be used to describe the associated piece of bog or peatland and, by extension, the material extracted from the turbary. Turbary rights, which are more fully expressed legally as common of turbary, are often associated with commonage, or, in some cases, rights over another person's land.

Turf was widely used as fuel for cooking and domestic heating but also for commercial purposes such as evaporating brine to produce salt. The right to take peat was particularly important in areas where firewood was scarce.

In the New Forest of southern England, a particular right of turbary belongs not to an individual person, dwelling or plot of land, but to a particular hearth and chimney.^[2]

Geographic regions of turbary works in Europe include the Netherlands, Ireland, and The Broads in Norfolk and Suffolk, England, and the Audomarois lakes near Saint-Omer, France^[3] The term is also used in colloquial language by older generations in Ireland, in places such as County Clare, to refer to the area where turf is cut.

The word is derived from Anglo-French turberie and Low German, turf. Compare Sanskrit darbhá, meaning tuft of grass.^[4]

References

1. Turbary - the Right to Cut Turf. Irish Peatland Conservation Council. Retrieved: 2010-10-01.
2. New Forest commons rights
3. http://www.theotherside.co.uk/tm-heritage/visit/visit-stomer-audomarois.htm
4. Entries for turbary and turf. The Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition. Clarendon Press, 1989. ISBN 0-19-861186-2.