Dr Jonathan Lageard, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Studies, Division of Geography & Environmental Management, Manchester Metropolitan University will tell us what has been discovered as peat bogs have been exploited.

Peatlands cover significant areas within the north-west and have suffered considerably through drainage and exploitation. One positive aspect of these interventions has been the uncovering of rich organic archive including bog oaks and bog bodies. Increasingly sophisticated scientific analyses of these archives have not only dated, but have also shed significant light on the nature of past environments and their human occupants.