Yorkshire Peat Partnership project

Yorkshire Peat Partnership project at Nethergill Farm, run by Lucy Lee:

Nethergill Farm is situated in Langstrothdale at the headwaters of the Wharfe on the Dales Way. It is the ambition of the owners, the Thomas family, to create a sustainable wildlife haven and long-term conservation project. Though the farm’s blanket bog has been historically damaged, it is now under management that aids its protection and restoration, with some areas of well-preserved blanket bog. It is home to a diversity of peatland species rarely found in the Yorkshire Dales.

In November 2025 I carried out a workshop at Nethergill Farm with a group of 11 post-16 art students from Ilkley Grammar School, in collaboration with Claire Harris (Head of Art at IGS). We went onto Oughtershaw Moss with Lucy Lee (Yorkshire Peat Partnership), to observe the sphagnum species found there and the work that the YPP has been doing to protect and restore the bog.

Back at the activity barn we each created a responsive shape in wood, using our drawings and observations. We also used images by Claire Halpin at the British Bryological Society of mosses and their cellular structures to generate forms, some of which were more abstract and some more representational.

Sphagnum russowii

Sphagnum subnitens subsp. subnitens

Sphagnum subnitens – shoot

Sphagnum papillosum

Branch leaf section showing barrel-shaped chlorocysts, slightly exposed on both surfaces

Sphagnum papillosum

Branch section

Sphagnum palustre

Sphagnum fimbriatum

Sphagnum cuspidatum

Sphagnum compactum

Sphagnum russowii

Branch leaf convex view

Sphagnum cuspidatum

Sphagnum auriculatum

Sphagnum Capillifolium Branch leaf section showing broad exposure of chlorocysts on the adaxial (concave) surface

I am now working with the 15 shapes to create a series of mobiles which will be exhibited by the Yorkshire Peat Partnership in Spring 2026 alongside work generated by other artist-led workshops. Each student chose a word to describe their shape and these words have been gathered together to eventually form the titles of the mobiles.

Rough shapes