What is "turbary"

Turbary \Tur"ba*ry\, n.; pl. Turbaries. [LL. turbaria a place for digging peat, from turba peat. See Turf.] (Eng. Law) A right of digging turf on another man's land; also, the ground where turf is dug.

n. 1 A piece of peatland from which turf may be cut for fuel. 2 Material extracted from a turbary. 3 The right to cut turf from a turbary on a common or in some cases, another person's land.

Turbary is the ancient right to cut turf, or peat, for fuel on a particular area of bog. 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.

Turbary was not always a unpaid right ( easement), but, at least in Ireland, regulations governed the price that could be charged.

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.