Peat Moors Centre

The Peat Moors Centre stood beside the road linking Shapwick and Westhay in the flat, wet Somerset Levels. It was run by the Somerset Historic Environment Service until the county council closed it in October 2009. The museum explored the archaeology, history and geology of the Levels. Reconstructions included Iron Age round houses from Glastonbury Lake Village. The site also showed the world’s oldest engineered highway, the Sweet Track. Iron Age crafts were taught at the centre. Courses covered textiles, clothing and basket making. Regular open days displayed ancient skills to visitors. Demonstrations showed how people lived thousands of years ago. The staff hoped to reopen as the Somerset Lake Village Project. Today the former centre is closed, but its ideas survive. The planned successor will rebuild an Iron Age lake village. The Levels remain a place where past and wetland meet.