The establishment of controlled areas in Britain in which indigenous plants and animals could be preserved for study dates back to the founding of the Nature Conservancy by the government after the Second World War. It was not, however, until the acquisition of the Moor House area in 1951 that the British National Nature Reserves included any area of upland moors with blanket-peat cover and a variety of habitats and vegetation types associated with open fell and mountain tops. A field station was established at Moor House in 1952, supported by a base at Merlewood Research Station (Grange over Sands, Cumbria), and substantial input to the systematic experimental field work at Moor House was made by geologists, botanists, zoologists, and other researchers from the University of Durham, as well as those visiting from other Universities.
From the guide to the Records of the Moor House National Nature Reserve, 1950-1990, (Durham University Library, Archives and Special Collections)
