[Leica] Yorkshire Dales - Jays question

[douglas.sharp at gmx.de (Douglas Sharp)]

Hello Jay,
these were taken in the period 1988 - 1992, the area is a National Park 
and has severe restrictions on what may and may not be done there. Parts 
of the area have a further designation as "Areas of Outstanding Natural 
Beauty" and are subject to even stricter rules and regulations.
The first National Parks in the UK were set up as long ago as 1948 and 
were actually planned at the end of WWII to be "lands to which one could 
be proud to come home to" , in addition to making access available to 
the general public the idea was to encourage agriculture and local 
industry and to regulate building activity in such a way as to prevent
the construction of "architecturally inappropriate structures" within 
existing towns and villages. Swaledale is an area where water meadows 
and wild flower hay meadows are now subsidised by the authorities, 
something which has been very successful in preserving and 
re-introducing wildlife to the area. For example wild orchids, Red 
Kites, Henharriers, Otters and Crayfish have returned, most of which 
were on the endangered species lists for this part of the UK for many years.
The only extensive damage to this dale was mainly perpetrated between 
the 14th and very early 2oth century by the mining industry.
During the foot and mouth disease epidemic a couple of years ago much of 
the area was closed to tourists and had an opportunity to recover from 
the superficial damage caused by walkers straying from footpaths, 
off-road vehicles and trail bikes.
Many of these rights of way have since had to be cleared of
thick ferns, brambles and grass to open them up again. There is now also 
a campaign running to restrict the use of these ancient rights of way to 
pedestrians, bicyles and , to a limited extent, horse and pony riders. 
In the neighbouring dales to the south a considerable amount of 
off-roader mis-use has been recorded which has already damaged or 
destroyed  habitats of both flora and fauna and sites of historical 
interest.

In short the landscape is as beautiful as ever and is being actively 
kept so.

cheers
Douglas


Jay wrote:
> Remarkable countryside.
> Is it still this pristine?
> As you mentioned you were scanning images from years past - how current are
> these?
> 
> Jay Ignaszewski
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: lug-bounces+bonvini=optonline.net@leica-users.org
> [mailto:lug-bounces+bonvini=optonline.net@leica-users.org]On Behalf Of
> Douglas Sharp
> Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2005 2:35 PM
> To: Leica Users Group
> Subject: [Leica] Yorkshire Dales - new scans
> 
> 
> Hello all,
> I'm half way through scanning up a whole load of slides taken many years
> ago (Leica M3, SL2Mot, Rollei SL2000F, Voigtl?nder VSL-3E, can't
> remember which was which any more)and I'd like to share a few more of
> them with you all.
> 
> Not quite as gentle and rolling as Grahams (GEEBEE) wonderful
> countryside shots of Northamptonshire, Swaledale is still wild.
> Although the area was occupied by the Brigantes, Romans and, later, the
> Viking settlers it has never really been tamed and , apart from the
> valley floor makes for a rough life for the local farmers.
> 
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/Yorkshire
> 
> A few explanations, the Yorkshire Dales start in the North with
> Swaledale (some say Teesdale but I'll stick to the Swale) followed by
> Wensleydale (aka Uredale or Yoredale), Nidderdale, Wharfedale, Airedale
> and Calderdale.
> At school this was always SUNWAC, Swale-Ure-Nidd-Wharfe-Aire-Calder.
> 
> Swaledale is my favourite for many reasons, it's the wildest and rawest
> ,the least overrun, and has the best stretches for walking or hiking. It
> has great disadvantages too - very little public transport and the pubs
> are too far apart at the top end of the dale.
> As an amateur industrial archaeologist it's also my favourite for the
> lead mining ruins - even though mining closed down over 100 years ago
> the devastation in some parts cannot be overseen (Old Gang and
> Gunnerside Gill).
> 
> Swaledale has the epitome of a Norman castle keep at Richmond, and is
> also famous for Miss I'anson "The lass of Richmond Hill"
> A legend says that King Arthur and his Knights sleep beneath the castle,
> and can be woken by a drum, to be found at the entrance to their cave,
> when England is in peril.
> 
> The pictures of Crackpot Hall are along part of the long distance walks
> "Coast to Coast" and the "Pennine Way". It has nothing to do with people
> having to be crazy to live ther, it was named after a pothole or cave
> close by which was opened up and used as one of the shafts into the
> Beldi Hill mines. The ruin of the farmhouse was caused primarily by
> subsidence but vandalism played a part too.
> 
> Old Gang is one of the best preserved smelt mill ruins, Surrender mill
> with complex flue systems is just a little further down the valley.
> Until quite recently the spoil heaps were picked over quite profitably
> for barytes(heavy spar - used for baryte meal) and fluorspar for
> metallurgy and glass-making.
> Today the dale relies for its living on cottage industries (woolens,
> cheeseand preserves making, lots of sheep and some cattle and an
> increasing emphasis on tourism (walking, riding and trout fishing - fly
> fishing only!!)
> 
> Hope you like them
> cheers
> Douglas
> 
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