The North York Moors Re-Visited

The Yorkshire Archaeological & Historical Society The North York Moors Re-visited Anthony Silson BSc (Hons) MSc PGCE FRGS The North York Moors Re-visited Anthony Silson BSc (Hons) MSc PGCE FRGS Key words: physical environment; agricultural land use; rural settlement; services; tourism; transport; urban settlement. Thirty or so years ago, I wrote an essay about The North York Moors for the BBC Domesday Survey (Silson 1986). This new essay examines the extent to which changes have occurred since then. Shortly after the first article was published in1986, I was interested enough to do further field work on the area so some information used here is for 1985 and some for 1986. Likewise contemporary fieldwork was undertaken in both 2015 and 2016. The area allocated to me in 1985 excluded the eastern part of the region administered by The North York Moors National Park Authority, hereafter: NYMNPA, but included some peripheral areas administered by Hambleton and Ryedale District Councils. The same area is discussed in this essay, and the extent of the area is delimited in Figure 1. This essay is illustrated by plates located near the end. Figure 1 Morpholgical features of The North York Moors Physical Environment The North York Moors is a tectonically relatively stable inland area (Goudie 1990). Hence its morphology has scarcely had time to change in a mere thirty years. An example of a very small change has been the making of a small pond about two km to the east of Thirsk. But the major morphological contrasts continue to be controlled by lithological contrasts in underlying rocks (Straw and Clayton 1979). Shales overlain by sandstones have formed an outer scarp running from Kildale in the north to Sutton Bank in the south. These rocks have also given rise to interior scarps, whose summits are called the Tabular Hills, running from the Hambleton Hills in the west to near 1 Newton-on-Rawcliffe in the east. The summits of the northern scarp give way to a dissected plateau of between approximately 320m and 420m in elevation. Streams draining north and south from this plateau have formed wide dales where they have reached underlying shales. On the dip slope of the Tabular Hills sandstones quickly give way to limestone. In turn the dip slope gives way to the Vale of Pickering. Less resistant clays helped form this plain, but the clays have a covering of recent deposits including those of lacustrine origin. The western plain was cut in marls but like the Vale of Pickering is largely covered by more recent deposits, in this case of glacial origin. Differences in lithology have thus created four major morphological units: scarp, dale, dip slope and plain (Figure1). The plateau is probably a sub-aerial erosion surface that was covered by the sea and then trimmed by wave erosion as the sea level intermittently fell (Eyre and Palmer 1973a). In turn these five units have led to climatic contrasts just as they did thirty years ago. Mean January temperatures are about 4ºC on the plains but 1ºC to 2ºC on the plateau. The plains have mean July temperatures of about 16ºC but the plateau only reaches about 13ºC (Met Office 2016). Mean annual rainfall is high (1000mm and over) on the plateau, moderate on the dales and dip slope and low (750mm or less) on the plains (Meteorological Office 1977). No discernable difference could be identified between the distribution of rainfall in 1977 and that in 2016. Lithological contrasts have also contributed to differences in natural soils. The plateau has mostly peat soils but with some sandy soils. The dip slope has well drained calcareous soils and the dales and plains poorly drained heavy soils (Soil Survey 1983). Agricultural land use Today, a very clear spatial correlation exists between broad agricultural land use divisions and four of the major morphological units (Silson 2015-16). Crops for sale are grown mainly on the plains and dip slope (Tables 1-3). Whilst a variety of crops are grown, wheat and barley occupy the largest area of the crops grown. Approximately half of the dip slope, plains and the valleys at the foot of the interior scarps are under grass. In contrast, the dales are almost entirely under grass. All these three areas are enclosed, but the plateau is unenclosed. Heather occupies large areas of the plateau and small areas on the crests of the Tabular Hills. Woodland chiefly occurs on the scarps. This striking correlation was just as evident thirty years ago (Silson 1986). This long-standing relationship between land use and the physical environment is more than spatial, it is, I believe, also causal. All the farmers in the area operate under the same economic and political environment of neoliberalism This leads most farmers to try to maximise their profits, and they try to achieve this aim by adapting their farming practices to the physical environment. Grass will grow in all areas, but the combination of heavy soils and moderate mean annual rainfall in the dales preclude the commercial growing of crops. The moderate rainfall of the dip slopes is countered by the lighter, better drained calcareous soils so commercial crop growing can be undertaken. The heavy soils of the plains, while hard to work, retain moisture, which is advantageous for crops in this area of low rainfall and warm summers. These climatic conditions along with a growing season of about nine months permit commercial crop growing. 2 The scarp slopes are too steep to profitably grow crops therefore they are either under grass or more usually woodland. The narrow valleys dissecting the dip slopes are also wooded on the steep sides but under grass on their narrow floors. The plateau is still occupied by heather moorland partly because the high rainfall and the short growing season of six-seven months or less make it scarcely worth reclaiming under current economic and political circumstances, and partly because it is NYMNPA policy to conserve it (Statham 1984 and NYMNPA 2012a). Commercial farming is restricted to extensive sheep rearing. One dales farmer possesses some improved grass in the dale but larger areas of grazing on the moorland (Berry 1 Aug 2015). I believe this is true of other dales’ farmers. Along with any subsidies, this combination of types of grazing land makes hill farming profitable in most years. Moorland conservation is demanded because of the moors’ striking visual importance, its recreational importance for such activities as walking, its importance for natural history including its several sites of scientific interest and its economic value (Statham 1984 and NYMNPA 1997). Sheep grazing plays a part in the conservation of the moors by helping to stop the re- establishment of trees, but the main agent is rotational firing of the heather by people (Eyre and Palmer 1973b) and (NYMNPA 2012a and 2016a). Fire destroys the old heather stalks and enables young shoots to grow. Private landowners who seek to provide grouse shooting undertake most of this firing. Grouse cannot breed in captivity and chiefly exist on heather moors, consequently if grouse numbers are to be maintained, then heather needs to be retained and to achieve this periodic firing continues. Where the moor is not actively managed then heather will, in time, be replaced by bracken and/or shrubs and then by trees. This can be seen, for example, on Harland Moor. A failure to actively manage parts of the moor may be one reason why the total area of moorland has continued to decline slightly (Statham 1984 and NYMNPA 2016b). Action by human beings has led to the area occupied by bracken to decline in the National Park as a whole (NYMNPA 2012a). Beekeeping continues in some parts including the moor near Spaunton Lodge and has increased on the moors near Westerdale. There the owner of Quarry Farm produces about 5000 jars of Heather Honey that are sold and contribute to the family’s income (Berry C 1 August 2015). Whilst the main contrasts in agricultural land use continue, there have been some detailed changes. On both the plains and the dip slope, some land is taken out of cultivation for varying periods of time. Occasionally whole fields are not cultivated, including those of over-wintered stubble, but more commonly grass strip margins in a field where a crop is being grown. These are forms of set aside first introduced in the nineties. It was a European Union initiative to reduce agricultural production and to grant farmers financial compensation if they took part in this scheme (Silson March 1995). Thereafter, various measures to compensate farmers for improving the environment, including wild life have been established. The first was called Countryside Stewardship; this became Environmental Stewardship, and recently has changed to Countryside Stewardship again. These schemes have helped conserve hedges, a concern also of the NYMNPA. The latter body has this year awarded grants to help conserve hedges (Whitby Gazette 12 August 2016). 3 On the plains wheat easily remains the main crop with barley the second crop (Silson 1985-86 and 2015-16). A small proportion of the area continues to be devoted to potatoes and legumes, but the area under brassicas has increased mainly by more oil seed rape being grown. Maize, which was not seen in The North York Moors in 1985-86, now occupies a small area on both the dip slope and the plains. Barley has lost its premiere position that it held on the dip slope in 1985-86, but is still very important there. Wheat is now about equally important, as its area has increased. The area under roots has declined markedly in the dales, dip slope and the plains.

Load more