Landscape of the Yorkshire Dales
The scenic landscape of the dales that we see today is an exceptional blend of both natural and man made features.
Typically the Yorkshire Dales landscape is one of flat-bottomed river valleys interspersed with waterfalls, drystone walls, hay meadows and field barns, these are bounded by open moorland and the crags and scars of high Pennine hills.
The shaping of the dales owes much to its underlying rock strata and the result of erosion caused by glaciers retreating at the end of the last ice age. The effect of weathering on the alternating layers of limestone and millstone grit that has occurred over millions of years has softened the overall look giving us the gently rolling hills, dramatic scars and fantastic limestone pavements.
Vegetation too contributes to the blend; well-drained limestone pastures sustain a broad assortment of plants and grasses. On peat-covered moors where the drainage is poorer, cotton grass and mosses grow. Though not widespread, woodland features in the dales landscape. Common species being oak, sycamore and horse chestnut as found in areas like those around the Bolton Abbey Estate in Wharfedale. On higher ground, but rarely above 350meters, ash and hazel grow.
No better place to enjoy the peaceful and serene beauty of the countryside.
Mans Contribution to the Scenery
The dales are also living and working environment, and much of the distinguishing characteristics are for the most part due to man's intervention. The Romans and then settlers from northern Europe have all left their mark on the landscape, particularly the clearance of woodland, cultivation of crops and the building villages and roads.
The middle Ages brought about large-scale changes to the landscape of the Yorkshire Dales; the Normans erected castles of local stone and created vast hunting forests. Monks from the famous abbeys of Fountains and Jervaulx developed and farmed huge estates, and later as a part of the enclosures acts, erected the field barns and drystone walls which are such a prominent feature of the area.
While we tend to think of the Yorkshire Dales as a quiet farming community, it was once at the heart of an important lead-mining industry that stretched throughout the Northern Pennine region, the effects and remains of which can still be seen today, most notable on the moors above Swaledale and Wharfedale.
Yorkshire Dales Landscape
The unique combination of natural forces and mans changing use of the land over many years, has made this part of northern England into a beautiful landscape full of interest and discovery for the people who live, work and visit the Yorkshire Dales.