Feature Assessment: Cultural landscapes / Boundaries and patterns of enclosure
# Boundaries and patterns of enclosure
Overall vulnerability |
# Feature(s) assessed:
- Dry stone walls and hedges including single walling
- Variety of wall types and wall furniture
- Boundary markers and features
- Banks, ditches and other earthworks
- Pattern of Enclosure - Smaller scale mosaic of upland farmed enclosures, lowland pastoral landscapes, open moorland, river valleys & species rich grassland
- Fossilised medieval field systems - strip fields & evidence of Medieval open field farming (South-West Peak) shape of wall, strip field pattern in modern dry stone landscape (White Peak)
- Irregular and semi-regular enclosure including prehistoric field systems
- Field pattern of enclosed in-bye land and open moorland grazing
- Enclosed farmland
- Repeating pattern and rhythm of dry stone walls
- Pattern of large square enclosure on the plateau, C18th and C19th parliamentary enclosure
- Post medieval enclosure
# Special qualities:
- Beautiful views created by contrasting landscapes and dramatic geology
- Landscapes that tell a story of thousands of years of people, farming and industry
- Characteristic settlements with strong communities and traditions
# Feature description:
Boundaries and patterns of enclosure, including type and size, are distinctive in the different areas of the PDNP.
Both dry stones walls and hedgerows have been used to enclose land for hundreds of years. They mark the boundaries of fields across the PDNP and are a prominent feature of the landscape. Large upland areas of the Dark Peak remain open but gritstone dry stone walls are used as one way to define ownership boundaries. Dry stone walling and hedges figures for 1991 revealed 8,756 km of dry stone walls and banks and 1,710 km of hedgerows in the PDNP. Although difficult to date, some dry stone walls are believed to go back to medieval times and Romano-British foundations underlying later stone walls have been recorded. Other features used as ownership boundaries such as roads, tracks, and natural features are addressed elsewhere. See ‘Paths, tracks and trails’.
In the White Peak dry stone walls made from limestone are prevalent. Smaller, narrow fields found around villages are evidence of the earlier enclosure of strip farming. Former common land was often the focus of Parliamentary Enclosure Acts in the late 18th to early 19th century and tends to feature more regular medium to large sized fields, with much straighter boundaries. The walls themselves are built without mortar and vary in construction. The type of stone used depends on the geology of the area in which they were built with limestone, gritstone and other sandstones being used. Boundaries built using quarried stone are generally neater than those made from random stone, but both are essential components of the landscape.
Boundary markers can also include natural features such as rock outcrops or ridge lines. Other features that remain include guide stoops. Dating back hundreds of years these stone waymarkers helped travellers navigate remote routes and were placed where paths intersect, often showing the direction of the nearest market town.
Hedgerows are also an important historical feature, particularly in the White Peak and South West Peak. They tend to be in the low-lying land in areas such as the Derwent Valley or on the fringe of the Derbyshire PDNP and are predominantly blackthorn and hawthorn. In areas of the Dark Peak holly has also been used as a hedging plant.
The patterns of field enclosure provide valuable information on landscape change and historic land use, and reflect time-depth in the landscape. Medieval field strips fossilised by later walls are a characteristic feature of the White Peak landscape, but other types of enclosure pattern are equally significant. Earthworks, such as lynchets, ridge and furrow, ditches and banks also define former or current fields.
Highly significant prehistoric field systems are present in a number of areas, including open moorland and agricultural areas. These may be seen as earthworks at a completely different orientation to the current boundaries, although archaeological research shows that prehistoric field patterns can be echoed in the pattern of current boundaries, for example at Roystone Grange.
The varying patterns of enclosure that are found in the PDNP are extremely important to the character and heritage value of the PDNP landscape.
# How vulnerable are boundaries and patterns of enclosure?
Boundaries and patterns of enclosure have been rated ‘high’ on our vulnerability scale. This score is due to high sensitivity and exposure to climate change variables, coupled with an often poor general condition, and a moderate adaptive capacity.
It is difficult to ascertain the overall current condition of dry stone walls as it is varied. However the condition of hedgerows is viewed as poor. Extreme weather is one of the key potential impacts increasing deterioration and maintenance costs leading to a greater risk of abandonment. Another is changes to land use, which may mean boundaries are removed to enlarge fields. Changing farming practices such as an increase in ploughing may affect earthwork features. Walls in poor condition are also often used as a source of stone to repair other walls.
There is limited funding available to improve these features and there is currently a shortage in terms of the number of people with the necessary dry stone walling skills needed for management and maintenance. Even the repair and rebuilding of walls, whilst retaining the landscape appearance, can remove or alter historic information that is very valuable (such as the physical relationships between features, or distinctive construction styles). Planting could improve hedgerows condition by filling in gaps and diversifying species. If not designated, prehistoric field systems are vulnerable to landscape change.
Overall potential impact rating | |
Overall adaptive capacity rating |
# Current condition:
In many cases the condition of boundaries and patterns of enclosure vary depending on the area in which they are found. Hedgerows in the PDNP are considered to be in a generally poor condition often due to a lack of sympathetic management. Many are overgrown or have gaps, and are species-poor when compared to other areas. They are mainly made up of hawthorn and blackthorn although in some areas include holly and hazel.
Dry stone walls are in a variable condition, with many in a poor condition due to lack of maintenance, the removal of stones, or even vandalism. It is difficult to date dry-stone walls but some are believed to date back to medieval times while others are said to have Roman and prehistoric foundations. During the 1970s and 1980s, over 250 km of field boundary was lost. This occurred for a number of reasons including a need to increase entrances and gateways for larger machinery, and a trend to increase the size of fields for agricultural efficiency. Over 20 years ago it was estimated by the Countryside Commission that in the UK as a whole as many as 50% of walls were derelict. Such figures for the PDNP are not available at the time of writing.
Limited funding to rebuild damaged walls or replant hedgerows has been available from a number of countryside agencies. During the 1980s, 11 km a year were rebuilt and between 1990 and 1996 that figure rose to 30 km a year. Stone wall restoration has also been included in environmental stewardship agreements. By 2011, 442 km of restoration in the Dark Peak had been included in such agreements. Whilst there has been a rise in interest in dry stone walling, there remains a limited number of people with the necessary skills to repair, restore or rebuild these boundaries.
Although the rate of boundary repair in the PDNP is known to be increasing, many of the components that make up these landscape-scale patterns of enclosure are either in poor condition, or under threat. This threat is often from factors unrelated to climate change, such as continued agricultural improvement and the reworking of mineral resources.