Special quality: Landscapes of People
# Landscapes that tell a story of thousands of years of people, farming and industry
# Description of special quality
The PDNP is a landscape has been used by humans for thousands of years. This is most evident in the ancient towns and traditionally walled fields, as well as the traces of industry across the PDNP. One of the most recognisable symbols of the PDNP is the millstone, once used in industry but now found scattered across the moors. Even the apparently wild landscapes of the PDNP show the evidence of human alteration to the informed eye; the open moorland and rolling grassland being a product of woodland clearances thousands of years ago. The patterns of enclosure show the history of farming in the PDNP, with some boundaries showing the outlines of medieval strip fields.
Features in this category: Bridges, Farmsteads, Field barns and outfarms, Prehistoric burial mounds and ceremonial monuments, Prehistoric settlements and field systems, Abandoned places of industry, Boundaries and patterns of enclosure, Estate lands and designed landscapes, Lead mining, Managed moorland, Buried soils, archaeological remains and deposits, High open moorland and edges, Palaeoenvironmental remains and sequences, Show caves and caverns, Meadows, Dewponds and other ponds, Reservoirs and water management
Below is a summary of the some of the more significant impacts that climate change could have on this special quality.
# Overall vulnerability of special quality
This special quality is highly vulnerable to climate change. Of the 18 special quality features assessed, 6% have been rated as ‘very high’ on our scale and almost 70% were rated as ‘high’. The rest have been rated as ‘moderate’, and no features were given a ‘low’ rating. Changes to rainfall patterns, with wetter winters and drier summers as well as extremes of drought or flooding, are some of the key factors likely to affect historical landscapes in the PDNP.
Additionally, poor or variable current condition has contributed to many features being rated as ‘very high’ or ‘high’ in terms of overall vulnerability to climate change. Current condition is usually due to non-climate factors. Past and current land use changes affect most of the features within this special quality, as the use of various buildings, field systems, and ponds continues to fluctuate in line with economic and technological shifts. Maintenance and repair of many of these features is important to increase their resilience to change, along with designations and financial assistance for the most vulnerable sites.
Soil and ground condition across the PDNP are particularly vulnerable to changes in rainfall patterns. This is likely to affect the stability of bridges and prehistoric ceremonial monuments, along with the preservation environment around archaeological and palaeoenvironmental remains. The combined effects of climate change could threaten many historical features both above and below ground.