A Landscape Strategy for Lancashire - Landscape Character Assessment

Enclosed Uplands

Landscape Character

The upland plateau of the Rossendale Hills has a relatively level landform with only the peat capped ridges and summits providing discernible pattern and diversity in the landscape. The distinctive character of these exposed uplands is derived from a long history of settlement and exploitation of the mineral wealth of the moors. A network of gritstone walls encloses virtually the whole of the upland area and the landscape is dotted with a network of small, remote farms. Many of these are now abandoned and in ruins as farming has retreated downslope. The areas industrial history is reflected by the landscape of miner-farmer small holdings, squatter settlements, abandoned coal mines and quarries. The overall impression is of a somewhat derelict landscape with rush infested pastures and tumbled stone walls. Views of the prominent high tension power lines which cross the plateau top, reinforce the sense of bleakness. The landscape type is only found in the Rossendale Hills.

Physical Influences

The underlying solid geology is largely formed by the Lower Coal Measure comprising bedded sandstones, shales and mudstones. Rocks of the Millstone Grit series outcrop above the valley of the River Irwell and often cap the hills. Thick peat deposits cover high flat summits such as Cribden Hill, Small Shaw Height and Swinshaw Moor. The lower topography holds deposits such as glacial boulder clay indicating the area was glaciated in the last ice age.

The distinctive sharp topography of edges and ledges characteristic of the Millstone Grit uplands is confined to the terraces above the Irwell Valley; overall the impression is of an undulating, undramatic landform. The upland is cleaved by valleys which divide the plateau into three discrete areas. Other small scale topographic variations include the undulating hummocky landforms arising from former coal workings and stone quarries. The open, elevated topography creates a feeling of space, although any sense of remoteness is diminished by the proximity of urban areas such as Acrington, Burnley, Rawtensall and Bacup.

The vegetation is dominated by grass moor with patches of rush frequent in the less well drained pastures. Heather moorland is virtually absent, largely as a result of past land management. The peat covered ridges and summits at Cribden Hill, Swinshaw Moor and Small Shaw Height comprise purple moor grass and cotton grass. The climate, altitude and grazing pressures means that trees are largely absent from the high plateau, although small areas of woodland are associated with the reservoirs and willow scrub has begun to colonise abandoned agricultural land on the more sheltered fringes. Important wildlife sites have been identified on the peat covered peaks which comprise a mix of blanket bog, acid/base-rich flushes and acid grassland. However, compared to the open, unenclosed moorland, the nature conservation interest of the area is generally limited. The grassland habitat and rushy pasture is, nevertheless important for upland birds.

Human Influences

In the medieval period the Forest of Rossendale was established under the feudal lords as a hunting forest; forest in this period meaning land set apart with separate legal status. It covered the whole of the upland area. This area has undergone extensive change over the last 300 years. Most of the moorland common and waste of the Rossendale Hills was taken in and enclosed during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries with robust stone walls climbing the hillsides to as much as 350m above sea level. The land was improved and partially drained to create sheep pasture. Cultivation, enclosure and settlement were pushed to their limits with the final wave of enclosure embracing all but the highest summits. The coal measures present throughout this area have been mined since at least the Middle Ages, as indicated by several small scale mining sites known as day holes and shallow bell pits. It is likely that the scattered dwellings high up on the plateau have their origin as miner-farmer squatter settlements. A particular cultural feature of the area is the dense network of footpaths, which possibly relate to early industrial activity and high level routes linking the intersecting valleys. Water collection during the last 100 years has been important to supply the needs of the expanding urban populations and several small late Victorian reservoirs were constructed in natural depressions in the landscape. Recent history has seen a dramatic downturn in the economics of sheep farming, and the area remains on the margins of economic viability. There is a sense that farmsteads and stone walls are often poorly maintained.

CHARACTER AREAS - ENCLOSED UPLANDS

The Enclosed Uplands landscape type is found only in one geographic area on the Rossendale Hills.