The Westmorland Dales Landscape Partnership Scheme ran from March 2019 to February 2024. Its vision was to unlock and reveal the hidden heritage of the Westmorland Dales, enabling more people to connect with, enjoy and benefit from this inspirational landscape.
Download the Westmorland Dales Landscape Partnership Scheme Summary Report for an overview of the Scheme's successes.
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The Westmorland Dales Landscape Partnership Scheme aimed to unlock and reveal the hidden heritage of the Westmorland Dales, enabling more people to connect with, enjoy and benefit from this inspirational landscape. Specifically, its objectives were to:
This was achieved through a programme of projects developed and delivered through the Westmorland Dales Landscape Partnership, led by Friends of the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, and mainly funded through the National Lottery Heritage Fund. It ran over a five-year period from March 2019 to February 2024.
Here you can discover what makes the area so special, find out about the scheme’s projects, and view and download resources produced.
The Westmorland Dales is a beautiful area of Cumbria lying north of the Howgill Fells and within the north-west corner of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. It stretches from Tebay in the south-west to Kirkby Stephen in the east and to Maulds Meaburn in the north-west. At its heart are the limestone fells above Orton and Asby, rich in natural and cultural heritage, and with magnificent views to the Pennines, the Howgills and the Lakeland fells. It drains into the Lune river catchment to the south and the Eden river catchment to the north. Relatively overlooked compared with its better-known neighbours, our projects have aimed to reveal its heritage for more to enjoy without detracting from its unique qualities. (Click on map for larger image)
A project with several parts, the principal one being a volunteer survey of drystone walls in Asby parish, led by David Johnson; the restoration of walls at Pendragon, Raisbeck and Asby; training; and hedge-planting and hedge-laying.
Project lead: Hannah Kingsbury, Westmorland Dales Landscape Partnership team, Friends of the Lake District.
The parish of Asby was chosen for this survey because of its range of walls dating from Medieval times onwards and good connections with local landowners. It was led by Dr. David Johnson and undertaken in spring 2022. Twelve different volunteers were involved, and a sample of 37 walls were surveyed. In total, five different types of walls were identified from late monastic times onwards.
You can download the copies of the summary report and full report here:Dry Stone Wall Survey – summary report
Dry Stone Wall Survey – full report (David Johnson)
Another element of the project was practical and financial support to restore important lengths of dry stone walling. With plenty of practical work being funded by the Farming in Protected Landscapes scheme, the focus was on restoring priority walls relating to our projects. So, the walls adjacent to the restored barns at Raisbeck and Pendragon (project no. 2.6) have been restored, complementing the work already undertaken on the barns, and a length of priority wall at Grange Hall which was identified as part of the Asby Survey. In total approximately 245m of wall has been restored.
The project has also seen training days for agriculture students from Kendal College at Three Milestones Quarry and volunteers, in dry stone walling and hedgelaying at Bowber Head and Gaythorne Hall.