Westmorland Dales Landscape Partnership


The Westmorland Dales Landscape Partnership Scheme finished in early 2024 with projects successfully delivered by a wide range of project partners, community groups and individuals. Over the coming months, we’ll be updating this site to highlight what’s been achieved, so please keep checking back.

Welcome …

… to the Westmorland Dales website.

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:

  • Reveal the area’s hidden heritage.
  • Conserve what makes the area special.
  • Engage people in enjoying and benefitting from their heritage.
  • Sustain the benefits of the scheme in the long-term.

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

The Westmorland Dales is a beautiful area of Cumbria lying to the north of the Howgill Fells and located 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)

Contact information

Friends of the Lake District
Murley Moss, Oxenholme Road, Kendal, Cumbria LA9 7SS
Main Telephone:  01539 720788
 Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority
Yoredale, Bainbridge, Leyburn, North Yorkshire DL8 3EL
Main Telephone:  01969 652300

Test Pitting in Ravenstonedale

Digging the Past is a test pitting project in Ravenstonedale which is being delivered by the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority and Eden Heritage. Around 25-30 test pits are being dug around the village – test pits are 1m x 1m pits that are excavated in 10cm spits until natural is reached (in Ravenstonedale this is usually clay).

At the time of writing, 23 test pits have been excavated, but we expect to have completed at least 25. This has been carried out by a great team of volunteers, with lots of support from the Ravenstonedale Parish History Group.

On one morning, the Kendal Young Archaeologists Club joined us excavating a test pit. They learnt lots of new skills, including how to fill in a test pit recording form, how to deturf a pit, how to excavate it in the 10cm spits, and how to sieve for finds. It was a great opportunity for them to get involved in an excavation project.

With a test pitting project, we are not targeting archaeological features, and instead their locations are randomly selected (with constraints like permissions, services and vegetation taken into account). (We make sure we avoid any earthworks, as a 1mx1m test pit is not an appropriate way to investigate the feature.) However, the test pits still reveal lots of interesting information about a settlement. So far, we have found lots of post-medieval finds, exciting medieval shards of pottery, and even a prehistoric flint!

Once all the test pits have been excavated, these will be sent to specialists for post-ex analysis, and a report will be compiled. The results from test pitting projects usually include conclusions relating to distribution maps that link to periods of occupation or certain finds. Depending on where the test pit is located, the finds can differ. For instance a garden plot will usually produce finds relating to domestic life, whereas in fields you might find burnt material from agricultural land improvement. This distribution gives you clues about how various areas of the village have been used over time.

In spring 2023 we will be delivering a talk in Ravenstonedale on the findings as well as a guided walk around the village.

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