Barden Moor

Barden Moor
A moorland track leads from the foreground into the middle distance, whilst in the background is a freshwater reservoir and hills beyond
Track on Barden Moor
Highest point
PeakThorpe Fell
Elevation506 m (1,660 ft)
Coordinates54°00′40″N 1°57′47″W / 54.011°N 1.963°W / 54.011; -1.963[1]
Dimensions
Area65 km2 (25 mi2)[2]
Geography
LocationBarden, North Yorkshire
Country
England
OS gridSE0257[3]
Climbing
AccessRestricted occasionally

Barden Moor is an area of upland in North Yorkshire England, that is bounded by Skipton and Embsay in the south, Rylstone and Cracoe to the west, Burnsall to the north, and Barden to the east. Most of Barden Moor belongs to the Bolton Abbey Estate, and whilst there are paths across the moor, the land remains private and can also be closed to the public for up to 30 days a year. Barden Moor is an SSSI and is an important heath and blanket bog location, with it also being one of the largest natural carbon storage sites in England.

History

Barden Moor covers an area of 65 square kilometres (25 mi2) bounded by Embsay in the south, Rylstone in the west, Burnsall in the north, and the Bolton Abbey Estate in the east.[2] Part of the moor is covered by the 30,000 acres (12,000 ha) Bolton Abbey Estate.[4] Access to the moor was agreed between the Trustees of the Chatsworth Settlement and the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority in 1968, after campaigns by protesters that saw over 1,000 people gathered on Ilkley Moor to protest about access rights on Barden Moor.[5] As it is private land, access points and paths are limited, and the owners may close the moorland for up to 30 days per year, which is normally between August and December.[6] These rights were granted before the Right to Roam Act of 2000, but they still remain in place.[7]

The moorland is covered by several civil parishes; Barden, Bolton Abbey, Burnsall, Cracoe, Embsay with Eastby, Halton East, Rylstone and Thorpe,[8] whilst the southern boundary of the Yorkshire Dales National Park follows the line of Barden Moor above Skipton, which is 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) away, and Embsay.[9][10] Millstones were also carved out of the Millstone Grit which outcrops on the moorland; the Millstone Grit has been described as a "marked contrast" when most of the Yorkshire Dales is limestone country.[11] The underlying limestone elsewhere saved the Dales from having reservoirs built, but as Barden Moor is on gritstone, it was ideal for reservoir building and in the small area that it encompasses, it had three reservoirs built, which are still in use.[12][13] The first of the two on the moor, Lower Barden Reservoir, was authorised in 1854, but was not completed until 1860.[14] Upper Barden Reservoir was completed in 1882. Embsay Reservoir was completed in 1910 and is also used for fishing and sailing.[15] The dam heads are covered by grasses which stand out against the dark heather, and access roads are made from crushed limestone, which also stand out against the surroundings.[16] Although all three reservoirs are owned and operated by Yorkshire Water,[17][18][19] the two Barden reservoirs were built by Bradford Corporation Water Works, and Embsay Reservoir was built by Skipton Urban District Council.[20]

During the Middle Ages, the moorland was used as a hunting ground, and this is reflected in the name Barden, which means the valley of the wild boar in Anglo-Saxon.[21] Coal was mined on the moor during the 17th and 18th centuries, and there are some industrial remnants of that industry.[22] One chimney stands on the moorland beside a crater which is said to be the collapsed shaft of the old mine. Coal was used in lead smelting at nearby Grassington and for domestic heating use.[23]

Parts of the moorland are restricted during autumn due to grouse shooting on the moor, and dogs are not allowed off the designated pathways over the moor.[24] Harold MacMillan married into the Devonshire family (local landholders) and was at one point in charge of review into the 1949 Act to grant access to the moors throughout Britain. According to Dr Judith Rossiter of Cambridge University, MacMillan considered the demands for access to the moors by non-landowners as "outrageous".[25] Most of the moorland, save for Upper and Lower Barden Reservoirs, and a small pocket of land downstream of both reservoir dam-heads, is designated as an SSSI.[26] The Cavendish family (the Dukes and Duchesses of Devonshire) inherited most of the moorland from the Earls of Cork and Burlington in the 18th-century, but during the 19th-century, a boundary dispute with another landowner led to the installation of many stone markers across the moor.[21]

To the south-west of the moor is the site of Clifford's Tower (not to be confused with Clifford's Tower in York); this no longer exists but is recorded on a map of the Bolton Abbey Estate from 1854. Beyond this is a stream labelled Waterford Gill, this is labelled on modern mapping as Waterfall Gill.[27][28] Thorpe Fell, above the village of Thorpe, was always designated as the highest point on the moor at 506 metres (1,660 ft).[29][30] However, modern mapping shows the top of Cracoe Fell to be 508 metres (1,667 ft).[26] On the western edge of the moor at Rylstone Edge is the Rylstone Cross, originally placed there in 1815 to celebrate the Treaty of Paris, it is visible when driving along the B6265 Skipton to Grassington Road, though the current cross is dated to 1995 after the first cross fell down.[31] Further north than the Rylstone Cross is the Cracoe War Memorial, which is 7.16 metres (23 ft 6 in) high, 2.7 metres (9 ft) wide at the base which tapers to 0.91 metres (3 ft) at the top, and set at a height of 500 metres (1,600 ft).[32][33] The gritstone obelisk was built in 1922 and had 13 names added to it to commemorate those from Cracoe who were killed in the First World War; after the Second World War, a further three names were added.[34]

The number of people accessing Barden Moor and Barden Fell in the late 1990s was around 30,000 per year.[5]

Flora and fauna

Common lizards (zootoca vivipara) have been observed on the moor during soil and peat surveys.[35] The moorland supports a variety of birds; curlew, golden plover, merlin, golden plover, redshank, short-eared owl and snipe.[36] A population of trientalis europaea (chickweed-wintergreen) is known to be extant on the moor.[37] The moorland is an internationally important heath and blanket bog habitat, and is one of the largest natural carbon stores in England.[38][39]

References

  1. ↑ "Barden, Yorkshire". gazetteer.org.uk. Retrieved 26 April 2026.
  2. 1 2 Bond, Chris (29 February 2016). "Our green and pleasant land emerges once more". The Yorkshire Post. p. 18. ISSN 0963-1496.
  3. ↑ Ordnance Survey gazetteer of Great Britain: all names from the 1:50 000 scale Landranger maps (4 ed.). London: Macmillan Reference. 1999. p. 46. ISBN 0333770293.
  4. ↑ "Dry stone wallers at work on estate". The Yorkshire Post. 3 January 2026. p. 9. ISSN 0963-1496.
  5. 1 2 Shoard, Marion (1999). A right to roam. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 247. ISBN 0192880160.
  6. ↑ Duerden, Frank (1999). Yorkshire Dales. London: Brockhampton. p. 186. ISBN 1860199631.
  7. ↑ Bibby, Andrew (2006). Wharfedale and Nidderdale: the southern Yorkshire Dales. London: Francis Lincoln. p. 13. ISBN 0711225532.
  8. ↑ "Election Maps". www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk. Retrieved 26 April 2026. Click on the boundary tab on the left and activate Civil Parish and Westminster Constituencies
  9. ↑ Sellers, Gladys (1984). The Yorkshire Dales: a walker's guide to the National Park. Milnthorpe: Cicerone. p. 8. ISBN 0902363522.
  10. ↑ Ross 2013, p. 3.
  11. ↑ Duerden, Frank (1999). Yorkshire Dales. London: Brockhampton. p. 157. ISBN 1860199631.
  12. ↑ Kelsall, Dennis (2017). The Yorkshire Dales: south and west - Wharfdale, Littondale, Malhamdale, Dentdale and Ribblesdale. Milnthorpe: Cicerone. p. 44. ISBN 9781852848859.
  13. ↑ "Enjoy an easy winter's walk along good tracks with little climbing". The Northern Echo. 11 January 2020. Retrieved 27 April 2026.
  14. ↑ Mitchell, William Reginald (1999). The story of the Yorkshire Dales. Chichester: Phillimore. p. 123. ISBN 1860770886.
  15. ↑ Mead, Helen (4 June 2025). "The beginnings of a new reservoir more than a century ago". Bradford Telegraph and Argus. Retrieved 27 April 2026.
  16. ↑ "LCA 17 South East Gritstone Uplands" (PDF). www.yorkshiredales.org.uk. Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority. p. 5. Retrieved 31 May 2026.
  17. ↑ "Yorkshire Water given drought permits to conserve reservoir water". BBC News. 11 September 2025. Retrieved 1 June 2026.
  18. ↑ "Lower Barden Reservoir (2023) |". waterprojectsonline.com. Retrieved 1 June 2026.
  19. ↑ Minting, Stuart (18 August 2022). "Yorkshire Water seeks urgent safety changes at huge reservoir". Darlington and Stockton Times. Retrieved 1 June 2026.
  20. ↑ Ross 2013, pp. 5–6.
  21. 1 2 Ross 2013, p. 5.
  22. ↑ "Thorpe Fell Colliery". nmrs.org.uk. Retrieved 26 April 2026.
  23. ↑ Sellers, Gladys (1984). The Yorkshire dales: a walker's guide to the National Park. Milnthorpe: Cicerone. p. 58. ISBN 0902363522.
  24. ↑ Scott, Catherine (20 December 2021). "Waterfall brings beauty in Valley of Desolation". The Yorkshire Post. p. 21. ISSN 0963-1496.
  25. ↑ Shoard, Marion (1999). A right to roam. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 191. ISBN 0192880160.
  26. 1 2 "Sites of Special Scientific Interest (England); West Nidderdale, Barden and Blubberhouses Moors". naturalengland-defra.opendata.arcgis.com. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  27. ↑ Ross 2013, p. 13.
  28. ↑ "OL2" (Map). Yorkshire Dales - Southern & Western Area. 1:25,000. Explorer. Ordnance Survey. 2016. ISBN 978-0-319-26331-0.
  29. ↑ Hannon, Paul (1985). Walks in Wharfedale. Keighley: Hillside. p. 15. ISBN 0950921238.
  30. ↑ Ross 2013, p. 4.
  31. ↑ "Corner of Yorkshire; Rylstone Cross". The Yorkshire Post. Yorkshire Post Magazine. 9 June 2012. p. 3. ISSN 0963-1496.
  32. ↑ Mulvey, Lily (8 November 2019). "Remembrance Day in the Dales". Yorkshire Dales National Park. Retrieved 26 April 2026.
  33. ↑ "Corner of Yorkshire; Cracoe War Memorial". The Yorkshire Post. Yorkshire Post Magazine. 4 September 2021. p. 4. ISSN 0963-1496.
  34. ↑ "Cracoe & Rylstone". www.iwm.org.uk. Retrieved 26 April 2026.
  35. ↑ Ross 2013, p. 28.
  36. ↑ "West Nidderdale, Barden and Blubberhouses Moors" (PDF). designatedsites.naturalengland.org.uk. p. 1. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  37. ↑ "West Nidderdale, Barden and Blubberhouses Moors" (PDF). designatedsites.naturalengland.org.uk. p. 2. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  38. ↑ "LCA 17 South East Gritstone Uplands" (PDF). www.yorkshiredales.org.uk. Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority. p. 3. Retrieved 31 May 2026.
  39. ↑ Wall, Tom (1 May 2021). "'It has become them and us': the battle to burn England's moorlands". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 May 2026.

Sources

  • Ross, S. (2013). "Barden Moor, Upper Wharfedale, North Yorkshire: Archaeological Survey Report". Archaeological Survey Report (NAA 13/115). Barnard Castle: Northern Archaeological Associates. doi:10.5284/1099036.
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