Key characteristics
- High moorland plateau.
- Gently rolling, almost flat, terrain cut into by steep sided gullies.
- Occasional small, low, flat-topped, summits.
- Carboniferous rocks masked by deep peat which is exposed in eroded hags and peat edges.
- Millstone grits outcrop locally in summits, gullies and stone bands.
- Continuous blanket bog of sphagnum mosses, cotton grasses and dwarf shrubs.
- Upland heath and acid grassland in drier moorland fringes.
- Extensive grazing by hardy hill sheep.
- Burning and cutting patterns on grouse moors create a patchwork of older and younger heather.
- Few human-made features other than occasional fences, grouse butts, cairns and sheepfolds.
- A remote and inaccessible landscape with few roads or tracks.
- A broad-scale landscape with long distance views across open moorland to distant summits.
- An exposed, elemental and simple, often bleak, landscape with a near wilderness quality.
Description
High moorland plateau. The gently rolling, often flat, topography of the plateau is the legacy of a major ice sheet in the last glacial period. Sandstones, mudstones and shales of the Carboniferous Millstone Grit series are generally masked by a thick blanket of peat and are rarely expressed at the surface. They outcrop locally in small rocky flat-topped summits (Shacklesborough, Goldsborough) of resistant sandstones, or as screes on the sides of the narrow steep sided gullies, gills or sikes, which drain the plateau. Thick peats are exposed as dark eroding peat edges and hags.
Much of the landscape is covered by near continuous blanket bog of sphagnum mosses, cotton grasses and dwarf shrubs. This is replaced in the drier moorland fringes to the east by heather moorland or acid grassland. The moors are managed for grouse shooting and the extensive grazing of hardy upland breeds of sheep like Swaledales. In places the bog has been degraded by drainage or gripping to improve its grazing potential, and this together with high stocking levels promotes a shift towards grass or sedge dominated vegetation. On grouse moors burning patterns create a patchwork of older and younger heather creating a diversity of colour and texture. Some of the wetter bogs are too wet for heather burning in most years.
The plateau is remote and inaccessible and is crossed by very few roads, tracks or footpaths. The landscape is largely devoid of human-made features other than occasional fences, grouse butts and sheep folds in the more accessible moorland edges. Relics from the Bronze Age survive in a few places (Ravock Moor) in the form of cairn fields but are difficult to find in the featureless moor.
The landscape is visually open and broad in scale with panoramic views to distant summits. A remote, elemental, often bleak landscape of great simplicity with a severe climate of high rainfall, cold winters and short summers. This coupled with an almost complete absence of human-made features gives it a near wilderness quality.
Measures: land management
Natural features
See Nature Recovery section, Outcomes NR1 & NR3, for main measures relating to peatland and heathland, trees and woodland. Additional measures are listed below.
- Protect natural rock outcrops, screes, stone bands and shake holes by preventing disturbance, infilling or stone removal. Where necessary fence vulnerable features against livestock
- Manage access by encouraging the use of structured and seasonal paths to decrease pressure on fragile substrates and avoid disturbance to breeding birds
Cultural features
Protect archaeological features by avoiding overstocking and supplementary feeding on sensitive sites. Protect cairns, cup and ring marked stones and associated features from damage or removal.
- Conserve and restore moorland structures like sheepfolds, bields and bothies
- Protect and conserve lead mining features – avoid physical damage, removal or infilling. Consolidate important structures and sensitively gate open shafts and adits, taking archaeological advice
Measures: development
Energy & telecommunications
- Avoid the siting of tall structures such as masts, pylons and wind turbines in the Moorland Plateau landscape
- Where masts or pylons are needed site them in the moorland fringe close to existing buildings
- New buildings should only be developed in exceptional circumstances - they should be sited to minimise visibility, be built of natural materials, and where possible designed to look like traditional moorland features – bields, bothies or sheepfolds
Minerals & waste
- Avoid damage to sensitive natural landforms
- Avoid breaching skylines with extraction areas or storage mounds
- Restore quarry faces to naturalistic profiles using restoration blasting.
Restore quarries to semi-natural heathland, grassland, wetland and bare rock habitats using natural regeneration where possible
Tourism & recreation
- Manage access to decrease pressure on fragile substrates and avoid disturbance to breeding birds
- Facilities and infrastructure for tourism and recreation – paths, car parks, litter bins, signage and interpretation - should be provided only where absolutely necessary and should be sensitively designed and low key to avoid exerting an urbanising influence on this relatively wild and natural landscape