latest news
Project reaches the end of the road.
With the publication of the final report the Project has now come to the end of its active life. The document is available in printed form from the AONB Office or can be downloaded as a pdf from the link. The pdf is about 1.5Mb in size. there are lots walls around the AONB that have now been rebuilt 9,452 metres have been completed - just a little short of six miles we had hoped to restore.
The final report is accompanied by a website report on a CD disc, which will be available soon and will eventually also be available on line. The web report lists all the schemes completed by the Project and tells you everything there is to know about the Project.
Over the last two and a half years the Project has been ably pushed along by Richard Bamforth, the Limestone Heritage Project Officer - we have been very fortunate to have had someone as capable as Richard to keep the pressure on right to the very end of the Project ensuring all the money was well spent and that the maximum benefit to the AONB was achieved.
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As you can probably imagine, before any contractor starts work rebuilding a wall or restoring a lime kiln, a lot of behind the scenes work takes place. The Project Officer will have met with landowners regarding negotiation of access, preparation of maintenance agreements, sending out quotation paperwork to contractors, letting contracts, ordering stone and other materials, etc., etc., etc. When all the paperwork was signed off there was still work to do before practical work could get under way. Most if not all the walls and kilns that needed restoration were heavily vegetated and lots of clearing of undergrowth was required. This work was carried out by our volunteers or specialist contractors and yes you guessed it before any of that work could happen there was plenty of preparation and paper work for the Projet Officer. Even the timing of such work was sensitive as the clearance work had to be completed either before or after the birds had nested. |
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Unsung heroes!
Tony Lowe, who almost singlehandedly rebuilt an extensive stretch of the wall along Occupation Lane, was one of the project wallers who deserves a special mention here. During the work Tony fell seriously ill and underwent a major operation. His convalesence seemed to be to get back walling again as soon as possible. Not only did he complete the Occupation Lane Wall, having previously rebuilt most of the wall at Moss Lane on behalf of the Project, he also assisted Stephen Harrison on a several other Project walls at Brackenthwaite, Storrs Brow and Gibralter Farm. All of us at the AONB and the Project were glad he made a return to walling so successfully. Sadly his recovery was only a brief respite and Tony recently passed away in the Hospice at Lancaster. He had many friends in the AONB, among the staff, volunteers and other walling contractors and all those associated with the Limestone Heritage Project wish to express our deepest sympathy to his family.
One of the most remarkable walling projects the Project has undertaken, has been the Old County Boundary wall in Eaves Wood. The orginal walling report highlighted it as the highest single conservation scheme of the entire walling programme if not the whole Project. Estimates of the antiquity of the wall vary, but it is certainly medieval in origin.
The opportunity to restore the wall was finally realised during the final
year of the Project - it took that long to find a contractor with the enthusiasm and energy to take on this
mammoth task. The wall was as broad as it was high and contains an immense amount of stone in each yard!
(It seems disrespecting of a wall that may be 600 years old to talk in metres!)
Jeremy Gavins and Vanessa Goude took on the task and rebuilt over 350 metres yards.
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Kilns get back on track!
Richard worked hard to
bring the kiln restoration programme back on track. This
programme had been flagging a little in the middle years of the Project, after the un-expectedly
high cost of restoring the lime kiln at Low Wood Edge. Work has also been carried out at Peter Lane, Fell End at Hale, Waterslack Farm, Backwood, Warton Crag, Scout Crag and Hyning Wood. |
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Contractors just managed to finish work at the somewhat unusual Kiln in Hyning Scout Wood. working right up to what was the eleventh hour of the Project to get the final major works project completed before the 31st March deadline. See the press release page for more details and pictures. AJR Construction of Yealand Redmayne have carried out the work here to an unusually high standard, using lime mortars and a sympathetic approach to the conservation of ancient structures. Hyning Wood is thought to have been a wood fired kiln - due to the ratio of depth and diameter of its bowl. It is interesting in that part of the kiln is actually bedrock outcrop and we are unaware of another kiln quite like it anywhere in the northwest of England.
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Back Wood Lime kiln prior to the consolidation works needed to preserve this interesting and unique kiln. |
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A pond's renaissance | |
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Deepdale Pond had over many years become heavily slitted up and almost non-existant as a pond except after heavy rain. The Pond now looks very different since the Project undertook work to remove the dense growth of collapsed trees/scrub which hid it from view very effectively.
Extensive work was carried out at Deepdale Pond in co-operation with Leighton Hall Estate and English Nature.
A team of five AONB volunteers were trained and certified in the use of power winches. Ken Stewart of Protec Training (Ayrshire) provided a comprehensive course in all aspects of winch work, giving the crew the confidence to tackle this demanding task. Over the course of several months the volunteers expertise has been called into play to achieve an ecologically sound method of pond restoration.
We used a range of winches - starting with a 1.6 tonne Tirfor hand winch, then working through a 3.2 tonne powered tirfor, finishing off with a 4.7 tonne Milemarker Hydraulic winch mounted on the AONB Officer's Land Rover. Work concentrated on removing the fallen and dead timber from the pond and some of the standing trees as well. The winch has been used to pull out the root bowls opening up areas of open water.
 Contractors moved in with heavy winches to remove the stubborn stumps the volunteers could not shift |
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The volunteers have taken part in six work parties at the site, the latest in March this year - the final trip as part of the Limestone Heritage Project - to clear some recent windfalls from around the pond. It is anticipated that the AONB Volunteers will make annual maintenance visits to keep the pond in good order.
Contractors were called in to use heavy winch gear when the equipment the volunteers had available proved to be insufficient - even with a double line pull rated at over 9 tonnes. The contractors machinery ended up making some pulls at 28 tonnes! The pond has managed to hold water fairly well since then and has greened up again following some final "gardening" with a 360° excavator.
| Permission from English Nature to work on Deepdale specifically excluded using a digger to remove the build up of silt and organic debris from the pond, so we came up with the tree root dredging method. In all we winched about thirty tree stumps from the pond, which were then moved from the pond site by the winching contractor at the end of March 2006. |
working at Deepdale Pond. |
The dredging did remove a considerable amount of silt onto the land around the pond and this was landscaped with the digger, trying to ensure the minimum of damage to the woodland flora which abounds in this beautiful part of the AONB.
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Access links improve
Work on access schemes was slower than anticipated, but good progress
was made at Gaitbarrows NNR with the installation of an easy access
path to Hawes Water from Moss Lane. The route includes a raised boardwalk
which gives accesss over the marl grassland beside Hawes Water. This
area was previously very difficult to access due to the rough terrain.
The scheme has been developed further with the addition of a dedicated
disabled car parking at the end of Moss Lane. Access for vehicles is with use of a Radar key.
The board walk has proved popular but regretably too popular with some unknown horse-rider who managed to get along the board walk and in doing so did considerable damage - whilst perhaps the horse could be put on a diet to lose a few kilos, it would be helpful if riders refrained from making the trip along a path that is neither designed nor dedicated as a bridleway! The need for the board walk was to improve access for all - aimed at those with mobility problems - we recognise that a horse can be a mobility aid but this route is not nor can it ever have been used by horses. Even if you could find a wheelchair strong enough to take a pony please don't be tempted to treat the boardwalk as a link route between the end of Challan Hall Bridleway and Moss Lane in the future.
 the Hawes Water boardwalk taken shortly after its completion |
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The whole route from Moss Lane to Challan Hall has been extensively improved with new surfacing and wheelchair friendly gates so that it is possible to make a complete circuit of Hawes Water if a short stretch of road is included. The cul-de-sac bridleway from Challan Hall as far as Hawes Water meadow has now been extended as a permissive horse riders route along the existing public footpath as far as the main road, following agreement with English Nature.
A further permissive horse riders route has also been completed at Hale Moss.
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Interpretation Several interpretation leaflets have been produced and widely distributed. The publications list has grown rapidly over the past few months.
The easy access leaflet is now available from the AONB Office and the final report of the Project has now been printed. Additionally the printed report will be supplemented by a disc based html(web-based) report - covering every scheme the Project has been involved with over the past five and a half years. |
The boardwalk gives good views of Hawes Water and is wheelchair friendly |
