Yorkshire Dales Landscape and Geology
It took perhaps 300 million years for the shaping of the Yorkshire Dales into the land forms we know today. The Yorkshire Dales is home to a varied collection of landscapes, from heather-topped moors to colourful hay-meadows. There are limestone cliffs and crags, waterfalls and underground labyrinths of potholes and caves. The grit-stone and limestone scenery of the Yorkshire Dales covers 683 sq.miles (1769 sq.m). Landscape changes have occurred in the Dales do to economic factors and the demands made by different social conditions.The third largest national park after the Lake District and Snowdonia, the park is based predominantly on rocks laid down in the Carboniferous period over 300 million years ago. The “Dales” provides miles of wonderful walking in ever changing scenery with the dales themselves dominating the scene. Higher ground abounds culminating in the three classic major peaks of Ingleborough, Whernside and Pen-y-ghent. Elsewhere notable summits are found throughout the Dales, most providing relatively easy walking to their summits, which offer fine panoramic views over the surrounding countryside.
The geological history of the Yorkshire Dales starts at the Ordovician period which was responsible for much of the landscape we find in the Dales today. The Yorkshire Dales are basically a section of the Pennines, the central mountain ridge of England which extends from the north midlands up to Scotland. The mountains here are lower than those of the Lake District, and therefore show fewer effects of glaciation. The peaks are much more rounded without sharp ridges, and the valleys or dales are more open. Also most of the rock is sedimentary, limestones and shales low down and harder gritstones on the tops. The limestone is porous, there are very few lakes, and streams have a habit of disappearing into caves via sink holes. In the past, there was a lot of lead mining in the dales. Melbecks Moor between Keld and Reeth is covered with huge areas of disused mine workings and spoil heaps, which are still largely bare of plants.
The unique character of the area stems from the characteristic pattern of underlying geology and a distinctive pattern of pastoral farming which has shaped the landscape for centuries. The relatively high altitude, short growing season and high rainfall has meant that the area has always had limited possibilities for agriculture, which is restricted to the rearing of livestock. The close relationships between rock types, landform, climate and the resulting history of man’s activities can be clearly seen in this landscape.
The landscape is characterised by contrasts, especially between the dales below and the moors above. In the dales the environment is more sheltered and there are intricate patterns of walled fields, containing meadow grasses and wild flowers. Small villages and farmsteads built of local stone are tucked in to sheltered corners, often with clumps of trees protecting them from the worst of the elements. On the dales network of walls continues, with scattered stone field barns often appearing as distinctive features. The steepest slopes are often marked by the presence of sparse woodlands, or sometimes open rock scree. Fast flowing streams tumble down the slopes, forming dramatic waterfalls where the harder rock is rougher and coarser. On the fell tops the grassland gives way to sweeps of heather moorland and cotton grass bog. Everywhere there are dramatic views of characteristic combinations of hillside, valley walls, and barns, punctuated by outcrops of rock, streams and trees, and enlivened by the colours and textures of wild flowers. This is the essence of the Dales landscape.
The area has a physical and cultural unity, and yet displays significant variation within its landscape. The glaciated karst landscape of the Great Scar Limestone dominates the landscape in the south and west, notably around the Ingleborough area. The Craven faults are responsible for dramatic parallel scars in the south, giving rise to well-known features such as Giggleswick Scar and Malham Cove. The rocks of the ‘Yoredale Facies’ overlie the Carboniferous Limestone and form the moorland hills and plateaux which are divided by the intervening limestone dales.
The moors are high and wild, with extensive areas of rough grazing and very large, often hardly visible, walled enclosures. These high summits dominate the skyline above the dales, providing extensive views out over the enclosed land below and dividing one dale from another. There are extensive areas of heather moorland, especially in the south (Bolton Abbey), north (Swaledale) and in the east above Nidderdale. Here the Millstone Grit outcrops, notably in the unearthly shapes of Brimham Rocks where weathering has created almost sculptural features from the rock. The gritstone also influences the character of stone walls, barns and other buildings, distinguishing them from some of the more westerly moorland areas.
Each of the dales has its own distinctive character. In the north, Swaledale is perhaps the typical Yoredale valley, with its sweeps of heather moorland on the fell tops, its pattern of walls and field barns, flower-rich meadows and small tight-knit villages. Wensleydale is wider, with more varied landforms which creates some very enclosed areas. Bishopsdale is broad, with lines of trees and small plantations cutting across the dale, while Widdale has a rather bleak and forbidding character with rough grazing predominating and a number of rather incongruous conifer plantations. Wharfedale and Littondale demonstrate the typical Dales character of strong patterns of walls and field barns on the valley floors, with woodlands surviving on valley sides, and compact villages of stone tucked into the hillsides, next to winding rivers. Coverdale is quiet, dominated by rough grazing, with many small streams cutting down the hillsides. Dentdale, in the north-west, shows the influence of wetter, milder conditions, with small fields bounded by hedges rather than drystone walls contributing to a sheltered, softer, more domestic landscape.
Dales in the south and west reflect the influence of the underlying limestone. They are wide and open, with rugged outcrops of light coloured rock and pale green pastures, creating a distinctive combination of light and colour. Ribblesdale is affected by large quarries on the hillslopes, while Chapel-le-Dale reveals the underlying rock dramatically, with broad shelves of limestone on both sides. The hillsides, walls, and isolated buildings all have a unity of colour that creates a sense of openness and light in this part of the Dales.
The Yorkshire Dales are home to many spectacular geological features such as the angular unconformity at Ingleton (Thornton Force) and dramatic karst scenery around Malham i.e. Malham Cove and Gordale Scar. The village of Dent in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales is the birthplace of Adam Sedgwick who was one of the pioneering fathers’ of modern geology. There is a granite memorial to Sedgwick on the high street and a Sedgwick Geological Trail.
Another well known village is Grassington in the Wharfedale valley where lead mining activities have been well documented. Many artefacts associated with the Yorkshire Dales lead mining industry are on permanent display locally in Earby’s Museum of Yorkshire Dales Lead Mining. One such exhibit is the only preserved example of a waterwheel-powered ore crusher in the Yorkshire Dales.
In contrast to the scenery dominated by Great Scar Limestone, the Craven Basin of north-west England is an extensive area of significantly deeper water limestones and shales. From the southern edge of the Lake District to the flanks of Pendle Hill, you are transported through an amazing variety of rock types typical of carbonate platforms, ramps, slopes and basins. Bentham, in the northern part of the Lancaster Fells, is the locality where you can view a rather unique set of marine Namurian sequences. Two sections of particular interest are at Eskew Beck and Low Bentham Wier, in Low Bentham.