The geology of High Borrowdale

Mansfield, Lois ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0707-2467 (2018) The geology of High Borrowdale. Conserving Lakeland, 77 . pp. 8-9.

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Abstract

In 2002, Friends purchased High Borrowdale in the western extremities of the Lake District. Consisting of 44 hectares (108 acres) of newly planted riverside woodlands, inbye land some of which is hay meadow, intakes and a number of vernacular buildings, the site offers an insight into aspects of a traditional upland farming system. Since this time a wide range of management works have been undertaken to improve the area; one of the more complex challenges has been how to prevent landslides and slips damaging the cowshed and hay meadow areas, a number of which have occurred since 2005 and frustratingly more so since Storm Desmond in 2015. Various management solutions have been tried to reduce the amount of damage caused by these landslides, but it has become a law of diminishing returns as the number of occurrences has increased. Friends approached the University of Cumbria to develop a joint project, with some support from United Utilities to try and slow or even halt the slips. The classic solutions are to use revetments or employ geotextiles to stop material moving downslope long enough that the land re-vegetates and stabilises. The problem is that the timescale between slips is not long enough to establish vegetation and any management we put in will simply be washed away. To understand why this is happening, we need to appreciate the stages by which High Borrowdale was formed in the first place; by doing so we should be able to affect a better solution, although as you will see, there are no guarantees when we are dealing with natural processes.

Item Type:	Article
Journal / Publication Title:	Conserving Lakeland
Publisher:	Friends of the Lake District
ISSN:	1365-9545
Departments:	Institute of Science and Environment > Outdoor Studies Centre for National Parks and Protected Areas (CNPPA)
Depositing User:	Anna Lupton
Date Deposited:	10 Apr 2019 11:45
Last Modified:	12 Jan 2024 19:01
URI:	https://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/4619

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