The North Pennines is the northernmost section of the
Pennine range of hills which runs north–south through northern
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
. It lies between
Carlisle
Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers Eden, Caldew and Petteril. It is the administrative centre of the City ...
to the west and
Darlington
Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town.
In the 19th century, Darlington underw ...
to the east. It is bounded to the north by the
Tyne Valley and to the south by the
Stainmore Gap.
Overview
The North Pennines was designated as an
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is an area of countryside in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of ...
(AONB) in 1988 for its
moorland
Moorland or moor is a type of habitat found in upland areas in temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands and montane grasslands and shrublands biomes, characterised by low-growing vegetation on acidic soils. Moorland, nowadays, generall ...
scenery, the product of centuries of farming and lead-mining, and is also a
UNESCO Global Geopark. At almost , it is the second largest of the 49 AONBs in the United Kingdom. The landscape of the North Pennines AONB is one of open heather moors between deep dales, upland rivers, hay meadows and stone-built villages, some of which contain the legacies of a mining and industrial past. The area has previously been mined and quarried for minerals such as barytes, coal fluorspar, iron, lead, witherite and zinc.
Natural England maps
Maps for
North Pennines –
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is an area of countryside in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of ...
, showing ''Access'', ''Designations'' and other criteria from
Natural England
Natural England is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It is responsible for ensuring that England's natural environment, including its land, flora and fauna, ...
:
* MAGiC MaP : North Pennines – AONB.
* MAGiC MaP :
Hadrian's Wall
Hadrian's Wall ( la, Vallum Aelium), also known as the Roman Wall, Picts' Wall, or ''Vallum Hadriani'' in Latin, is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. Ru ...
–
World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...
.
* MAGiC MaP : North Pennines – Upland Breeding Bird Areas.
* MAGiC MaP : Pennine Way (Tan Hill – Dufton – Cross Fell).
* MAGiC MaP : North Pennines – SSSI (south).
Geology
The North Pennines are formed from a succession largely of
sedimentary rock
Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...
s laid down during the
Palaeozoic
The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon.
The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838
by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and '' ...
era, later
intruded
Intrusive rock is formed when magma penetrates existing rock, crystallizes, and solidifies underground to form '' intrusions'', such as batholiths, dikes, sills, laccoliths, and volcanic necks.Intrusive RocksIntrusive rocks accessdate: March 2 ...
by the
Whin Sill and affected by
glaciation
A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate bet ...
during the
Quaternary
The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). It follows the Neogene Period and spans from 2.58 million year ...
period.
Mud and
volcanic ash
Volcanic ash consists of fragments of rock, mineral crystals, and volcanic glass, created during volcanic eruptions and measuring less than 2 mm (0.079 inches) in diameter. The term volcanic ash is also often loosely used to refer ...
deposited during the
Ordovician
The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years from the end of the Cambrian Period million years ago (Mya) to the start of the Silurian Period Mya.
T ...
and
Silurian
The Silurian ( ) is a geologic period and system spanning 24.6 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Devonian Period, Mya. The Silurian is the shortest period of the Paleoz ...
periods were buried and subsequently
faulted and
folded during the
Caledonian orogeny, the mudstone becoming
slaty
Slate gray is a gray color with a slight azure tinge that is a representation of the average color of the material slate. As a tertiary color, slate is an equal mix of purple and green pigments.
Slaty, referring to this color, is often used to ...
. These rocks which are between 500 and 420 million years old are now exposed along the great scarp which defines the western edge of the area and also in an
inlier
An inlier is an area of older rocks surrounded by younger rocks. Inliers are typically formed by the erosion of overlying younger rocks to reveal a limited exposure of the older underlying rocks. Faulting or folding may also contribute to the obser ...
in upper
Teesdale. Unseen at the surface but proved in boreholes is the Weardale Granite, a
batholith
A batholith () is a large mass of intrusive igneous rock (also called plutonic rock), larger than in area, that forms from cooled magma deep in Earth's crust. Batholiths are almost always made mostly of felsic or intermediate rock types, s ...
emplaced as molten rock into the slates and other rocks around 400 million years ago. Its presence beneath the region results in it being an upland area since
granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies un ...
is relatively less dense and therefore ‘buoys up’ the North Pennines. This uplifted area is known as the
Alston Block
The Alston Block is a term used by geologists to describe the geological structure of the North Pennines of northern England and which forms a part of the Pennine Block & Basin Province which originated during the Carboniferous period. It is def ...
and is partly defined by major faults; the Stublick and Ninety-Fathom faults to the north and the Pennine Fault to the west. To the south is the Stainmore Trough.
Overlying the early Palaeozoic rocks and granite are a succession of
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms w ...
s,
shale
Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especiall ...
s and
mudstone
Mudstone, a type of mudrock, is a fine-grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Mudstone is distinguished from '' shale'' by its lack of fissility (parallel layering).Blatt, H., and R.J. Tracy, 1996, ''Petrology.' ...
s dating from the
Carboniferous
The Carboniferous ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic that spans 60 million years from the end of the Devonian Period million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Permian Period, million years ago. The name ''Carboniferou ...
period. At this time the part of the Earth’s crust which would later become England lay in the
equator
The equator is a circle of latitude, about in circumference, that divides Earth into the Northern and Southern hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, halfway between the North and South poles. The term can also ...
ial zone and was covered from time to time by shallow tropical seas. Repeated cycles of inundation led to the development of a series of
cyclothem
In geology, cyclothems are alternating stratigraphic sequences of marine and non-marine sediments, sometimes interbedded with coal seams. Historically, the term was defined by the European coal geologists who worked in coal basins formed during ...
s; the laying down of layers of limestone, shale and sandstone with occasional
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when ...
seams.
Shortly afterwards, (c. 295 million years ago) molten rock once again intruded the sedimentary succession, this time resulting in the emplacement of the
doleritic Whin Sill within the Carboniferous sequence. Known as
whinstone locally, it
baked the rocks with which it came into contact, resulting in the Sugar Limestone found in upper Teesdale. Cooling of the sill itself resulted in the formation of columnar joints, characteristic of its outcrop at places like
High Cup. The sill has been dated at between 301 and 294 million years old thus straddling the Carboniferous/Permian boundary.
Around the start of the
Permian
The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last period of the Paleo ...
period, about 290 million years ago, mineral-rich waters, associated with the still warm granite, circulated within the Carboniferous succession and gave rise to mineral-rich veins which have formed the basis of a
lead mining industry since at least Roman times.
During the rest of this period and into the
Triassic
The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest per ...
at the start of the
Mesozoic
The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretace ...
era, desert sands characterised the area; these are now seen as the
New Red Sandstone
The New Red Sandstone, chiefly in British geology, is composed of beds of red sandstone and associated rocks laid down throughout the Permian (300 million years ago) to the end of the Triassic (about 200 million years ago), that under ...
of the
Vale of Eden, the eastern parts of which form the lower slopes of the Pennine scarp and are within the AONB. There is no bedrock of younger age to be found within the North Pennines; for much of the time since the deposition of the Triassic sandstones, it is likely the area was above sea level and subject to
erosion
Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is d ...
.
A series of major global climate cycles during the current
Quaternary
The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). It follows the Neogene Period and spans from 2.58 million year ...
period resulted in a series of ice ages, evidence for the
last ice age is found within the North Pennines both in term of erosional and depositional features. Glacial
till is widespread and
drumlin
A drumlin, from the Irish word ''droimnín'' ("littlest ridge"), first recorded in 1833, in the classical sense is an elongated hill in the shape of an inverted spoon or half-buried egg formed by glacial ice acting on underlying unconsolidated ...
are encountered, both indicative of the presence of moving ice within the landscape. It may be that some higher ground was not over-ridden by ice but remained exposed through subject to harsh climatic conditions.
Glacial meltwater carved channels and rivers have continued to shape the landscape in the post-glacial era.
Economy
Besides farming, mining and quarrying have been a mainstay of the local economy over centuries. In 2013, a Canadian mining company were allowed to test drill for zinc around
Allenheads
Allenheads is a former mining village in the Pennines to the north of Weardale in Northumberland, England. Lead extraction was the settlement's industry until the mine closed in the late 19th century. Allenheads, which is above sea level, is si ...
and
Nenthead
Nenthead ( ) in the county of Cumbria is one of England's highest villages, at around . It was not built until the middle of the 18th century and was one of the earliest purpose-built industrial villages in Britain.
History
Nenthead was a ma ...
. They said the region was sitting on a "world-class" deposit of zinc and predicted that a new mine in the area could produce of zinc ore per year.
Natural history
In the North Pennines are: 40% of the UK's upland hay meadows; 30% of England's upland heathland and 27% of its
blanket bog; 80% of England's
black grouse
The black grouse (''Lyrurus tetrix''), also known as northern black grouse, Eurasian black grouse, blackgame or blackcock, is a large game bird in the grouse family. It is a sedentary species, spanning across the Palearctic in moorland and step ...
(and also breeding
short-eared owl
The short-eared owl (''Asio flammeus'') is a widespread grassland species in the family Strigidae. Owls belonging to genus ''Asio'' are known as the eared owls, as they have tufts of feathers resembling mammalian ears. These "ear" tufts may or ...
,
ring ouzel,
common snipe and
common redshank); 36% of the AONB designated as
Sites of Special Scientific Interest;
red squirrel
The red squirrel (''Sciurus vulgaris'') is a species of tree squirrel in the genus ''Sciurus'' common throughout Europe and Asia. The red squirrel is an arboreal, primarily herbivorous rodent.
In Great Britain, Ireland, and in Italy numbe ...
s,
otter
Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine, with diets based on fish and invertebrates. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which also includes we ...
s and rare arctic alpine plants; 22,000 pairs of breeding
wader
245px, A flock of Dunlins and Red knots">Red_knot.html" ;"title="Dunlins and Red knot">Dunlins and Red knots
Waders or shorebirds are birds of the order Charadriiformes commonly found wikt:wade#Etymology 1, wading along shorelines and mudflat ...
s and one of England's biggest waterfalls –
High Force. The area shares a boundary with the
Yorkshire Dales National Park
The Yorkshire Dales National Park is a national park in England covering most of the Yorkshire Dales. Most of the park is in North Yorkshire, with a sizeable area in Westmorland ( Cumbria) and a small part in Lancashire. The park was d ...
in the south and extends as far as the Tyne Valley, just south of
Hadrian's Wall
Hadrian's Wall ( la, Vallum Aelium), also known as the Roman Wall, Picts' Wall, or ''Vallum Hadriani'' in Latin, is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. Ru ...
in the north.
The AONB is notable for rare flora and fauna, including wild alpine plants not found elsewhere in Britain. It is also home to red squirrels and diverse birds of prey. The impressive landscape of the North Pennines – from High Force on the River Tees to the sweeping valley of High Cup Gill above
Dufton – are the product of millions of years of geological processes. The worldwide significance of the geology found in the area was recognised in 2003 when the AONB became Britain's first
European Geopark
The European Geoparks Network (EGN) functions as the regional organization of the Global Geoparks Network (GGN) and the UNESCO International Geosciences and Geoparks Programme (UNESCO-IGGP). Its main objective is to ensure cooperation between geop ...
. A year later the area become one of the founding members of the
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...
-assisted
Global Geopark family and in 2015 it was accorded official status as a UNESCO Global Geopark. Geoparks are areas with outstanding geological heritage where this is being used to support sustainable development.
Another of the North Pennines' oddities is that it is home to England's only named wind, the
Helm Wind
The Helm Wind is a named wind in Cumbria, England, a strong north-easterly wind which blows down the south-west slope of the Cross Fell escarpment. It is the only named wind in the British Isles, although many other mountain regions in Britain ...
. It has caught out many walkers traversing the plateaux around
Cross Fell, the
Eden Valley fellside, and the valleys between
Alston and Dufton.
Recreation
One of the many walking routes in the North Pennines is
Isaac's Tea Trail, a circular route of around the area, running from
Ninebanks
Ninebanks is a small village in south west Northumberland, England in the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty north-east of Alston, Cumbria, Alston by road. It is noted for the early sixteenth century Ninebanks Tower, sometimes des ...
via
Allendale,
Nenthead
Nenthead ( ) in the county of Cumbria is one of England's highest villages, at around . It was not built until the middle of the 18th century and was one of the earliest purpose-built industrial villages in Britain.
History
Nenthead was a ma ...
and
Alston. In addition to this, a large section of the
Pennine Way falls in the AONB, including one of the most celebrated stretches through
Teesdale, a lush valley with dramatic river scenery including the twin attractions of High Force and
Cauldron Snout.
Culture
The great English poet
W. H. Auden spent much time in this area and some forty poems and two plays are set here. Auden visited the area in 1919 and "five years later was writing poems about Alston Moor and Allendale." He referred to the region as his "Mutterland", his "great good place", and equated it with his idea of Eden. Scores of Pennine place-names are found in his work, including
Cauldron Snout and
Rookhope
Rookhope is a village in County Durham, in England. A former lead and fluorspar mining community, it first existed as a group of cattle farms in the 13th Century. It is situated in the Pennines to the north of Weardale. W. H. Auden once called ...
.
Visitor centre
There is a small visitor centre at
Bowlees
Bowlees is a small village in County Durham, England. It is situated near Newbiggin, on the other side of Teesdale from Holwick.
The visitor centre in the village was formerly run by the Durham Wildlife Trust
Durham Wildlife Trust, founde ...
which aims to provide a gateway to
Upper Teesdale
Upper Teesdale is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in the west County Durham, England. It encompasses an extensive upland area that includes the headwaters of the River Tees and the surrounding catchment area upstream of the village ...
and the wider North Pennines AONB.
Notes
References
External links
North Pennines AONB Partnership website
{{AONBs in England
Protected areas of County Durham
Protected areas of North Yorkshire
Protected areas of Northumberland
Pennines
Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty in England
Geoparks in England
Global Geoparks Network members
Natural regions of England