COMMON LAND MANAGEMENT
Sheep have grazed Cumbria's fellsides and pastures for hundreds of years, maintaining the grassy swards and open fells much loved by walkers. The familiar pattern of enclosed fields in the valley bottoms, intake land on the lower slopes and the open high fells is a direct result of sheep farming over millennia. The drystone walls, sheep folds, drove roads and farm steadings are all further evidence of how the landscape has been modified to assist with the management of livestock. Even unusual features such as pollarded ash trees are associated with sheep farming - the leafy branches being regularly harvested as supplementary feed. In effect, sheep are as much a part of the Cumbrian landscape as the fells themselves.
The Land Enclosure Acts of the 18th and 19th centuries created the patchwork of fields in the lowlands, but vast tracts of the Cumbrian fells (about 300,000 acres) were left as unenclosed common land. This provided a communal grazing resource, with rights given to farmers to graze their sheep on individual sections. On this open land it was important that the sheep remained within a particular section of the fell, known as a 'heaf'. Over time, and with diligent shepherding, this has become learnt behaviour that is passed from ewe to lamb over succeeding generations.
In the late 1940s, a Borrowdale farmer wrote of: 'the perseverance, patience, and hard work involved in dividing these sheep into separate flocks or stocks and "heafing" them on those portions of ground belonging to the respective holdings. One cannot help but admire these shepherds of the past and doff one's hat to them for the great task they accomplished in the days gone by.'
William Tyson, The Herdwick Sheep, 1947
Sheep raised on a particular section of the fells tend to regard it as their home and will travel considerable distances to get back to their 'heaf', if necessary. On some tenanted farms there is a 'landlord's flock', which goes with the farm whenever there is a change of tenant. This ensures that the fell continues to be successfully grazed by its resident 'hefted' flocks of sheep.
The Federation of Cumbria Commoners has prepared a series of Guides of Good Practice on key issues in order to help Commoners Associations promote good management. These guides can be downloaded from the Federation website and nine are now available covering the following subjects:-
- Grazing and Stock Management
- Vegetation Management
- Agri-environment Schemes
- Direct Marketing
- Integrated Planning
- Animal Health
- Commercial Marketing
- Organising Associations
- Access on Commons
The Guides have been prepared with support from a range of experts and experienced commoners.
The Federation has also produced a DVD:- "Common Interests: A Cumbrian Perspective on Common Land and Life”. This can be purchased by sending a cheque for £10 payable to the Federation of Cumbria Commoners at the contact address below.
For more information about the management of common land contact:
The Federation of Cumbria Commoners
Mark's House,
Stewart Hill,
Hesket Newmarket,
Cumbria. CA7 8HX
Tel: 017684 84849
Email: fiona@cumbriacommoners.org.uk
Website: www.cumbriacommoners.org.uk
The Cumbria Fells and Dales Leader + programme is based at Voluntary Action Cumbria and is part-financed by the European Agriculture Guidance and Guarantee Fund of the European Union and the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs. This project is part of a trans-national project with Gévaudan Leader + Programme, Lozère, France.