TOWN HEAD FARM

GRASMERE

THE FARM

ENVIRONMENTAL FEATURES

VISITORS

ENVIRONMENTAL FEATURES

Northern reaches of Grasmere Vale, at the foot of Dunmail Raise.

GEOLOGY

Great Langdale is part of the Borrowdale Volcanic Series which ‘poured and shot out of the vents above Skiddaw Slates in Ordovician times, about 400 million years ago, and then Silurian slaty beds were laid down on top of them. ..The Ordovician and Silurian rocks were first submerged in the ancient Carboniferous sea about 280 million years ago, and were then uplifted into the desert environment of the Triassic period…the Carboniferous rocks haved been stripped off by wind and weather and water from the mountain heart… Much of the mineral wealth of the rocks is made up of the results of later changes – the intrusion into the Borrowdale rocks of later masses of igneous rock…’ WH Pearsall, W. Pennington, The Lake District: A Landscape History, 1973, pp. 27, 30, 44, 45

SOIL TYPE(S)

‘Soils …are now all rather poor and acid, because in the course of the last ten thousand years, since the last glacial episode, the very high rainfall of this western mountain district has leached out of the soil most of the soluble mineral elements such as calcium…bracken on these fells indicates the presence of deep and comparatively well-drained soils of which the profile approximates to a brown earth.’ (Ibid, pp.121, 124)

If you'd like to know more about Geology and Soil types in Grasmere; see WH Pearsall, W. Pennington, The Lake District: A Landscape History, 1973, chapters 2, 3, 7

FAUNA

Two barn owls in the barn; Buzzards, Peregrines, Herons, House Martins, and the Redstart, a summer migrant from Africa. Badgers, foxes, and deer.

In Greenburn (a valley above Town Head Farm) there are dragonflys.

A Redstart

FLORA

The farm manages a rich hay meadow, just below Allan Bank and two more at Town Head.

ARCHAEOLOGY

There is a pill-box built at the beginning of World War II on the lower reaches of Dunmail Raise (Cotra) for use by the Grasmere Home Guard.

VERNACULAR BUILDINGS & FEATURES

There is a packhorse bridge which needs maintaining and a hoghouse in need of restoration.

The barn to the north of the house and attached to it is of 18th century origins and postdates the house. This barn was repaired in 1853. The tenant at that time, James Fleming, conducted a lengthy correspondence with J.P Myers (the owner) on the subject of re-roofing: ‘Levi Hodgsin [sic] has been up to see the Barn…he is afraid the Southside wall is not safe it is out in the middle near 5 inches he suggests it should be taken down to the floor and he would take 1 and 1/2 feet of the height of it to make a good strong job of it he also feels quite confident that Slateing it in the old way as regards laths and I agree with him…’ National Trust Survey, T J Whittaker and JD Martin, August 1988

INCOME AND PAYMENTS

Town Head Farm is a member of the Herdwick Direct scheme (a consortium of 8 producers supplying directly to Booths Supermarket).

Direct income from Livestock is about 20% of total farm income. The costs of wintering hoggs at Cockermouth and shearlings at Lamonby is high.

The farm is in receipt of:

Single Farm Payment

Hill Farm Allowance

The inbye and fell (common) is managed within an ESA scheme