Limestone Journeys Landscape Partnership
A successful landscape partnership application was made to the Heritage Lottery
Fund in 2010 for a 5 year programme of activity to celebrate and develop the
distinctive qualities of the Derbyshire Magnesian Limestone Area enhancing
landscape access and opportunities for skills development and training. This
scheme will be pivotal to the socio economic future of the area which has been
badly affected by the decline of the industrial base that has resulted in high levels
of unemployment, low aspirations and low levels of education attainment.
Limestone Journeys will address these socio-economic issues through a
programme of activity which utilises the rich cultural, natural and distinctive
heritage assets of the area to improve the quality of life for local communities.
The schemes activity has been developed under the four strategic programme
areas that follow the themes within the HLF Landscape Partnership scheme:
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Conserve and restore the natural and heritage features of the Derbyshire
magnesian limestone landscape for future generations and to act as
drivers for tourism and regeneration
Encourage engagement between the local community and their natural
and cultural surroundings
Enable people of all abilities to access the natural landscape and the
cultural heritage of their local area by improving the trails such as the
Creswell Archaeological Way and improving the interpretation
Empower people to have a positive influence on the landscape through
courses and training opportunities which will enable local communities to
develop new skills and facilitate positive activity
Cultural and Natural Significance
The Derbyshire Magnesian Limestone is noted for its rich combination of
limestone habitats, archaeology, animal and plantspecies and geological
features.
The area has a unique cultural story, having one of the oldest human timelines
where people have interacted with the landscape:
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Old Stone Age cave dwellers who left traces of their presence, stone tools
and early art, as they used the natural cave and rock shelters while facing
climatic fluctuations from 50,000 to 10,000 years ago.
Traces of Neolithic and Bronze Age communities from their ancestral
burial monuments preserved within the ancient semi-natural woodlands.
Romano-British traces of their agricultural estates and villa sites.
Early medieval communities who developed traditional farming
settlements which use the local Magnesian Limestone as a building stone
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and red pan tile for roofs which have created a characteristic vernacular
architecture.
Grand country houses sitting within the middle of estate parkland and the
re-organisation of the landscape in the post-medieval period with
traditional drystone walls and hedged fields.
The onset of heavy industry - woollen mills, limestone quarries, deep
mining for coal, and railway infrastructure – all of which has left an
indelible mark on the landscape.
The geology has resulted in the creation of a diverse range of specialised
habitats (semi-ancient woodland, cliffs, scree, waterlogged valley floors, caves
and gorges). The chemical composition of the limestone and the thin soils that
has formed provides a unique substrate and bio-diverse habitat on which
magnesian limestone grassland is able to flourish. These grassland habitats and
the unique groups of flora and fauna they contain, have been severely
fragmented as a result of intensive agriculture and urban development and now
survive in isolated pockets, predominantly associated with the limestone vales
and gorges that exist outside intensive cultivation.
The Scheme area hosts wide ranging populations and species of birds. 15 of
which are on the Birds of Conservation Concern 3 2009 as identified through the
red list. Of the farmland birds, species including lapwing, skylark, yellowhammer,
tree sparrow, turtle dove, corn bunting, linnet and grey partridge are all known
from the area, but have declined in recent years probably due to a combination of
loss of breeding sites and foraging habitat. There are very real concerns that
several of these bird species could disappear altogether from the Magnesian
Limestone plateau as breeding birds.
Other important bird species occurring in the project area include little ringed
plover, a protected species, has taken advantage of bare ground created in
quarries and old colliery sites and still breeds at several of these.
Significant species of butterflies and moths are known to inhabit the brown field
sites including white-letter hairstreak, wall brown, dingy skipper and small heath.
These species have all declined nationally and their continued presence on the
magnesian limestone is a priority.
Reptiles and amphibians have a patchy distribution across the Limestone plateau
including populations of grass snakes, slow worms and Great Crested newts.
The movement of these populations has in recent times been greatly restricted
by the intensive agricultural workings of the landscape.
A number of mammals of conservation concern occur in the area. Brown hare
and Water vole are known to exist in significant numbers. Bats are relatively
widespread, but again the central plateau between Pleasley and Creswell
supports fewer bat roosts and is probably less well used. Nine of the sixteen
species of bats are recorded within the scheme area.
The Partnership
There is a broad, strong and active Partnership which is led by Creswell Heritage
Trust and made up of a number of key organisations:
Bolsover Countryside Partnership
Bolsover District Council
Community & Voluntary Partners
Derbyshire County Council
Derbyshire Wildlife Trust
The Forestry Commission
The Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group
Groundwork Creswell
Junction Arts
The National Trust
Natural England
The partnership will meet as a Steering Group every month from January 2011.
The Scheme Office
The scheme office will be based at Creswell Crags Museum and will consist of a
Manager, Development Officers (one full time for the five years and one part time
from January 2012), and an Administrative Assistant.
The Scheme Area
The Limestone Journeys Scheme area covers Bolsover District’s administrative
area of the Southern Magnesian Limestone.