#30: Don't fence me in

I love this image by Harry Epworth Allen.

It shows the typical walls that are found in much of the Peak District - both the White and the Dark Peak. This looks like the area around Great and Little Hucklow, which I know well.

Derbyshire Walls, by Harry Epworth Allen (1894-1958), @SheffMuseums. pic.twitter.com/jLg8X2xFPy

— Brian Groom (@GroomB) December 20, 2022

These walls are made by skilful people, and were a massive achievement - the walls run to hundreds if not thousands of miles in length and enclosed land owned by landowners including monasteries / religious areas as well as individuals. 

This article in Great British Life explains how they are an integral part of the British countyside in this part of the country. 

Here's a little extract from the article.

The existence of dry stone walls can be dated as far back as over 3,500bc. 

It is believed that farmers of the Iron and Bronze Ages constructed their agricultural walls with the huge structures arranged by the ethnic chiefs and lords. In Derbyshire alone we have standing walls that go back to Roman times; ancient clearance walls built to mark boundaries and contain livestock; slavers walls built by people who were captured and brought here because they could build walls effectively; and famine walls built by Irish labourers in the 1800s, working either for homesteads or wealthy land owners.

At a glance, the ages and types of dry stone walls are identifiable by their shape, form and location. Enclosure by Act of Parliament was standard in the mid 1700s, although the first Enclosure Act was passed in 1604. 

Walls built in this period are the most common in the countryside, dividing land in straight strips of a rectangular shape and called the enclosures walls, as seen in the countryside near Monyash and Flagg.

The walls are also important for some plant and animal species by providing a sheltered habitat for them to grow.

The idea of borders is also important, and there are some possible contexts here for work around Natural History in terms of identifying just how enclosures in the past have influenced the natural history and biodiversity of today.