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DEFINING “TRANSIENCE” FROM PENRITH TO SHAP: AN UPLAND ENVIRONMENT FORMED THROUGH CENTURIES OF MAN’S INTERACTION WITH NATURE

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BY NINA ESMUND

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CUMBRIA

Penrith

Lake District

Shap

SITE LOCATION The site location lies between the townships of PENRITH and SHAP within a predominantly rural, valley area, in the county of Cumbria, England.

DEFINING

transience WITHIN THE TIME SPACE CONTINUUM

O

ur group treatise states that “transience” is a condition of time within the time space continuum with no controls either anthropocentric or biocentric.

There are 4 known dimensions: Dimension 1 represents a point in time and space, somewhere to start, a beginning. Temporal reference points are transformed into spatial destinations.

Dimension 2 defines movement between two points. Travelling and arriving are inextricabally linked, “to travel without arriving would be as incomplete as to have arrived without having travelled.” Movement through the landscape offers different experiences, purely drifting or a more focused exploration, along defined lines of passage.

Dimension 3 completes space, now “inbetweenness” has a spatial

andtemporal quality. “Liminal” space lies between thresholds in time. It describes situations where a vagueness persists, but frameworks and boundaries have become blurred and fragile through the influence of external processes. Transitional stages as in rites of passage create debatable land from border territories to zebracrossings. It is influenced by the past, but disconnected from its future. There are no restrictions in liminal space, allowing greater flows in movement and freedom, but it lies outside structure, meaning is ambiguous and there is a lack of order.

Dimension 4 where time is relative, lies the possibilty that the condition of transience be managed. The perception of time flowing in one direction is an artifact of the laws of thermodynamics (we perceive time as flowing in the direction of increasing entropy).

Transitional periods within time and space where something is not what it was and not what it will become,

PERSONAL PROPOSITION transience: no longer and not yet, a state of permanently existing

on the threshold. Overcoming the state of “inbetweeness” spatially and temporally. As a condition of time, transience has certain qualities just as twilight when the first stars appear or dawn when the birds start singing. Things fade with time and distance.

but something in between, something marginal, vague, and flexible, but has certain qualities: a kind of spatial twilight or a new dawn, a period of uncertainty.

Transience can only be determined from the future looking back at the past or with hindsight, but there is sometimes a need to go back, but this is an impossibility because the moment’s gone. People moving between spaces without direction or focus can become stuck when barriers encountered become impassable, contributing to nebulous wandering or drifting.

Transience is a temporal bridge merging the past with new futures, a window of opportunity in time and space. Creating and preserving structures that mark time, distance, height maintains and strengthens continous links in time.

SITE SURVEY INFORMATION

T

his glaciated landscape of the Cumbria High Fells has, from early times, been perceived to be special, inspiring writers and painters including Turner, Constable and Wordsworth who visited the area creating records of the distinctive landscape character in their art.

This landscape is an amalgamation of distinctive geology, weathering and man’s management of the land which established a fashion for ‘picturesque beauty’ in the second half of the 18th century.

1. Landscape Designations The site lies at the fringes of the Lakeland Fells between The Lake District National Park and The Peninne’s Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

These designations protect and guide change in the neighboring landscapes, recognising their particular landscape importance. They also develop understanding and awareness of the landscape features, qualities and issues that make particular areas distinctive and create a sense of place and identity.

2. Access The Eden Valley accommodates a road and rail transport corridor; the West Coast Mainline Railway, M6 motorway and A66 trunk road all cut through the area. Off these major routes traffic volumes are low and the area is served by an intricate network of minor farm roads and narrow country lanes forming a fretwork tracing enclosed areas of farmland.

PENRITH

Shap Shap

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3. Settlement Patterns The market town of Penrith provides an important centre for the farming community.

Settlement patterns consist of nucleated and linear villages, surrounded by scattered hamlets and isolated farms accessed by narrow lanes.

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PENRITH

Shap

The major transport routes form three individual strands that seamlessly weave passage through the valley providing connections between North and South and key, local settlements. They also create residual, fragmented areas of land.

Nearby National Trails used to explore and experience these regions include the Peninne Way and the Coast to Coast Walk, alongside a labyrinthine pattern of footpaths.

PENRITH

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Site: Penrith to Shap strip

National Park

Major Roads

National Nature Reserves

Railway network

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

Minor rural roads

Settlement

Long distance “Coast to Coast” path National trails: “The Peninne Way”

4. Topography: Uplands and lowlands PENRITH

The site forms part of a landscape of mountains and valleys with largely low-lying ground between the Lake District Fells and the Pennine escarpment.

Steep, dramatic and distinctive topography are visible from many vantage points and create a hazy backdrop in the area. The terrain is often undulating or rolling rather than flat. Topography, or landform, is the main influence on the landscape character. This is demonstrated by existing road and railway line construction that follow the linear valley contours.

5. Views Strong views to the Lake District Fells and the Northern Pennine escarpment from many parts of the area. Local topography and vegetation can restrict views and create enclosure.

Shap

6. Landscape Character This is a rolling, farmed landscape that forms transitional land between uplands & lowlands between 200-300m A.O.D ncluding a strong pattern of fields bound by stone walls that emphasise the landform.

Upland environment (above 200m A.O.D)

Lowland environment (below 200m A.O.D)

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Contours and transport routes 5

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7. Soilscape and land use The river valley space consists of Grade 3 “good to moderate quality agricultural land,” with only moderate limitations that might affect the choice of crops. Predominantly agricultural land consisting of enclosed, farmland with fertile valley soils. Fields are both irregular and regular in shape and bounded by hedges or stone walls which provide a strong pattern of boundaries. The dominant land use is as grassland, 62,414 ha (80%). This is intrinsically linked to the local economy, “in many valleys the bones of the landscape survive, but are hanging on by a thread, as the social and economic systems that supported them are weakening,” (Susan Denyer, UK adviser to UNESCO on cultural World Heritage sites).

PENRITH

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8. Water and agricultural pollution The River Eden rises in Westmorland, and crosses the county from southeast to northwest, and after passing Carlisle it flows to the Solway Frith; it is about 35 miles long.

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The area is also part of a “Catchment Sensitive Farming” initiative formulated to protect the River Eden and its tributaries from agricultural pollution.

PENRITH

The whole area is a focus for Catchment Sensitive Farming Initiatives that aims to tackle the pollution of waterways. Agricultural land covers threequarters of the country, so farmers naturally have an important role to play in protecting rivers, lakes, groundwater and bathing waters.

9. Vegetation and ecology

Shap

Grey partridge -87%

Corn bunting -90%

Tree sparrow -94%

Yellow wagtail -73%

Rook +41%

Linnet -58%

Starling -68%

Turtle dove -89%

Jackdaw +136%

Skylark -51%

Lapwing -58%

Kestrel -35%

Existing tree cover consists of fragmented pockets of ancient and ancient replanted woodland. Stands of upland ash woodland are present along gills and river valleys. Tree cover is generally sparse or completely lacking, apart from some fairly extensive coniferous plantations and the occasional clump.

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10. Birds and meadows The area contains very small areas of upland and lowland meadow habitat that are mapped as priority habitats on the Biodiversity Action Plan at a national level. Declines in suitable habitats and changes in farming practice have led to recent declines in several species of farmland and wetland breeding birds.

GRADE 5: Very poor quality agricultural land

Catchment sensitive farming

GRADE 4: Poor quality agricultural land

Nitrate Vulnerable Zones

GRADE 3: Good to moderate quality agricultural land

GRADE 2: Very good quality agricultural land

Woodland

Lowland Meadow

B - DUFTON PIKE ORDOVICIAN & DEVONIAN Mainly granite, including the Shap and Skiddaw granites.

A - SHAP SUMMIT CARBONIFEROUS (345-280 million years) Limestones, often rich in fossils.

PERMIAN - TRIASSIC (280-195 million years) Desert Red Sandstones.

ORDOVICIAN (500-435 million years) Borrowdale Volcanic, lavas, ash deposit and lake sediments.

11. GEOLOGY - TIME AND MATTER The geological features of the area are various; the mountains in the east belong to carboniferous system, embracing millstone grit and mountain limestone; the level tract of land along the Eden Valley is new red sandstone. The remainder is occupied by the carboniferous system, and also by the Silurian rocks, embracing clay, slate, and various slaty limestone, interspersed with granite.

PENRITH

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Dufton Pike is a small hill with big views lying at the foot of the Northern Pennines. It is a “Marilyn,” or a mountain or hill with a relative height of at least 150 metres. Hillwalkers attempt to climb as many Marilyns as possible as a form of “peak bagging,” trying to reach the summit of a collection of peaks, usually those above some height in a particular region, or having a particular feature. Dufton Pike also forms a geological connection with the Lake District on the other side of the valley also being made up of Borrowdale Volcanic rock.

Shap

WALKING ACROSS LAYERS OF GEOLOGICAL TIME AND ACROSS CARBONIFEROUS RIVER - GEOLOGICAL QUIRKS FORM LAYERS OF TIME AND ROCK, UP TO THE PAST AND DOWN TO THE FUTURE

A Long distance “Coast to Coast” path National trails: “The Peninne Way” Section through geological time: Shap Summit (A) to Dufton Pike (B).

12. Perceptions: heritage landscape Borderlands, changing identities and

inspired them is still evident in the cultural landscape

defensive structures.

and untouched for many decades, if not centuries; “so

“History: the aggregate of past events or human

much attention is paid to the undeniable beauty of the

affairs.” An area rich in medieval castles, Peel

Lakes that the Eden Valley often gets overlooked. But

towers, Roman roads, cairns and ruined abbeys.

it shouldn’t, and it deserves to be equally as famous.

Many of these architectural features lie in ruins, but

Nestling between two mighty ranges of fells it has amazing

form a legacy of the areas 10th century location on

scenery all around and is a fine place to walk through”

the Scottish border and are associated with cross-

(http://ramblingman.org.uk).

border strategic positioning.

The area has long been a cultural focus for Romantic artists, poets and writers, such as John Ruskin, William Wordsworth and Turner who fostered a wide appreciation of the wild countryside,

today. The area evokes an atmosphere of being overlooked

The county of Cumbria was only created in relatively recent times. In 1974, the administrative counties of Cumberland and Westmorland merged to become Cumbria as we know it today. For parliamentary purposes the county is divided into East Cumberland and West Cumberland.

nature and primitivism in the Lake District. They valued the landscape for the intensity of the spiritual feelings that it evoked. They were inspired by the natural scenery and what they portrayed to be a harmonious relationship between farmers and

PENRITH

nature. Much of this 18th century landscape that

Shap

Pele Towers in Cumbria

BRIGGIN BOTHEL HAVEN MOUTH GILL FORCE SCALE FORTH WATER MERE TARN BECK BURN KIRK COUGH RIGG FIELD LAND CLOSE LEY GARTH HILL GATE DALE SHAW CROFT THWAITE MOOR HOLM HOW ROW HEAD SIDE

WATH CAR MAIN EY SYKE PIKE FELL NESS HILL KELD CLOUGH CLEUGH MEAL WREAY CRAKE BANK BOW WELL POOL CLIFF BURY BARROW CROSS DEAN DYKE CRAG BOTTOM GROVE GAP EDGE BROW MOSS.

STRATEGY:

MEADOW VALLEY NATIONAL PARK National trail link: An allegorical journey where continuous passage finds form through interventions in the landscape.

“Meadow Valley National Park” is inspired by “The Valley of Flowers,” an almost secret valley located high in the Western Himalayas, India. It is one of India’s National Parks, and home to over 500 many rare and endangered species. Almost inaccessible to tourists due to the high altitude, the park is still considered one of the most beautiful places in the world. Getting to the Valley of Flowers requires a trek of about 17 km and attracts global explorers. The park is in the UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves since 1988 with a unique climate and distinctive flora and fauna.

A new National Park in the Valley of Eden would create a gentle landscape to complement the rugged mountain wilderness of the Lake District and become a unique transition zone between the existing National Park and The Peninnes, an Area of Outstanding Beauty to the East.

The creation of a coherent National Trail infrastructure, by linking existing trails with bespoke, long-distance footpaths, will enable visitors to the Eden Valley to permeate a hidden, colourful space for nature, and a safe haven for endangered native species. New strategic connections with The Cumbrian Way at Borrowdale, The Peninne Way at Dufton Pike and The Coast to Coast Walk at Shap form the basis of a strengthened network of themed trails.

The Penrith to Shap strip would become a boundary to the west of the new park designation and offer new connections into the landscape.

Views from the transport corridor to the east will be enhanced by colourful and striking displays of native wildflowers, acting as a strengthened visual contrast to the steep, rugged Pennine escarpment rising above the florid carpet at its base, enticing people to stop, engage and explore the landscape.

The “personal proposition” is concerned with strengthening and defining connections between two key regional landscape designations; The Lake District - a potential World Heritage Site in the West and The Peninnes, a designated Area of Outstanding Beauty in the East. A new route between these two locations would descend from the fragile environment of the uplands down into and across the valley, before rising up again in the East. This would enable the valley landscape to be experienced at a human scale and offer a complementary experience to the surrounding mountainous landscape.

Topography and ecology

MEADOW VALLEY NATIONAL PARK Points in time and space form destinations and points of entry into a park for the future.

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CLIFTON - HISTORICAL LANDSCAPES

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DUFTON - GEOLOGICAL QUIRKS

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KIRKBY STEPHEN - MYTHOLOGICAL LANDSCAPES

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ORTON - ANCIENT LANDSCAPES

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SHAP - ICONIC LANDSCAPES

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PATTERDALE - CONNECTIONS

Peninne Trail

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Coast to Coast Walk

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MEADOW VALLEY NATIONAL PARK Walking through a history constellation in the meadows

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Points of entry into park

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Points in time and space

Existing cycle routes 6

“Clifton Moor Skirmish” and “Rebel Tree”

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Hugh’s Crag Viaduct

Ephemeral garden (Mayfly Garden) 1

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Hillside Tree Museum 6

New meadows: Skylark Meadows

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Peel Tower Visitor Centre 5 2

Fritillary Meadows

A6 Lowther Woodhouse ancient settlement

1. OLD MEADOWS: Ancient field patterns transformed into “Colour Fields” for hay meadow camping.

Clifton Standing Stones

2. Meadow Trails to points in time and space 3. Meadow embankments and Tower Link 4. Pine meadows

M6 Castlesteads ancient settlement

5. RESTORED RAILWAY EASTERN

Lancaster to Carlisle Railway

TRAIL: Dismantled railway reinvented as new cycle route to Eastern sections of the park.

6. Meadow Viewpoints 7. RIVERSIDE GARDENS with Willow Pollard Grove and Water Meadows.

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MEADOW VALLEY NATIONAL PARK Meadow Valley Nature Reserve

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MEADOW VALLEY NATIONAL PARK Meadow Valley Nature Reserve Riverside areas

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DESIGN STATEMENT:

MEADOW VALLEY NATIONAL PARK Meadow World Nature Reserve

WHERE HISTORY AND NATURE COMBINE AND CO-EXIST IN THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE.

VISUALISATION: “TOWER GARDEN APPROACH”

A central valley destination for walkers, on a new proposed “National Trail Link” connecting the Coast to Coast Walk (an unofficial National Trail) and the Peninne Way. A “Mountain Valley Trail” enhances the experience for walkers when moving from upland to lowland levels along the River Lowther through old and new meadow landscape. It also reconnects local village communities that have become disconnected from its adjacent river landscape by the construction of the M6 motorway and provides contact with nature.

Within a Reserve space designed “for things kept back or saved for future use or a special purpose,” vulnerable and rare native plant species and habitats as specified in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan, and the Biodiversity Action Plan for Cumbria, can be discovered by visitors, their histories unearthed and their renewed presence enjoyed for future generations before becoming relegated to history and conscious memory for ever.

Two spaces that form part of a sequence of riverside landscape elements within this protected natural area, inspired by Clifton Peel Tower, a local heritage

architectural feature designed for protection and preservation, are a “River Garden” with boardwalk nature paths and working “Water Meadows.”

The “River Garden” with paths that lead through swathes of native, marginal plant species for ecological purposes and increased biodiversity forms a space for relaxation, and appreciation of British native species of wildflower in a garden setting. It also provides access to the river edge for observation and contemplation within rest and sheltered spaces. Two paths provide access at different levels to accommodate the rise and fall of the river, and stone markers allow these levels to be engraved annually as a method of recording these fluctuating levels for climate change research and commemorative purposes by locals affected by these changes.

Water Meadows create working wildlife-rich water purification systems that provide verdant, early pastures for exploration and boost recreational value of the River Lowther.

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MEADOW VALLEY NATIONAL PARK Meadow Valley Nature Reserve General Arrangement

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MEADOW VALLEY NATIONAL PARK Meadow Valley Nature Reserve NORTH River Garden and Willow Pollard Grove

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MEADOW VALLEY NATURE RESERVE TREE MUSEUM ENTRANCE AND POETRY WALL SECTION 1:50

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MEADOW VALLEY NATIONAL PARK NORTH Meadow Valley Nature Reserve

Tree Museum Entrance

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MEADOW VALLEY NATIONAL PARK NORTH Meadow Valley Nature Reserve

Split Level River Path Section

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1. Native oak tree coverts and

DESIGNED ECOLOGIES

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orchid meadows Pollarded oak woodland Native marginal species Fritillaria meadows Skylark meadows Pine meadows Upland hay meadow

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PLANTING PHILOSOPHY TREES AND GRASS: contrast in form and texture

NATIVE SPECIES: seasonal colour, ecology, inspiration

NATIVE VULNERABLE AND RARE SPECIES: discovery

TREE MUSEUM “A place where works of art, scientific specimens, or other objects of permanent value are kept and displayed. Seasonal exhibits on different levels.”

“Ancient trees are living relics of incredible age that inspire in us feelings of awe and mystery. They also support wildlife that cannot live anywhere else. Over the centuries, they have inspired artists, writers, poets and scientists and are mentioned in sacred texts.”

The pollarded oak trees, in time, act as features, “tree exhibits” along the zig-zigging hillside path that leads from the riverside space to the hill top through native woodland. They will be complimented by groups of Prunus avium, Wild Bird Cherry which will create interest until the oaks reach maturity.

Trees over time become gnarled, ancient with “cathedral-like grandeur.” Skilful pollarding actually prolongs a tree’s life: the operation is a kind of rejuvenation, and the tree will live longer than one that hasn’t been pollarded, ceasing to be merely a tree, but becoming architecture.

TREE MUSEUM PLANTING PLAN SCALE 1:500

Key Quercus robur

Grass for woodland mix

Prunus avium

Grass and flowers for woodland mix

Grass for woodland mix 12.5% 1.25% 7.5%

Agrostis capillaris, Common Bent Anthoxanthum odoratum, Sweet Vernal-grass Brachypodium sylvaticum, False Brome

43.75% 2.5% 32.5%

Cynosurus cristatus, Crested Dogstail Deschampsia cespitosa,Tufted Hair-grass Festuca rubra, Slender-creeping Red-fescue

100% Grass and flowers for woodland mix 5% Teucrium scorodonia, Wood Sage 10% Dactylorhiza fuchsii, Common spotted orchid

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1% 7% 44% 2.5% 30.5% 100%

Anthoxanthum odoratum, Sweet Vernal-grass Brachypodium sylvaticum, False Brome Cynosurus cristatus, Crested Dogstail Deschampsia cespitosa, Tufted Hair-grass Festuca rubra, Slender-creeping Red-fescue

HILLSIDE TREE MUSEUM LANDSCAPE MANAGEMENT 1. A mixture of native grasses and wildflowers for woodland provide a textured cover for a hillside landscape of trees and grass.

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2. Quercus robur planted as specimens where paths and levels change. Clusters of Wild Bird Cherry, Prunus avium act as nurse species while oaks mature, create contrast in form and texture. Quercus robur pollarded at five yearly intervals.

Prunus avium thinned out over time to reveal oak forms.

Changing field layer of native wild flowers and grasses with Dactylorhiza fuchsii provide changing seasonal colour and contrast to oak forms.

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3. Clusters of Wild Bird Cherry, Prunus avium form blocks of blossom while oaks reach maturity.

4. Canopy layer of Quercus robur pollarded to create distinctive shapes and forms over a significant time scale to inspire creativity. Pollarding prolongs the life span of the tree.

Some Prunus avium left at woodland thresholds and intervals along route.

Dactylorhiza fuchsii, Common spotted orchid grow undisturbed and become a key feature during the summer in the field layer.

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MATERIALITY: PATTINA AND PROCESS Inspired by a working, weathered, ancient landscape

EXPOSED, CARVED, RIVEN, UNTREATED, ERODED, WEATHERED, HONED, BURIED, RIVETED, QUARRIED, TUMBLED, CHARRED, MARKED, SCARRED

BESPOKE ITEMS: RIVERSIDE PLANTER

1. MARKERS: DISTANCE, TIME, HEIGHT 2. SEATING AND REST 3. VIEWPOINTS 4. RIVERSIDE SHELTERS 5. PLANTERS

SIGNPOSTS AND MARKERS distance, time, levels, heights

SEATING Charred oak, weathered, untreated oak

VIEWPOINTS Platforms

BESPOKE ITEMS: VIEWPOINT

BESPOKE ITEMS: BENCH SEATING