The recent vegetational history of the Forest of Bowland, Lancashire, UK

Abstract

SUMMARYThe results of "C-and ^'"Pb-dated pollen profiles from the Forest of Bowland, Lancashire are presented, covering the period from the late Iron Age up to the present day. Two notable features of the pollen profile are the apparent lack of a period of large-scale forest destruction during the time of the Norse invasions and the substantial phase of tree clearance towards the end of the Iron Age period. The evidence suggests that the Viking invasions into Lancashire may not have been as destructive as once believed. The invasions were probably gradual, possibly localized (certainly as regards the Bowland area) and seem to have occurred alongside existing populations. Previous pollen-analytical evidence regarding the Iron Age peoples of north-west England has supposed them to have had little effect on their surrounding vegetation. It is now suggested that forest clearance previously assigned to the Romans in north-west England is of Iron Age origin.The pollen profiles presented also reflect several changes of socio-economic conditions that have affected rural populations in Lancashire during the last millennium. An important example is the decimation of populations during the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries. It is suggested that these were caused by the development of subsistence economies, leading each time to a Malthusian crisis. These population declines may also have been exacerbated by outbreaks of plague. The fall in population at both times, is clearly reflected by rising arboreal pollen values, indicative of slackening rates of forest clearance.

Mid- and late-Holocene vegetation history and tephra studies at Fenton Cottage, Lancashire, U.K.

“…This takes the form of a marked increase in agricultural activity which appears to have started before the Roman invasion and which continued after it. This conclusion is reinforced by palynological records from the uplands of Bowland Forest situated 15 km to the east of Fenton Cottage, where Mackay and Tallis (1994) found similar reductions in AP and increased values of cultural indicators. Elsewhere in northwest England, a similar picture of late Iron Age clearance intensifying during the Roman period has been described in locations as diverse as northern Cuinbria (Dumayne and Barber 1994) and southern Cheshire (Nelms 1984).…”

“…Such a trend can be seen at a national level, in areas characterized by heavier soils (Turner 1981). A recent study by Mackay and Tallis (1994) also indicates extensive clearance activity in the late Iron Age from the western Bowland Fells, 20 km to the east.…”

Hillslope gullying in the Solway Firth — Morecambe Bay region, Great Britain: Responses to human impact and/or climatic deterioration?

“…Woodland clearance clearly began during the late Iron Age and extended into the Romano-British period, with the Lune Valley an important north-south routeway during Roman times. Mackay and Tallis (1994) reveal large (60%) reductions in arboreal pollen at Fairsnape Fell in the Bowland Fells during the late Iron Age and into the Romano-British period. The pollen record from Fiendsdale in the Langden valley (Miller, 1991) supports this with a cleared landscape in the upland valleys by 1995-1825 cal.…”

“…In the Bowland Fells gradual reductions in arboreal pollen are recorded at Fairsnape Fell from c. 1300 to 900 cal. BP (Mackay and Tallis, 1994). The buried organic deposits at Fiendsdale also show sharp reductions in Betula and expansions of Poaceae, Cyperaceae and Calluna vulgaris before the aggradation of the later fan surface (Miller, 1991).…”

Characterising the late prehistoric, ‘Romano-British’ and medieval landscape, and dating the emergence of a regionally distinct agricultural system in South West Britain

“…Later Iron Age woodland clearance is a common feature across northern and western Britain, being recorded in Cumbria (Dumayne & Barber, 1994;Wimble et al, 2000), Lancashire (Mackay & Tallis, 1994), Wales (Turner, 1964), Shropshire (Leah et al, 1988) and southern Scotland (Tipping, 1994;1995). It is clear that the landscape around the study area in midDevon was already within an agricultural system and the evidence from the Rackenford sites strongly suggests increasing pressure on land resources, with clearance of what were likely to be more marginal areas (i.e.…”