Embankment of diverse flora ‘Everywhere was once like this.’ She regrets a lost Eden, before mankind brought us to the brink, before the Anthropocene. It’s crept up on us, the Anthropocene, but now the scale and pace of man’s destructive impact on the planet is unprecedented.
Delight in Smardale is tinged with regret for what is lost. Up on Crosby Garrett Fell, on Ravenstonedale Common, springs emerge and wend their way down to Scandal Beck to flow through Smardale east to the River Eden.
Delight in Smardale is tinged with regret for what is lost. Up on Crosby Garrett Fell, on Ravenstonedale Common, springs emerge and wend their way down to Scandal Beck to flow through Smardale east to the River Eden.
Everywhere was like this once, heather fells, pastoral with sheep grazing, green lanes bordered by walls whose stones tell the complex geology of the place. Flocks of goldfinch flit before us as we walk along the dismantled railway line between banks of flowers. It’s tranquil and beautiful and we look to the fells beyond.
Smardale is many things- it’s a National Nature Reserve, Scandal Beck is an SSSI. Today, we’re reminded of its industrial archaeology, quarrying and heritage railway. The limekilns are hidden in scaffolding in a project to conserve and stabilize the kilns which were built circa 1860 to produce lime initially in construction of Smardale Gill Viaduct, then for steel making in Barrow and Darlington. They're part of a complex of industrial features which includes quarries, an inclined plane tramway and an engine house representing what was formerly a major commercial lime- producing operation.
Smardale is many things- it’s a National Nature Reserve, Scandal Beck is an SSSI. Today, we’re reminded of its industrial archaeology, quarrying and heritage railway. The limekilns are hidden in scaffolding in a project to conserve and stabilize the kilns which were built circa 1860 to produce lime initially in construction of Smardale Gill Viaduct, then for steel making in Barrow and Darlington. They're part of a complex of industrial features which includes quarries, an inclined plane tramway and an engine house representing what was formerly a major commercial lime- producing operation.
In the mid-17th century Lady Anne Clifford came north to claim her inheritance. Her programme of restoration included the ruined Pendragon Castle on the banks of the Eden. Her journals make clear that there were scores to settle long after the Civil War ended. Lady Anne would have read John Milton’s poem Paradise Lost when it was first published in 1667. Amongst Satan's fallen angels are Mammon, exploiting the earth for gold and precious minerals, and Moloch –' my sentence is for open war. ' The scene could be transposed to 2023, to the war in Ukraine and the race to secure rare earths. Moloch - a highly articulate version of the late Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner mercenary group whose death in a plane crash is surrounded in rumour.
At the Restoration in 1660, King Charles II founded The Royal Society. An early commission was a report on forestry. The Royal Navy was concerned that the demand for mature trees for timber ships was devastating England's forests. The need for sustainability was recognised in John Evelyn's Sylva, a book which resulted from this commission.
In his book Material World, Ed Conway considers the commodities which shape our lives in 21st century. The material for silicon chips comes from a sole source, the Spruce Pine Mine in the Blue Ridge Mountains, USA. Salt flats in the deserts of Chile, the foothills of the Andes, can be seen from space as the lithium brine beneath the salt is extracted to make lithium batteries. These are finite resources although lithium batteries in disposable vapes are discarded as if there were no tomorrow
At the Restoration in 1660, King Charles II founded The Royal Society. An early commission was a report on forestry. The Royal Navy was concerned that the demand for mature trees for timber ships was devastating England's forests. The need for sustainability was recognised in John Evelyn's Sylva, a book which resulted from this commission.
In his book Material World, Ed Conway considers the commodities which shape our lives in 21st century. The material for silicon chips comes from a sole source, the Spruce Pine Mine in the Blue Ridge Mountains, USA. Salt flats in the deserts of Chile, the foothills of the Andes, can be seen from space as the lithium brine beneath the salt is extracted to make lithium batteries. These are finite resources although lithium batteries in disposable vapes are discarded as if there were no tomorrow
Two summers ago Scotch Argus butterflies settled on the viaduct, taking up minerals from the surface. Today, we cannot cross because it’s under restoration. This is the best day of the week but the light is fitful and the skies often clouded. We see two butterflies and one is a Scotch Argus. Impossible to know if the scarcity of butterflies is due to the season, a wet July and August, or a depletion in numbers.
The Story team working on the viaduct are delayed by an unusually wet July and August. We hope they will be respectful of butterfly habitat hereabouts, and of trees. We haven’t stood idly by whilst Story has felled trees at scale and without justification in Kendal but, so far, it has been impossible to protect an environment we cherish.
The Story team working on the viaduct are delayed by an unusually wet July and August. We hope they will be respectful of butterfly habitat hereabouts, and of trees. We haven’t stood idly by whilst Story has felled trees at scale and without justification in Kendal but, so far, it has been impossible to protect an environment we cherish.
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