Images of the Forest of Bowland, Pendle Hill and the Ribble Valley

Langden Valley

The Forest of Bowland is an area in the north west of England, of heather moorland, blanket bog and exposed millstone grit outcrops. It is an important habitat for the breeding of rare upland birds such as the Hen Harrier, Peregrine and the Ring Ouzel. The name Bowland (or Bolland as it used to be known) derives from old Norse and is interpreted as "cattle land".

The tree-less high plateaux of the fells are drained by steep, wooded cloughs (incised valleys) to rich pastures in the river valley bottoms. The fells are characterised by smooth, rounded outlines arising from glacial action. The principal rivers are the Ribble, Hodder, Wyre and Lune. The highest point is Ward's Stone (560 m). Stocks Reservoir and Gisburn Forest are popular recreational areas within the Forest. The Forest of Bowland is divided by the valley of the River Ribble, separating Pendle Hill from the main Bowland fells. Pendle Hill has associations with the Quaker movement; George Fox undertook an enlightening climb of Pendle in 1652. It has also had historical associations with witchcraft.

Wolfhole Crag

Bowland is designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and 13% is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). It is nationally and internationally recognised as unspoiled, and diverse in landscape and wildlife. It largely escaped the industrialisation prevalent in the valleys and moorland fringes of Lancashire and Yorkshire in the late 18th and the 19th centuries.

Access to some of the fells has been limited by the landowners in order to preserve the shooting of the Red Grouse, but the Open Access legislation (Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000) provided the opportunity from September 2004 to explore these formerly closed areas.

The views are outstanding from the fell tops of Bowland, encompassing the Lancashire coast, the Lake District, the West Pennine Moors and the Three Peaks of the Yorkshire Dales.

"People who slog for miles over cushions of nardus grass, through peat and bog, descending and climbing out of interminable gills, and being soaked by rain see the real Bowland and creatures of wild places..." (WR Mitchell).
It can be very wet underfoot on the high fells, and in the valley bottoms.

Forget the wet. The pleasure of Bowland and the Ribble Valley is the diversity of the landscape, the cloughs with fast flowing streams, the rocky outcrops emerging from the bog, peat and heather, the views, the solitude and the ubiquitous 350,000 sheep that inhabit the place.

This website presents a portfolio of photographs taken "on the hoof" as I too have slogged, in foul weather and fine. I also offer synopses of the local environment and the history of the area. I have not been too pedantic on the assignment of images to the three geographic categories - Ribble Valley, Bowland Fells and Pendle Hill. For example, the Ribble Valley series also has many images of the River Hodder, the Hodder Valley and Pendle Hill.

News: I have just completed a new website of monochrome images of the central Pennines: www.pennineimages.com. Also available are Forest of Bowland images I took for Lancashire County Council.

Parlick and Fair Snape Fell; Beacon Fell in the distance

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