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At 13:54 22/10/99 +0100, Peter wrote: (snip) >There are however certain areas within the UK where mining was of prime >importance in the formation of the landscape we see today - and I talk here >in relation to non-ferrous metal mining in the uplands of England and Wales >with which I'm most familiar - in which all the features are interrelated. >Some of the smaller areas, like Grassington Moor in the Yorkshire Dales >National Park, are afforded some protection but others are degraded >piecemeal. That is happening in the Cambrian Mountain area of mid Wales >despite its being recognised and designated as a Landscape of Outstanding >Historic Interest. Such a designation may in the longer term provide some >degree of protection for a unique pattern of scattered mines and mining >related settlements but it is a level of protection with no statutory >obligations, and is apparently unique to Wales. In England it is necessary >to rely on inclusion within a National Park or designation as an Area of >Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and the latter can be something of a misnomer. > >Such a designated AONB is the Tamar Valley on the Devon / Cornwall border. >It is an area which provides probably the best example of a historic mining >landscape in the UK, spanning at least seven hundred years of mining >activity, making the Tamar what it is today an area of outstanding but not >necessarily natural beauty. In it can be found the physical evidence for the >beginnings of large scale, capital intensive mining in the late medieval >period through to the final attempts at diversification and the working of >polymetallic deposits in the first half of this century. Virtually all the >features in the landscape are man made and mining related. From the >woodland - managed as a fuel supply for lead/silver smelting - through the >settlement pattern, to the transport infrastructure - water, including >canal, based until the arrival of the railways in the early 20th century - >it was influenced by mining. The structures of mining are in some cases >preserved and still dominate the skyline but the evidence for ore >preparation in particular has already been targetted for elimination in the >reclamation of 'derelict' land. I tend to agree with this contention - the restoration of the quay at Morwellham on the Tamar is all very well and good, but without the context of the mines that fed the quay only half the story is being told. Half is better than none, but it would be so much better if at least one location could manage to convey the complete picture. Richard Kelham %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%