Humans have lived in the Yorkshire Dales National Park for more than 12,000 years. Their activity shaped the valleys, rivers and hills, creating the pattern of villages, farmsteads, pastures, meadows and moorlands that we see today.
Remains from history survive because of pastoral farming in the last 300 years. This means many places have remained unploughed, allowing us to see the humps and bumps archaeologists call earthworks.
The Dales vividly displays the interaction between nature and mankind. Traditional buildings of locally quarried stone harmonise with the surrounding landscape. You can make out the iconic pattern of isolated farm buildings and dry stone walls, the mines, spoil heaps and ruins of the lead industry and the dramatic viaducts and tunnels of the Settle-Carlisle Railway.
