About Eryri
Eryri - an evocative name bringing visions of romantic mountains, steeped in legend, a beautiful, remote and sacrosanct landscape
Eryri is also an area on the map governed by planning laws and local legislation. An area where people live and work and who rightly want the same standard of living and communications as those who come and use Eryri as a playground. People come to Eryri in their thousands. They assume rights of access over land to enjoy themselves.
Tourists bring money and prosperity to Eryri. The people of Britain need Eryri for escape, to recharge their batteries, to find peace. Why shouldn’t they have a say in how it is run?
Feelings can run high in Eryri.
Do people really try to understand each other? Who is right? And what is right? And what is Eryri – and what can Eryri tolerate in the way of change and development – and still maintain integrity?
Mountains
Shaped millions of years ago by movement of the earth’s surface and the ravages of time and glaciers, the mountain tops that we know today are far from being a natural wilderness. Thousands of years ago man cut down the cover of trees and began to leave his mark. Ancient trackways, sheepfolds and other field enclosures, sites of worship, and mining and quarrying for minerals, stone and slate are all apparent today, even high up in the mountains.
With man came the need for food, and the management of the land for domestic animals, in particular the sheep, has given us the present cover of grasses, heather and bracken.
Traditional sheep-farming practices sustained a rich diversity of plant life now sadly being lost due to changing farming patterns.
Thousands of tramping feet now damage the very mountains that people come to enjoy.
Woodlands
The natural woodlands now found in valleys and lowlands are the last remnants of the ancient woodland that once covered Eryri. Supporting a variety of precious plant and animal life, these woods are often in danger of dying out due to lack of regeneration. The local authorities are doing good work to encourage regeneration and expansion of existing broadleaved woodlands.
Forestry plantations are a modern phenomenon in Eryri, planted within the last century with little or no regard for their detrimental impact on the landscape. The straight lines of the forest boundaries and the single species block planting has introduced a new and alien dimension to a landscape which was formerly diverse and scattered, composed of elements found naturally nearby.
Much work is now being done to rectify the damage done by forestry plantations to the landscape, and as these plantations mature they add their own unique attractions of majestic mature trees supporting a diversity of flora and fauna.
Water
The cycle of water from mountain to sea and its return to mountain is much in evidence in Eryri. The mountain streams and lakes, the rivers and lakes further down in the foothills and coastal plains, and the clouds, mist, rain and even the snow lying on the mountains are all part of this life-supporting cycle.
This is perhaps one of the most essentially natural features of Eryri: man can do little to stem the elements, and water flows now as it has done for thousands of years. The contours of the mountains were carved by frozen water journeying on this same cycle, the soils and rocks on the valley floors were deposited by it.
River banks can often provide habitats for species of plants and animals which cannot survive elsewhere. Lakes and rivers themselves harbour a diversity of life in many forms, but again the destructive hand of man is evident: pollution, often in the form of acid rain, is decimating aquatic wildlife, and the physical impact of dams, reservoirs, artificially channelled waterways, and power generation can be seen in the landscape.
The water of Eryri provides drinking water for people as far away as Liverpool and Manchester, water to support wildlife, a playground for water sports enthusiasts and anglers, water to sustain farming livelihoods, and an occasional power source.
Water is an integral landscape feature, a precious asset visible from almost anywhere in Eryri.
Water is an element of the experience of the landscape of Eryri. The sound of water moving, the feel of rain, the mists, spectacular cloud effects, air humidity, mountains frozen in snow and dewdrops on a summer morning; all are part of Eryri and all are water.
What can Eryri tolerate in terms of change and yet maintain her integrity?
This is our challenge!
Put the features of Eryri together and they form a culturally distinctive landscape that shows visual and functional unity. It is traditional farming methods and rural economy that have shaped the panoramas we know and love. The mountain vegetation, enclosures, field patterns, stone walls and buildings and farm tracks provide a sense of unity that gives a satisfaction complementary to the physical beauty of the individual natural features.
These features belong to a way of life that is dying. The people of Eryri do not want to die with the old ways. They rightly care about a standard of living compatible with the rest of the world.
Planning policies tend to encourage development. Sometimes the answer is seen in terms of new buildings, industries, fences and roads which, when built of alien materials and imposed on a landscape, instead of carefully built into the contours, can change it, almost beyond recognition. It is important to ensure that development is done in a way that can be tolerated by the landscape using traditional materials and techniques and careful siting. Such methods can encourage local skills and employment as well as providing an appropriate means of development and change.
Modern landscape assessment techniques can help identify which landscapes can accommodate change.
