ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the preliminary findings of an ongoing study within the upper Rookhope Valley, Weardale, that aims to investigate the extent to which historical metal mining has influenced the local environment. Particular emphasis has been given to establishing whether metal mining has influenced the processes of vegetational change and to determine the levels of local pollution as recorded by chemical aerosols. Pollen analytical studies have shown that the landscape of the northern Pennines and north-east Yorkshire has been subjected to human disturbance since prehistoric times and this activity has contributed to shaping the landscape in to its present form. More open areas also existed at this time in the upper Rookhope Valley, characterized by the presence of Poaceae (grasses), Cyperaceae (sedges), Potentilla-type (tormentils), Melampyrum pollen (cow-wheat) and Sphagnum spores (clubmosses). Metal mining in Weardale can be traced back to at least the 1100s when King Stephen confirmed the rights of Bishop Hugh Puiset to extract silver and lead.
