ABSTRACT
Eskdale Common, in the heart of the English Lake District, exemplifies many of the most urgent pressures on common land, centring on the interplay between the fragile economics of hill farming and the fragility of upland ecosystems. The common consists largely of rugged rocky land, comparatively small in scale (even Scafell Pike, at 978m, the highest point in England, does not reach 1000m) but mountainous in character (see Figure 6.1). The ‘fells’ (the vernacular term of Scandinavian origin used to describe the uplands of Cumbria) surrounding Eskdale are quintessential Lake District sheep country. In 1839 it was said that the three valleys of Eskdale, Miterdale and Wasdale supported 20,000 ‘small fell sheep’, many probably ancestors of the modern Herdwick, the distinctive breed of the Lake District (see Brown, 2009). The commons were extensive but the quality of grazing was poor. The commentator of 1839 wrote that ‘On the lower fells 2 acres would probably summer 3 sheep, but on the debris by the side of Wastwater called “the Screes” & on the higher parts of Scawfell there are many hundred acres on which the strongest wether would scarcely & seldom venture to find its way.’ 1
