Natural England - North Walney: a colourful history

North Walney: a colourful history

The landscape at North Walney has been shaped over thousands of years by natural processes and human land use.

Walney Island was formed during the last ice age as a result of powerful glaciers, moving toward the sea from Lakeland fells. These glaciers eroded the Lakeland landscape and transported sediment seaward eventually depositing it off the coast of Barrow-in-Furness. On a clear day on the reserve you will still get fantastic views of the Duddon estuary and the western Lakeland fells from which Walney Island was carved.

Since then, time and tide has worked the sand of North Walney, leading to the formation of sand dunes, and the colonisation of specialist plant species, adapted to survive in the exposed and salty conditions.

Archaeological discoveries suggest North Walney has been populated by humans for around 4000-4500 years. There are no scheduled or listed monuments on the NNR, but it is recognised as an important archaeological site. Excavations in the 1930s and 1940s identified the presence of late Neolithic and early Bronze Age cultures. Several thousand artefacts have since been found, including flint arrow heads, stone axes and pottery.

There is also evidence of a medieval bloomery at North Haws. A bloomery was a charcoal-fired furnace used to reduce iron-ore to a ‘bloom’; prior to forging.

In the 13th century a farm, North End Farm, was built by Furness Abbey on the site of the current airfield. Farming practice was influenced by market forces; arable cropping being succeeded by sheep grazing in the 15th century, and then returning to arable farming in the 1700s, when the farm built its own windmill. Some old farming machinery can still be seen on the eastern side of the NNR.

The dunes in the centre and northern part of the reserve were managed as a rabbit warren from around the 16th century.

The south-eastern part of the reserve has been subject to some drainage in connection with the development of the airfield in the 1940s, and the ‘improvement’ of the two hay meadows immediately north of the dispersal pads.

The extraction of gravel from the 1930s to 1970s has resulted in the creation of large freshwater ponds. These activities have caused some damage to the natural dune system, yet have also increased the diversity of the site through the creation of freshwater pools, ditches and recently disturbed land.

Military presence on the site during the 20th century has also left a legacy. There is anecdotal evidence that some of the ditches were dug as practice trenches during the First World War.

During the Second World War the site was subjected to more intensive activity by both the Army and Air Force. Land south of the NNR boundary was used as a practice shooting range, which can still be seen to this day. Land was also drained on the south east corner of the reserve, and concrete dispersal pads for aircraft were laid to the north of the airfield, on land now within the NNR. These dispersal pads were used as “parking areas” for aircraft , whilst they were waiting their turn to undergo repairs.  By dispersing aircraft in this way, there was less risk that they would be targeted in an air raid.

A dilapidated air raid shelter can also still be seen on the NNR boundary in this area.