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The First Human Activity
Signs of human activity in the Natural Area extend
back several thousand years; the second oldest vessel ever found is an
ancient longboat dating to c.11000 BC discovered in North Lincolnshire.
The Coversands, well-drained and lacking thick vegetation, would have
provided an ideal location for settlement in prehistoric times. Indeed,
the Lincolnshire Coversands are famed for the number of archaeological
finds dating back to the Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age periods.
It was during the Bronze Age when the first significant influx of people
occurred in the area. A consequence of this was that tracts of oak, alder
and lime woodland were cleared for agricultural reasons. The clearance
of woodland accelerated with the influx of the Roman culture and urban
development became very much a feature - indeed one of the principal
Roman
centres was found at Lincoln, on the junction of the Fosse Way and Ermine
Street.
Following Norman invasion and the centuries that followed, much of the
Coversands underwent dramatic depopulation, principally through costly
civil war and latterly due to the expansion of the monasteries. The advent
of the Black Death in the 14th Century caused the single most dramatic
depopulation ever seen in this country. The medieval pattern of open
fields
and associated small villages was firmly established by the Middle Ages.
Uncultivated land, including all areas of heathland (known as 'wasteland'),
was used to provide common grazing, fuel, thatch for dwellings and bedding.
The Common Rights were important in maintaining the heathland in an open
state and preventing the encroachment of woodland. In the Enclosure Acts
between 1760 and 1830 the landscape underwent drastic change. In reaction
to ever increasing food shortages the government decreed that any land
that could support crops be drained or cleared of unwanted vegetation.
This land was then rigidly divided up and boundaries marked with either
stone walls or the hedgerows which are such a feature today. The l
oss
of heathland was very marked in this period of history.
Developments and the Loss of Heathlands
Since the late 19th Century the landscape around Scunthorpe
has changed beyond recognition with opencast mining of ironstone, sands
and gravels. Growth of the latter industries destroyed heathland such
as Crosby and Brumby Commons. The urbanisation of Scunthorpe and its
environs
led to further great losses of heathland. The push for the country to
become self reliant on its own woodland supplies in the 1930s and the
perception that heathland had low value ensured that where extensive
aforestation
occurred it did so on such habitats. Within 20 years, 70% of the remaining
heaths on the Coversands had been lost under belts of coniferous forests,
particularly in the Laughton and Scotton Common heaths and those found
east of Market Rasen.
During the agricultural depression of the 1930s a general decline in
sheep grazing enabled the establishment of swards of bracken and scrub
to become
established. Following this decline in farm grazing regimes, rabbits
became one of the most important methods of heathland maintenance. At
one time
managed rabbit warrens were a feature of the Coversands ensuring very
intensive management of the vegetation. However, the myxomatosis outbreak
during the 1950s decimated the rabbit population and allowed increased
scrub encroachment. Having recovered from these losses the rabbit currently
plays a vital role in heathland management, albeit a rather accidental
one. This is of particular importance on the nationally important acid
grassland/heather communities.
Intensive farming introduced after the Second World War resulted in increased
mechanisation, the production of ever-cheaper fertilizers and the loss
of the use of animals in commercial farming. Subsequently grazing areas
were made redundant and with the onset of soil type manipulation, much
of the remaining heathland went under the plough. Whilst this trend continued
until the entry of Britain into the European Community, the adoption
of
the Common Agricultural Policy resulted in another surge in agricultural
productivity and further losses in marginal habitats such as heathland.
This century, lowland heathland has been identified as a habitat of significant
importance. As the UK has 20% of the global resource, significant funding
is being made available to restore and re-create these valuable habitats
for generations to come. The Coversands Tomorrow's Heathland Heritage
Project is only one of 27 similar schemes across the UK.
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