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The Modern Antiquarian Forum » Tregeseal » Wretched longhorn cattle |
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thesweetcheat 6218 posts |
Jun 26, 2011, 13:50
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tjj wrote: If the cattle have to stay then the only way to protect the Tregeseal is to enclose it in some way - like Boscawen-un, which is enclosed by blackthorn and gorse. Hi June, Tregeseal and its near neighbour Nine Maidens are Very Special, and for me it's precisely because they are not enclosed. The cattle need to go, the joys of the Penwith Moors are mainly due to their lack of enclosure. If enclosure is really the only option (and I don't believe it is) then the area fenced against the cattle would need to be very large, or the atmosphere of the circle will be severely compromised. Putting a fence around the circle will kill it. Natural England and the Heathland Project need to do some serious rethinking and start listening to the views of local people.
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thesweetcheat 6218 posts |
Jun 26, 2011, 14:01
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tjj wrote: Just to clarify, in my post I mentioned Boscawen-un - as an example, not of fencing in the barbed wire sense, but of an wonderful stone circle which is protected by a circular enclosure of gorse and blackthorn (beautifully in bloom when I visited a couple of Aprils ago). There are a lot of blackthorn hedges in that area which are quite effective as fencing - as anyone who has tried to scrabble through them will confirm. Boscawen-Un is in an area of low lying farmland, most enclosed by hedges and drystone wall-based Cornish hedges. The enclosure of that circle is in keeping with the surrounding landscape (at least as it is now anyway). It has a nice intimate feel but is completely unlike the two moorland circles. Tregeseal and Nine Maidens (potentially threatened by enclosure and grazing as well once Carn Galva/Lanyon Croft schemes are introduced) are on open moorland. There are no hedges or fences around them and the open spaces are integral to their appeal, as is their relative distance from roads and houses. They are my two favourite sites anywhere because of their open, lonely feel. I also went back to Merry Maidens on Friday and the field was being mown by two tractors, which was quite a weird sight around the stones. For me, the circle lacks atmosphere, it's too sanitised and too close to the road. I would hate to think of the Tregeseal and Nine Maidens circles eventually becoming enclosed farmland.
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moss 2897 posts |
Edited Jun 26, 2011, 16:35
Jun 26, 2011, 15:31
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thesweetcheat wrote: Was at Tregeseal a week or so ago. Haven't had chance to compare new pics with previous years to look for "leans". The whole area around the circle is now covered in cowpats. We didn't get up to the holed stones this time, but I have to say that the stones alleged to have been broken by the cows were previous breaks that had been cemented back together quite crudely. The EH intervention got a big write-up in the Cornishman (the local paper) too, which was good to see. Craig Weatherhill and Ian Cooke* have been warning about this ever since the "Heathland Project" was introduced, shame it's taken video evidence being posted on youtube to make anyone pay attention. Sadly Natural England appear to be very obdurate and will not compromise their scheme. We visited a number of sites that CASPN take responsibility for keeping clear (Mulfra courtyard houses for example), which highlight a much better way of protecting the monuments from vegetation. I noted that a small area of heather and gorse just north of Treen Common enclosure has been burnt back as well, which has always provided another option to grazing. *Craig and Ian have written extremely informative books about the monuments of West Penwith, which remain by far the most useful guides for the area. Following this story has been a bit difficult especially as I don't know the area, the only information coming from the Save Penwith group. But Craig Wetherhill and Ian Cooke seem to have been pursuing the story with fervour. Enclosure of the moors is to me a first step towards permanent enclosure of otherwise free access areas and should definitely not be allowed. Those cows who gave me such grief ;) are not really remotely suitable for such spaces, the English longhorn is a rare breed I know, but association of large lumbering creatures around small circles is a nonsense. It seems they only go on in summer, so at least they don't 'poach' the ground. Seems to me Natural England really did'nt go into other options for getting rid of, not sure what, probably gorse and heather though, perhaps sheep are a better answer.... CASPN I think have monthly tidying up parties of the cairns, have a link somewhere on it and they definitely do a good job in clearing vegetation. Gorse and heather do tend to cover the 'wild places', North Yorkshire moors often presents a miserable brown face of heather, with a few sheep keeping the trackways open and yet the accidental burning a few years ago brought to light more rockart round Fylingsdale., and presumably more settlements and prehistoric stones lie hidden if the heather was burnt off. http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/cattle/englishlonghorn/index.htm
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thesweetcheat 6218 posts |
Jun 26, 2011, 16:14
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moss wrote: ..... We visited a number of sites that CASPN take responsibility for keeping clear (Mulfra courtyard houses for example), which highlight a much better way of protecting the monuments from vegetation. I noted that a small area of heather and gorse just north of Treen Common enclosure has been burnt back as well, which has always provided another option to grazing. ..... Enclosure of the moors is to me a first step towards permanent enclosure of otherwise free access areas and should definitely not be allowed. Those cows who gave me such grief ;) are not really remotely suitable for such spaces, the English longhorn is a rare breed I know, but association of large lumbering creatures around small circles is a nonsense. It seems they only go on in summer, so at least they don't 'poach' the ground. Seems to me Natural England really did'nt go into other options for getting rid of, not sure what, probably gorse and heather though, perhaps sheep are a better answer.... CASPN I think have monthly tidying up parties of the cairns, have a link somewhere on it and they definitely do a good job in clearing vegetation. Gorse and heather do tend to cover the 'wild places', North Yorkshire moors often presents a miserable brown face of heather, with a few sheep keeping the trackways open and yet the accidental burning a few years ago brought to light more rockart round Fylingsdale., and presumably more settlements and prehistoric stones lie hidden if the heather was burnt off. [/quote] CASPN do a great job (there's another group on the Lizard who do something similar). The dates for clear-ups are advertised in the tri-yearly Maen Mamvro magazine as well. Tregeseal Common/Kenidjack Common (especially up towards the holed stones) is very heather- and gorse-covered. It gets quite impenetrable and it probably does need to be controlled. The choice of cattle is not good though and the resulting need to enclose the commons are even less appealing. I must say that Tregeseal circle itself is much clearer of vegetation this summer than usual (we've been every summer for about a dozen years), but there are loads of cowpats all around instead. Around the circle the predominant vegetation is bracken, with less gorse and heather. I'll post a couple of pictures for comparison of vegetation once I get them sorted.
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thesweetcheat 6218 posts |
Jun 26, 2011, 16:16
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moss wrote: thesweetcheat wrote: ..... We visited a number of sites that CASPN take responsibility for keeping clear (Mulfra courtyard houses for example), which highlight a much better way of protecting the monuments from vegetation. I noted that a small area of heather and gorse just north of Treen Common enclosure has been burnt back as well, which has always provided another option to grazing. ..... Enclosure of the moors is to me a first step towards permanent enclosure of otherwise free access areas and should definitely not be allowed. Those cows who gave me such grief ;) are not really remotely suitable for such spaces, the English longhorn is a rare breed I know, but association of large lumbering creatures around small circles is a nonsense. It seems they only go on in summer, so at least they don't 'poach' the ground. Seems to me Natural England really did'nt go into other options for getting rid of, not sure what, probably gorse and heather though, perhaps sheep are a better answer.... CASPN I think have monthly tidying up parties of the cairns, have a link somewhere on it and they definitely do a good job in clearing vegetation. Gorse and heather do tend to cover the 'wild places', North Yorkshire moors often presents a miserable brown face of heather, with a few sheep keeping the trackways open and yet the accidental burning a few years ago brought to light more rockart round Fylingsdale., and presumably more settlements and prehistoric stones lie hidden if the heather was burnt off. CASPN do a great job (there's another group on the Lizard who do something similar). The dates for clear-ups are advertised in the tri-yearly Maen Mamvro magazine as well. Tregeseal Common/Kenidjack Common (especially up towards the holed stones) is very heather- and gorse-covered. It gets quite impenetrable and it probably does need to be controlled. The choice of cattle is not good though and the resulting need to enclose the commons are even less appealing. I must say that Tregeseal circle itself is much clearer of vegetation this summer than usual (we've been every summer for about a dozen years), but there are loads of cowpats all around instead. Around the circle the predominant vegetation is bracken, with less gorse and heather. I'll post a couple of pictures for comparison of vegetation once I get them sorted. [Edited to tidy quotes, sorry]
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ocifant 1758 posts |
Jun 27, 2011, 06:26
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thesweetcheat wrote: ... I noted that a small area of heather and gorse just north of Treen Common enclosure has been burnt back as well, which has always provided another option to grazing. But don't forget the attempt a few years ago at 'burning off' that got out of control, and burnt a lot of the stones at Tregeseal. The lichen was irretrievably damaged on that occasion. So yes, fire is a tool, but one that must be used carefully and sparingly.
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thesweetcheat 6218 posts |
Jun 27, 2011, 20:46
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ocifant wrote: thesweetcheat wrote: ... I noted that a small area of heather and gorse just north of Treen Common enclosure has been burnt back as well, which has always provided another option to grazing. But don't forget the attempt a few years ago at 'burning off' that got out of control, and burnt a lot of the stones at Tregeseal. The lichen was irretrievably damaged on that occasion. So yes, fire is a tool, but one that must be used carefully and sparingly. Yes, you're quite right. Control is the key. As another positive burning example, last year a part of Chypraze Cliff (near Morvah) was also burned off, revealing the excellent kerbed round barrow for the first time for decades.
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