Ecological History of the English Lake District

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Abstract
There are grounds for assuming that the Windermere drainage system has passed through the following stages: a late glacial and immediate post-glacial phase of rapid erosion and stabilization by vegetation (pine-birch forest); a steady state of alder woods and oak forest; a phase of primary (upland) occupation by man and incipient forest degeneration, with disappearance of high level pine-heaths (say 1500 B.C. to A.D. 900); a period of secondary (valley) occupation (by the Norse), increased grazing and accelerated degeneration (say A.D. 900-1300) accompanied by draining of alder swamps and "mosses"; a period of economic exploitation for wool and timber (ca. A.D. 1300-1750) with extreme woodland and soil degeneration; and romantic period of replanting and amenity exploitation (A.D. 1750-1940).

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