Records of the Moor House National Nature Reserve (North Pennines)

---

Introduction

	Moor House National Nature Reserve
	Contents
	Arrangement
	Bibliography

---

Catalogue

• Volume I
• Volume II
• Volume III
• Volume IV
• Volume V
• Volume VI
• Volume VII
• Volume VIII
• Volume IX

---

---

Moor House National Nature Reserve

The establishment of controlled areas in Britain in which indigenous plants and animals could be preserved for study dates back to the founding of the Nature Conservancy by the government after the Second World War. It was not, however, until the acquisition of the Moor House area in 1951 that the British National Nature Reserves included any area of upland moors with blanket-peat cover and a variety of habitats and vegetation types associated with open fell and mountain tops. A field station was established at Moor House in 1952, supported by a base at Merlewood Research Station (Grange over Sands, Cumbria), and substantial input to the systematic experimental field work at Moor House was made by geologists, botanists, zoologists, and other researchers from the University of Durham, as well as those visiting from other Universities.
According to the current webpage for the site (http://www.ecn.ac.uk/sites/moorh.html) "This site lies in the North Pennine uplands of England and has an area of 74 km 2. It is England's highest and largest terrestrial National Nature Reserve (NNR), a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and a European Special Protection Area. Habitats include exposed summits, extensive blanket peatlands, upland grasslands, pastures, hay meadows and deciduous woodland. Altitude ranges from 290 to 850 m and a large part of the catchment of the River Tees, from its source near Great Dun Fell to High Force waterfall, is included in the reserve. The site comprises two areas divided by Cow Green Reservoir, which were each separate NNRs until 1999 ... It extends from the upper edge of enclosed land in the Eden Valley, over the Great Dun Fell (848 m), Little Dun Fell and Knock Fell to the upper end of Cow Green Reservoir on the River Tees. The Tees forms its northern boundary. The geology is Carboniferous in age, with alternating strata of limestone, sandstone and shale into which the dolerite of the Great Whin Sill intrudes. The gently sloping eastern side of the area is overlain by glacial till, making poor drainage, which has led to the development of blanket bog with peat 2-3 m deep. The vegetation here is dominated by Eriophorum (cotton grass), Calluna vulgaris (heather), and Sphagnum moss. The western side of the area is steeper and the soils and vegetation are more variable. The land is owned by English Nature, and provides free range common grazing (mainly sheep) for villages in the Eden Valley."
Map showing Moor House National Nature Reserve

---

Contents

The collection consists of a set of the official records of the Moor House National Nature Reserve, mainly consisting of reports and detailed datasets arising from experiments and surveys conducted at the site between 1951 and 1980. The data varies between fairly summary accounts and notes to extensive reports with survey records, statistics, maps, charts and large black & white photographs.

Some include bibliographies of publications arising from the research.

---

Accession details

Presented by John Adamson, via Dr. Jeff Warburton, Dept of Geography, University of Durham (Misc. 2001/2002:83).

Conditions of access

Open for consultation.

Copyright and copying

Permission to make any published use of material from the collection must be sought in advance from the Sub-Librarian, Special Collections (e-mail PG.Library@durham.ac.uk) and, where appropriate, from the copyright owner. The Library will assist where possible with identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material

Arrangement

See contents list above. The records were collected into green binders before deposit. Nearly all material is typescript, some double-sided, and has been foliated or paginated within each binder. Many items are marked "London copy", and there have been some cross-references added during the assembly of the volumes. A few items have been removed from the files (prior to their transfer to DULASC); these are noted in the tables of contents. Each volume has a contents list and there is a summary contents list to all the volumes at the start of Ia.

---

Bibliography

Johnson, G. A. L. & Dunham, K. C., The geology of Moor House: a national nature reserve in north-east Westmorland (London, 1963)

---

Catalogue

Volume I
Dates of creation: 1951-1979
Extent: 1 vol. in 2 parts (191f. & 272f.).
Volume II
Dates of creation: ca.1956
Extent: 1 vol. (77f.)
Volume III
Dates of creation: 1951-1979
Extent: 1 vol. in 3 parts (197p., 73f. & 150f.).
Volume IV
Dates of creation: 1953-1980
Extent: 1 vol. in 3 parts (117f., 149f. & 210f.).
Volume V
Dates of creation: 1956-1978
Extent: 1 vol. in 2 parts (119f. & 95f.).
Volume VI
Dates of creation: 1954-1974
Extent: 1 vol. in 2 parts (109f. & 108f.).
Volume VII
Dates of creation: 1952-1975
Extent: 1 vol. in 2 parts (105f. & 145f.).
Volume VIII
Dates of creation: 1961-1975
Extent: 1 vol. in 2 parts (167f. & 147f.).
Volume IX
Dates of creation: 1953-1975
Extent: 1 vol (99f.).