Within the Fell Ponies’ home range lies the Lake District with its national park and World Heritage Site.
The Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England received World Heritage Site status in 2017. The Fell Pony was not well-integrated into the effort of attaining that status, but the designation can ultimately be good for the breed. Click here for more information.
The World Heritage Site has three themes: Inspiration, Identity, and Conservation. The Fell Pony fits into each of them.
Inspiration Theme
Fell Ponies have certainly provided inspiration over the years to many with artistic and literary skill, but the inspiration in the World Heritage Site plan is defined quite narrowly: “The beauty of the Lake District inspired artists and writers of the Picturesque and Romantic movements and generated ideas about landscape that have had global influence.” While Fell Ponies may not have been considered inspiring by the Romantic and Picturesque movements, they have been inspiring for a number of people since then. In addition to paintings and books and photos and films, I’ve seen jewelry, holiday greens, textiles, and sculpture. To read more, click here.
Identity Theme
The Identity theme has a broad definition: “The acknowledged beauty of the Lake District is the result of thousands of years of industry and agricultural development of the spectacular natural landscape of mountains, valleys, lakes and woodland.” From shepherding and sledging in agriculture to packing and being pit ponies in industry, the Fell Pony is as integral to the identity of the Lake District as the fells that are dominant there are to the identity of the breed. To read more, click here.
The stories here are of two types. The first are about traditional uses. The rest are about places in the Lake District where there is evidence of these uses. There is a map below showing my progress telling these stories.
Traditional Uses
Ancestors of today’s Fell Ponies would have been used in a variety of roles in the Lake District and surrounding areas. For instance:
Fell Ponies were traditionally used was as milk float ponies. Click here to learn more about milk float ponies in the Lake District and surrounding areas.
While it is often thought that Fell Ponies weren’t used in coal mines below ground, I learned early in my Fell Pony education that indeed some Fell Ponies did become pit ponies. Click here to learn more.
Of course Fell Ponies are often used as ridden or driven ponies. To read a story about their association with Blennerhasset Manse near Wigton, click here.
Evidence of These Uses
There is visible evidence today of the integral role that pack ponies played in the industrial and agricultural past of the Lake District. While the equines that powered early human endeavors are long gone and rarely mentioned, the iconic pack horse bridges and trackways and the ancient mills and mines that they serviced have often survived. I am indebted to Maggie B. Dickinson for her generous sharing of knowledge and photographs of packhorse-related places. Here are some examples:
The Duddon Valley in the southwestern part of the Lake District in England is a place where the Fell Pony’s history is both visible and invisible at the same time. It is visible because of the historic use of ancestors of our ponies as packhorses. Features associated with packhorses and the industries that packhorses supported are numerous in the valley. The Fell Pony’s history in the Duddon Valley is invisible in the sense that stories of this valley sometimes ignore the presence of agriculture and industry and the early horsepower that made it possible. Click here to learn more.
The Lickle Valley has a high density of pack horse bridges that were used to service the farms and mills in the area. Click here to learn more.
Burn Moor between Wasdale Head and Boot has a route over it with two known pack horse associations. There is a pack horse bridge in Boot at the end. To read more, click here.
Packhorse routes often went across the sands south of the Lake District to cut off miles and avoid dust in summertime . To read more, click here.
The Furness region of Cumbria has always been connected in my mind with the working history of Fell Ponies. And while the region is best known for its monastic period, pack pony use continued after the dissolution of the monasteries. To read more, click here.
I am grateful to my friend Eddie McDonough for the numerous references he has shared with me related to pack pony history.
Conservation Theme
Regarding the Conservation theme, the Executive Summary of The Nomination Document states that “landscape has a value, and that everyone has a right to appreciate and enjoy it. These ideas underpin the global movement of protected areas and the development of recreational experience within them.”
The Conservation theme, in some interpretations, has been challenging for Fell Ponies and their stewards because some emphasize the rewilding of landscapes. To read more about the false promise of rewilding, click here.
The Fell Pony addresses the Conservation theme in its role as a conservation grazer. Fell Ponies are helping to restore and protect landscapes in the breed’s home terrain. To read more, click here.
Fell Pony Tourism
The Fell Pony contributes to the Conservation theme of the Lake District National Park World Heritage Site through its current and potential increased involvement in recreational experiences and tourism. And of course the Fell Pony’s contributions to tourism extend beyond the bounds of the National Park. To read more Fell Ponies and tourism, click here. For specific examples of Fell Pony recreational experiences, click here.