EQ1 - 4.2: A number of physical and human processes work together to create distinct UK landscapes Flashcards
Settlement patterns of the uplands.
In the 7th and 8th century, settlers built drystone walls out of the rocks in the area (created by freeze thaw) and boulders (deposited by the glaciers). They started transhumance farming.
What are the field boundaries like in the uplands?
They are marked out with drystone walls and because people need to live close to their animals, longhouses were built (houses with barns attached) that were also next to the fields.
What type of farming is practiced in the uplands?
In the uplands, the land isn’t fertile so people practice pastoral (animal) farming, mostly with sheep. They use the transhumance method which is where, in the summer, the animals graze at the top of the fells (mountains) and the bottom fields are used to grow hay but in the winter the animals are brought back down to the barns and fed the hay that’s been growing.
What are the settlement patterns of the lowlands?
Because the lowlands are so fertile, the fields are large and are separated by irrigation ditches/channels. The land is also very flat and the type of farming practiced is different meaning that villages can be built in between large sections of fields unlike in the uplands where everyone needs to live close to animals.
Field boundaries in the lowlands.
The fields in the lowlands are separated by irrigation ditches/channels where farmers draw water and nutrients for the soil from.
What type of farming is practiced in the lowlands?
In the lowlands they practice arable (crop) farming because of how fertile the land is. This means that they don’t always have to be by their crops so villages can be built in between fields.
