The earliest farmers cleared the land of stones and trees and the land was enclosed with walls made from the cleared stone. Over time, more land was "taken in" from the fells and cultivated. There are over 5000 miles of dry stone walls in the Yorkshire Dales, as well as several thousand field barns that give the Dales their distinctive appearance. Barns were built to keep the hay in, which was the cut grass from the surrounding fields. In the winter cows were kept in the barns. The muck from there was spread onto the fields to improve the grass. Many of the barns stand empty today, but are an important landscape feature of the Yorkshire Dales. The Yorkshire Dales National Park has grant schemes for the restoration of walls and barns to retain this special aspect of the Dales.
Enclosure award map, 1832: NYCRO1094
Wheeled sweep: DCM0024
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