HAREDEN FARM

THE FARM

ENVIRONMENTAL FEATURES

VISITORS

HAREDEN FARM is located in the centre of the Forest of Bowland; in the 'Trough', a short distance from Dunsop Bridge.

This is a hill farm for suckler cows and Swaledale sheep which has been run within a traditional system since the 1930's.

It is run by John Parkinson and his wife Rowena along with his brother Edward, his wife Jean and their son David.

HISTORY

Hareden Farm and the nearby Beatrix Farm were two of the earlist farms in the Forest of Bowland. Originally, the area immediately around Hareden Farm was more populated and much busier than it is now; there used to be a market at Beatrix.

Hareden was originally established as a 'vaccary' by the monks of Kirkstall Abbey, and was subsequently farmed in the 1700's by the Harrison family. A 'vaccary' is a large-scale pasturage where cattle were kept and bred. Vaccaries were associated with the grazing lands in the northern uplands, and in the thirteenth century numbers of vaccaries were carved out of the old private hunting chases of the nobility, who created them in an attempt to get some revenue back from their holdings. Vaccaries were, in fact, small-scale commercial cattle farms. The word comes from the mediaeval Latin vaccaria, derived from vacca, a cow.

In the 1600s, when the Forest of Bowland was the king's hunting estate, one of the keepers lived in Hareden. The original farmhouse has an inscription date of 1690 above its door. It became the home farm for Hareden Hall which no longer exists.

John and Edward Parkinson took over their farm from uncles who began their work at Hareden in 1932. Before this the family had the nearby Root Farm; there is evidence that the Parkinson family have been farming in this central area of the 'Trough' since the 1600's.

TERRAIN

This is classic fell land on mostly high terrain and moorland. he farm buildings are located at 380 feet; the highest boundaries are 2000 feet. Hareden Farm has approximately 100 hectares of in-bye rough and variable quality some of which extends to 950 feet.

SIZE OF THE FARM

Nearly 1100 hectares.

LIVESTOCK & NUMBERS

Hareden flock

1200 Swale ewes
55-60 Continental Limousine crossed with British Blue bulls.

90% of the sheep are usually sold for fattening;good store lambs are sold on demand. Most of the farm's trade is run through Gisburn and Skipton auction marts.

The lamb flock begins lambing on 1st April; about 250 ewe scanned with twins are kept indoors. One third are crossed with the Blue Leicester; 2/3rds of the flock are pure bred from the farm's self-contained breeding flock which has been maintained as individual Hareden Farm stock since the 1930's.

Hareden Farm shows regularly at the local Hodder Valley or Chipping Shows with some regular success.

GRAZING & CONSERVATION

The Parkinson family have been involved in Stewardship Schemes for the last 10 years; there are some limits on grazing and restrictions on burning heather. There has been tree planting and woodland conservation.

10 miles of stonewalls all maintained by the family; with John doing the majority of the walling. By ensuring there are no or few gaps, the sheep become trained not to go through gaps.

There is pheasant and grouse shooting on what is the biggest expanse of open moorland in Lancashire and this includes Hareden Farm. All this is a Site of Specific Scientific Interest.

Edward, commenting on his Stewardship Scheme, observed that his uncles ran a flock size very similar to that prescribed during the last ten years; good farmers know about sustainability. At Hareden Farm, this sustainability is managed with a system which, in its core practice, is unchanged since the early 1600's and before.