Holcombe Moor Common, Lancashire

Holcombe Moor is the first hill to the north of the ever increasing sprawl of Manchester. To the west is Bolton and Chorley and on clear days you can see as far as Snowdon. South overlooks Bury, Oldham, Manchester and to the Derbyshire Peak District. On the East side is Ramsbottom, Haslingden and Helmshore. To the North are Preston, Darwen, Blackburn and Burnley. The sheer proximity of the common to large urban areas makes farming, living there and managing it very challenging, but also an interesting place to be

Over the last 20 years the amount of people using the moor for recreational purposes has increased dramatically. Forty years ago there were problems with motor bikes and tipping in the local quarries. Nowadays there are mountain bikers and large parties of walkers and dogs, camping, fly-tipping, fires, alcohol and drug dealing and the illegal use of firearms. Those who farm beside quarries have fencing stolen overnight to fuel fires. They can be woken up by thumping music from raves held in the quarries. Farm gates are opened or taken off their hinges allowing the in-bye cattle and sheep to escape. The response from police officers is often poor as they are not able to patrol or even respond to incidents on the moor.

Many of the local farms are bought by non-farming people who wish to live in a more rural position. They do not understand about the common and how it is grazed. They have little idea of how difficult it is when fences are left damaged, and gates are left open, allowing stock to stray onto their land, which then has to be rounded up and returned to the moor. They come from a different cultural background, with different priorities than the farming community. 

On the positive side, local people do have a sense of ownership of the moor. They use it in their leisure time and they look at it whilst they are at work. They value its existence and monitor the newspapers for any planning proposals that may affect the moor. Quite often it is local people who bring attention to cases such as a poorly animal, a fallen tree in an adjacent clough, localised flooding, dangerous dry stone walls, or broken gates and stiles and inform on suspicious activity at all times of day and night. However, it is also the public which use this land illegally.

Alongside agriculture and recreational uses, it is likely that urban commons, such as Holcombe Moor, will play an increasingly important role in flood protection, carbon storage and renewable energy generation. If managed correctly the wet commons should help in the controlled management of run-off, improve the safe flow of water into rivers and reduce flooding.  They also provide excellent upland peat bog habitats that are internationally important as carbon sinks.  Many urban commons are being considered as suitable to generate renewable energy, wind farms in particular, as they are not often protected by statutory environmental designations, nor are they commonly entered into environmental stewardship schemes.

Holcombe Moor Common is an area of land where urban lifestyles interface with the countryside. It’s a tough, challenging place to farm that provides huge benefits to the nearby urban populations.