Yordas Pot fencing and tree plantation wall repairing
A report by John Helm, CNCC Conservation Volunteer and Craven Pothole Club Covservation Officer.
It was noted last autumn that the fence around the top entrance of Yordas Pot and the wall around the tree plantation were in a dangerous state. We approached the farmer at Braida Garth and he was receptive to the proposed work of repairing the fence and walls.
The CNCC funded the materials and it was decided to perform the work in spring when the weather improved. As Conservation Officer of the Craven Pothole Club I put a scheduled conservation meet on March 21st and a possible extra day. Sadly this later meant that it would clash with the CNCC AGM.
Prior to the day of the meet, two trips to Settle Coal meant the materials were onsite and with the assistance of the farmer were moved up the hillside to the top of the enclosure. This highlighted that a Scots Pine tree had fallen right over the entrance in the recent past.
Fortunately on the day of the meet the weather was bright and fine so a ‘crew’ of 15 folk (all from the CPC) met at the top of Kingsdale. Prior to the meet, the tools required for the work had been sourced from various folk attending.
There were four teams, three working on repairing the drystone walls, including cutting and removing fallen branches, with one team cutting up the tree and de-obstructing the entrance. Once the pothole had been cleared and the old damaged fence removed, holes were dug for the corner post holes to allow us to set the corner posts in postcrete prior to finishing the work for the day.
On the second day of the weekend five folk met up to finish the work off. The stock fence and the remaining posts were installed then a slip proof step completed. The entire work had taken 120 man hours.
The farmer was very happy to have the enclosure wall repaired and the pothole fenced off.
People involved: John Helm, Jacqui Cowling, Helen Grey, Meg Stark, Dave King, Rowan Worsman, John Webb, Robert Scott, Ben Davies, Sarah Clayton, Robin Stone, Paul Carrier, Jay and Ted Hartford, Serhan Kirlarzic, and Sarah Mackin.
Photos courtesy of John Helm.