The Skell Valley Project (May 2021 - May 2025) was a £2.5m scheme led by the National Trust and Nidderdale National Landscape to look at ways of addressing the flood risk at Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal. The project focussed on the River Skell which flows through the World Heritage Site. Working with 16 partners including farmers, landowners and local communities, the scheme delivered a series of projects over four years to help create a sustainable future for the Skell Valley.
The Skell Valley Project has now ended but the work will go on. You can download the Skell Valley Project report document here. This report reflects on some of the key achievements of the Skell Valley Project and looks forward to how we can maintain and develop some of its successes in the future.
The increased intensity and frequency of flooding over recent years meant there was a huge threat to Fountains Abbey and other heritage features in the Skell Valley.
Working with farmers and landowners on 20 sites up the valley, natural flood management measures were introduced to slow the flow of the river and reduce sediment washing into the water course. This included:
A team from the University of Leeds installed specialist equipment to monitor rainfall levels, river flow and water quality to assess the impact of natural flood management interventions.
To find out more about what the project did to safeguard the future of Skell Valley to make it more resilient to climate change you can watch a short video here.
If your organisation, group or club would like to find out more, then one of the National Trust Talk Service volunteer speakers, David Banks, has a talk prepared on the Skell Valley Project entitled 'Saving our Heritage from Climate Change'. Click here to find out more.
Allowing nature to thrive was really important to help build a resilient landscape, so the Skell Valley Project team and Nidderdale National Landscape worked with landowners to restore and enhance habitats, planting native trees and monitoring ancient and veteran trees and their wildlife.
Skell Valley Project volunteers were trained in butterfly transect recording, grassland fungi surveys and mammal, wildflowers, and dragonfly identification.
Bat detectors were used throughout the Skell Valley to find out more about the species, recording calls from many bats including Daubenton’s, Soprano Pipistrelle and Brown Long-eared bats.
Encouraging people to get involved and learn more about nature, heritage and the landscape was integral for this project to succeed. Working with local schools, community groups and volunteers, people gave over 23,800 hours of their time to the Skell Valley Project.
The project focussed on neglected heritage, restoring built heritage features around the Skell Valley including the Roman Monument in the Seven Bridges Valley and the 19th century bridge and boathouse in the historic landscape at Eavestone Lake.
Three new walking trails were launched by the Skell Valley Project:
The Fountains Way | Yorkshire | National Trust
Hell Wath Nature Trail| Yorkshire | National Trust
Skell Valley Explorer | Yorkshire | National Trust
The trails were designed to help improve physical access to areas of the Skell Valley and provide better intellectual access with new information panels and signage to help people explore and learn more about the natural and cultural heritage around them.
The Skell Valley Project has now ended but the work will go on. The National Trust and Nidderdale National Landscape will continue to work together with local farmers to develop more ways of managing the threat of flooding as well as creating more resilient land and farms. The funding priorities for the next 10 years include:
21 & 22 May 2025
The Skell Valley Project is coming to a close at the end of May 2025 as The National Lottery Heritage Funding finishes. Therefore, we have held some project celebration events to thank our partners and volunteers for their contribution as well as sharing our learnings with colleagues and professionals.
1 May 2025
As part of launching the Exploring the Skell walking trails, we have curated two videos. Firstly, a promotional video showing the diversity within the Skell Valley which is featured in these walks. You can watch the video here.
The second video offers an insight specifically into Fountains Way and highlights the details for accessability. This is avaliable here.
8 April 2025
As part of the Skell Valley Explorer walking trail, we have completed some improvements to the footpath through the Seven Bridges Valley, this now makes it more suitable for wheelchairs and pushchairs.
10 March 2025
We have installed new signs and information panels on three new walking trails around the Skell Valley. The signs are designed to encourage both local people and tourists to explore the area with confidence and find out more about the valley’s history and wildlife along the way.
These images show the Hell Wath Nature Trail, which is aimed at families and curious minds. The Skell Valley Explorer is a countryside walk around Grantley and Sawley featuring Spa Gill Woods and Eavestone Lake. The Fountains Way offers a walking route from Ripon to Fountains Abbey which is accessible for wheelchairs, pushchairs, and mobility vehicles.
23 January 2025
Our project ranger, Gabby, has teamed up with the property rangers from Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal and Brimham Rocks to clear up some of the storm damage across the Skell Valley. They focused on fallen trees and branches across public rights of way and footpaths.
12 December 2024
This winter, we are undertaking the last large-scale piece of natural flood management (NFM) within the Skell Valley Project - we are in the process of planting nearly 1.5km of hedgerow at Smaden Head Farm along with support from the Ousewem Project.
We’re grateful for all the volunteers and corporate groups who have helped us with this mammoth planting effort.
24 October 2024
We are honoured to have won the environmental category in the St Wilfrid’s Star awards. This award reflects the hard work and dedication of the Skell Valley Project volunteers.
It was also a chance to see the Power of 10 volunteering scheme continue to thrive as one of our fellow award winners was Jo from the Power of 10 who won the Individual Supporter of Youth category. As well as 2 of the Power of 10 Ambassadors winning the young volunteer of the year.
21 September 2024
We are excited to launch the Skell Valley Voices exhibition at Fountains Mill, Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal. This exhibition pulls together 16 oral history interviews alongside archival documents to tell the story of people who've lived and worked in the Skell Valley.
You can interact with a 3D printed relief map of the Skell Valley to see the land use change over time and see people's stories come to life.
Open until Sunday 3 November, click here to find out more.
3 August 2024
We took part in the St Wilfrid's Parade in Ripon where we handed out flyers about our Watery Wildlife Resource Pack, hence the fish costumes, giving people a QR code to encourage them to download it. The flyer also advertised our upcoming Skell Valley Voices Exhibition, at Fountains Mill 21 September until 3 November.
19 July 2024
Its been great to team up with the Ousewem project and support them in their first boots on the ground natural flood management intervention with these leaky dams.
You can read more about it here.
4 July 2024
We've been working closely with Ripon Walled Garden recently, helping with Himalayan Balsam removal and relocating our photo exhibition there.
15 June 2024
Thank you to everyone who came to our BioBlitz at Hell Wath. Despite the rain showers, we recorded 177 species.
If you'd like to know more about what we found then look at our iNaturalist recordings here.
9 May 2024
The launch event of the 2023-29 Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal World Heritage Site Management Plan was a great opportunity to celebrate the achievements of the previous plan with our partners: Nidderdale National Landscape, West Yorkshire Archives and Power of 10.
You can find out more about the World Heritage Site designation and read the management plan here.
22 April 2024
Our area ranger enjoyed a delightful day at Markenfield Hall with a group of both new and existing volunteers, providing a refresher on the recording process aimed at cataloguing notable, ancient, and veteran trees for the Hug an Ancient Tree project. Our findings are uploaded to the Ancient Tree Inventory website: Ancient Tree Inventory - Woodland Trust
11 April 2024
We are excited to release our Watery Wildlife Resource Pack in collaboration with the Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust.
This is for parents, teachers and youth leaders to use, it'll give you the confidence and knowledge to inspire future generations with guided lesson plans, risk assessments and activities for those in Key Stage 2. The activities can be adapted for Key Stage 1 as well as older children.
There is something for everyone from river art to river dipping, from learning key terminology to learning about new animals.
Download the pack from Nidderdale National Landscape's website or borrow a copy from Ripon Library.
4 April 2024
The Skell Valley Project were very honoured to have won the Sustainability Award and the Helen Whitehead Award for best overall project at the Ripon Civic Society Awards event.
The work that the Skell Valley Project has achieved would not have been possible without the dedication of our volunteers and the support of the partnership organisations.
21 March 2024
We were delighted to host a visit from representatives of the National Lottery Heritage Fund in the Skell Valley, where we were able to showcase the brilliant work which the Skell Valley Project team is doing to protect the National Trust World Heritage Site of Fountains Abbey & Studley Royal and to help nature recover in Nidderdale National Landscape. The project has also been working hard to celebrate our heritage and support our local communities in the Skell Valley and Ripon. All possible thanks to funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the great work of our partnership in the Skell Valley.
19 March 2024
As part of the Skell Valley Project, we began the Power of 10 Volunteering Reward Scheme which encourages young people to volunteer and supports organisations to recruit young people as volunteers. This pilot project has now acquired its own funding and held a launch event.
29 February 2024
Our Skell Valley Taskforce Volunteers have been working hard, making the most of extra day in February. They have installed a gate near How Hill to enable public access into the space we are creating for nature.
28 January 2024
Our hard-working Skell Community Archaeology volunteers have completed their programme of field recording of heritage features in the 18th Century designed landscapes in the Skell Valley. With the help of archaeology contractor Richard, ranger Gabby, lots of tape measures, poles, string lines and laser measurers, they have produced some great scale drawings to record this beautiful bridge over the River Skell, built by the Aislabie family in the mid-late 18th Century.
2 January 2024
ITV came along to talk to Project Manager, Nabil Abbas, to hear how can natural flood management methods upstream protect the world-class heritage at Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal. They then went on to visit a series of ponds that the Skell Valley Project team worked to install to benefit nature and retain flood waters.
Watch the video here: Environmental project to protect Fountains Abbey - Latest From ITV News
29 November 2023
How can restoring nature help to protect the world-class heritage at Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal?
Our partners from the University of Leeds' iCASP team have put together a case study, demonstrating how how natural flood management is being used to protect our precious heritage landscapes.
Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUwjOA5yXB4
2 November 2023
We enjoyed a brilliant day at Ripon Workhouse Museum celebrating the achievements of some of Ripon's young people who have given their time to help the local community as part of the Skell's Volunteering City of Ripon project. This encourages young people to volunteer 10 hours of their time in the local community - many have already reached 100 hours of volunteering though!
8 October 2023
Thanks to an amazing effort from Open Country Yorkshire volunteers, Wolseley UK corporate volunteers and the Skell Valley ranger volunteers, they moved a colossal 60 tonnes of footpath surfacing material by hand to create a better, more accessible pathway at Hell Wath Local Nature Reserve in just 2 weeks.
14 September 2023
This week we’ve held a fascinating pop-up exhibition in the medieval water mill at Fountains Abbey, telling some of the stories from the history of the Skell Valley. Scheduled to coincide with Heritage Open Days, the exhibition shed light on the ancient tradition of perambulation, or walking the boundaries of country estates. The exhibition also showcased some of the more recent 20th century stories about life in the Skell Valley which have been captured by our Oral History team
25 August 2023
Our community archaeology volunteers have been exploring the historic landscape - visible and lost - of Seven Bridges Valley, and creating an inventory of its many remaining features.
The historic name for this part of the Studley Royal estate was 'Serpent Valley'? Its winding route led to a Chinese garden, the remains of which are now completely hidden from view by dense woodland.
27 July 2023
Our archive volunteers have uncovered some treasures about Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal with the team at West Yorkshire Archive Service.
A volunteer found a delivery inventory addressed to estate worker Robert Doe, listing all sorts of luxurious furnishings for different garden buildings on the Fountains estate… from walnut chairs to mahogany tables; decanters to glasses; and – somewhat surprisingly – even a sweeping brush!
Other volunteers discovered a royal seal, letters and a whole host of other intriguing documents that are helping to shed light on what life was like for those living and working on the estate at the time its owners, the Aislabies, were developing the garden at Studley Royal.
12 July 2023
Our project team were invited to visit the Ryevitalise team who are carrying out a similar partnership project on the Rye Valley in North York Moors National Park. It was great to share experiences and ideas from both projects with an enthusiastic group of people who are working at landscape scale like we are. We're looking forward to inviting them to see what's happening in the Skell Valley soon.
6 July 2023
If you've been out and about anywhere around the Skell Valley you'll have noticed this pink flowering plant on riverbanks, ditches and verges - this invasive species gets everywhere! To keep on top of it our ranger has been mapping areas where it's most prolific and organising teams of dedicated volunteers to go out and pull it up, giving native species a chance to thrive. Most recently the volunteers have been working hard at Ripon Walled Garden to get on top of the situation.
22 June 2023
The ranger volunteers have been learning lots of new traditional skills and trying them out in the valley, including how to use a scythe. Scything is good for maintaining small areas of grassland, encouraging biodiversity and making them more flower-rich. The ranger volunteers have recently used their new skills on the grassland at Hell Wath Local Nature Reserve.
8 June 2023
The Skell Valley has miles of dry stone walls that make up this typically agricultural landscape but they do require some maintenance. Our ranger volunteers have been learning how to keep the walls in tip top condition to keep this heritage skill alive and help out our local farmers.
5 June 2023
Our oral history volunteers have been out and about looking at the places they've been hearing about during interviews with local people. So far they've carried out 8 interviews with local people alongside our oral history consultant and gained some lovely insights into the River Skell from the past. They took some historic photographs of Ripon out with them on a walk to help them picture some of the places they'd heard about in the interviews.
1 June 2023
We’re looking for inspiring photos that capture the essence of the River Skell and its surroundings and the 20 winning photos will be displayed in a new outdoor exhibition at Ripon Workhouse Museum this autumn. Whether you use a smartphone or a digital camera - all are welcome to submit up to 3 photos before the competition closes on Tuesday 1 August 2023 – happy snapping! More details on how to enter can be found on our webpage above.
20 May 2023
Working with Ripon YMCA, our ranger Gabby launched the first Eco Action Day. Designed to be more flexible for anyone 14+ to drop-in on a Saturday when they can, during our first session they did lots of litter picking around Spa Park, Spa Gardens and the Temple Gardens.
11 May 2023
We held a get together for our wonderful Skell Valley volunteers to celebrate delivering over 10,000 volunteer hours on the project so far. Volunteers are helping us deliver a huge range of work such as tree planting, footpath improvements, drystone walling, controlling invasive species, apple picking, water quality sampling, transcribing archive documents, youth volunteering, school visits & family stream dipping, oral history interviews, archaeology recording & research and ancient tree mapping. A big thank you to all our volunteers!
2 May 2023
Our community archaeology activities are well underway with our new group of volunteers. We've had trips to the North Yorkshire County Records Office and online desk-based research training taking place over the past two weeks and been looking at some fascinating historic documents to see what they can tell us about the hidden past of the Skell Valley.
16 April 2023
Now that the volunteers have been trained in collecting river samples, we will be collecting river samples to help us establish the baseline for the amount of sediment suspended within the river. This knowledge with further sampling will allow us to determine where the sediment is coming from to target our future Natural Flood Management measures towards.
13 April 2023
Ripon Courthouse Gardens got a spring clean in April when the Skell volunteer rangers came along for a morning session. From weeding the beds and re-establishing their edges, to cleaning the inscription on the stone and clearing around the benches. This area is a popular place to sit and enjoy a moment of peace and get to enjoy the nature on your doorstep.
31 March 2023
Our community archaeology and oral history projects are now in full swing, with a total of 37 volunteers trained up since the beginning of this year. The oral history team are recording interviews with people living and working in the Skell Valley, to capture their stories and learn about changes to the landscape which have occurred in living memory. Meanwhile the community archaeology team are digging deeper into history, researching the historic designed landscapes including the Seven Bridges, Chinese Wood and Eavestone Lake, and have already discovered a worked Mesolithic flint and a possible cup-marked stone on their first field visit.
30 March 2023
We have spent the start of the year planting trees, bringing our total up to 10,000 trees, hedges and shrubs in the Skell Valley. These 10,000 trees are spread across at least 9 different farms in the valley.
A huge thanks goes to the local Rotary Clubs of Ripon, Harrogate and Harrogate Brigantes, for contributing as part of their trees for Nidderdale project. Corporate volunteers from Zero Carbon Harrogate, Moneyweb Limited, Unit 4 and HSBC have also been involved as well as the children from Moorside Primary School Ripon. The wonderfully enthusiastic Skell Valley Task Force have been instrumental in this achievement too.
3 March 2023
Channel 4 News returned to do a feature on the Skell Valley Project. They caught up with one of the Skell Valley farmers and looked at the natural flood management they’d created on their farm, with the help of the Skell Valley team. Channel 4 News also found out more about the work we’re doing on the history of the area with West Yorkshire Archive Services. See clip here.
26 February 2023
A new accessible path has been installed at the Ripon Walled Garden to increase access on the site. It forms the basis around which a new sensory garden will be built.
21 February 2023
With the help of ICASP and the University of Leeds we have installed some river monitoring equipment into the river Skell. This will allow us to get some current baseline data to show long-term what the impacts of our interventions have been for the river Skell. We'll soon be holding some training for volunteers to get involved in collecting the much-needed data on river flow and sediment load.
16 February 2023
Working alongside Ripon in Bloom at the Temple Gardens, the Skell Valley Ranger Volunteers have helped to clear the paths and have a general spring clean of the site. Some dangerous dead over hanging branches have been removed to improve the safety of the site and we hope to return again in the summer for some more site improvements.
9 February 2023
We’re launching an exciting oral history project as part of heritage is celebrated. We are looking for people to share their stories of everyday life in the Skell Valley, whether it’s about farming or working in the valley, growing up and childhood days, memories of past generations, local characters, and some of the amazing wartime history too. Oral history is exactly that – talking about the past! You’ll be having an informal chat with a couple of volunteers who will record your stories from the comfort of your home or another convenient place.
Speaking of volunteers – we’re on the hunt for some of those too! We’re also looking for people to help carry out oral history interviews to collect these new stories and will provide full training for anyone who is interested in taking part. If you have a passion for history and would like to help, then we’d love to hear from you.
24 January 2023
This winter, we have started creating a complex of 7 new ponds across three sites in the Skell Valley.
These ponds will increase the volume of flood storage in the valley, reducing the risk of flooding downstream during heavy rainfall events. They will also trap silt and sediment on the land, protecting water quality in the river.
Ponds and wetlands are great for wildlife but have been lost from much of the countryside, so putting these wet places back into the landscape is a really important way to help nature’s recovery.
9 January 2023
We've kicked off 2023 with a busy week of planting!
In the first week of January, with the help of over 20 volunteers, we have managed to plant nearly 300m of new hedgerow across 2 different farms, Hollin House and Whitcliffe Farm. The hedgerows consisted of a mixture of about 70% hawthorn with blackthorn, dog rose, field maple, hazel and holly mixed in. Once established these hedgerows will provide a valuable home and corridor for wildlife as well as helping to mitigate flooding in the river Skell
4 January 2023
Can you help us give the grassland a Hell Wath a helping hand?
The local community have been warmly invited via press and social media to come and give Hell Wath a hand by joining the project team on Saturday 14 January at a drop-in practical session to be held on site. We’ll be hand-cutting some scrub to allow space for the grassland and the wildlife it supports to thrive. It’ll be a great way to kick off the new year with some fresh air and a chance to burn off some of those Christmas calories too.
Following the public event on the 14 January, scrub clearance will continue throughout the week with various volunteer groups. There are information boards throughout Hell Wath with maps and details of what’s happening too.
Growing the wildflower population of the large grassland meadows is a key part of the management plan for Hell Wath. This will increase the range and number of butterflies and other insects in this area which will in turn see a larger variety of birds and small mammals at the nature reserve.
Those unable to make the public event can still get involved in helping nature thrive in this special place from the comfort of home by cultivating wildflower plugs to plant on Hell Wath in the autumn.
21 December 2022
Researchers from the Leeds University’s ICASP team have been on site at Studley Water Gardens taking samples of the silt in the Half Moon Pond.
Constructed in the 18th century as part of the Aislabies’ innovative designed landscape, the pond is fed directly by the River Skell and is therefore prone to silting up as soil and organic material are washed down the river from higher up the river catchment. The research and monitoring work has been commissioned as part of the Skell Valley Project, to study where the silt is coming from and help us to focus our ongoing work to address this problem by installing natural flood management measures in the catchment.
24 November 2022
A Waxcap fungi search was undertaken at Hell Wath with the help of volunteers (from the Skell Valley Task Force, Friends of Hell Wath and the Nidderdale AONB). Waxcaps are the most visible and distinct grassland fungi community members. They have strong associations with old, undisturbed, nutrient poor grasslands. 4 different waxcap species were identified at Hell Wath with the help of the National Trust’s waxcap fungi expert, Steve Hindle. These were the more common Snowy waxcap, as well as the Butter waxcap, Meadow waxcap and the rarer Spangle waxcap. Often associated with waxcaps are other fungi, i.e. coral or club fungi, beside the Spangle waxcap we identified the apricot club fungus. It could be that there are more species present on site that weren’t showing their above ground fruiting bodies, the mushroom, when we were searching, or that they are in spore form waiting for the conditions to improve. Works to improve the diversity of the grasslands at Hell Wath should also benefit the waxcaps.
26 October 2022
We had a fabulous day discovering ancient trees with Ancient Tree Advisor Brian Muelaner last week. We learnt all about the ecology and history of some of the oldest trees in Britain and explored some of the venerable veteran trees on the Studley Royal estate, which is home to an extraordinary number of ancient trees!
8 October 2022
Early in September the Skell Valley Task force helped in the Ripon Walled garden with some apple collecting, ready for pressing before their apple day. In a few hours lots of the apples were picked both from the tree and the windfalls collected off the ground. They were sorted into very mushy or bruised, windfalls with no obvious bruising for cider making and apples from the tree. The good apples collected from the trees were bagged into about 20kg sacks and in a few short hours we had filled their apple store. These apples were stored in a cool dry place ready for juicing at a later date. The mushy/bruised apples were collected into buckets and brought back to Fountains Abbey to be fed to the deer herd, who thoroughly enjoyed their treat. It was lovely to be invited back to the Ripon Walled Garden to help them celebrate their apple day on Saturday 8th October. What a day it was, with the sun finally shining after a week of wind and rain. Lots of people turned up with their own bucket’s filled with apples to partake in pressing their own apples giving a donation for the juice. As well as plenty of apples and juice on offer there were also lots of local craft stalls selling photos to homemade soaps to baked goods and cider. There were also plenty of fairground games from a human fruit machine to peg racing and a coconut shy. What a great event to help raise money for the walled garden and their work to help people with disabilities learn new skills and grow in confidence.
1 October 2022
Autumn always sees a variety of colourful mushrooms and toadstools appearing in the countryside, and falling temperatures combined with recent rainfall have stimulated a lot of these fungal fruiting bodies to appear in the Skell Valley. On a recent foray with a local expert, our volunteers found and identified 47 species in just one morning
16 September 2022
Soil and silt washing into the River Skell during spells of heavy rain can cause problems both for the wildlife living in the river and for the lakes and water gardens which are fed by the Skell. We’re working with landowners in the valley to prevent silt from entering the river by installing riverside fencing and buffer strips, creating new wetlands to intercept the silt and repairing farm tracks to reduce the risk of erosion and stop silt washing off the land.
23 August 2022
This Canary Shouldered Thorn Moth is just one of hundreds of species which our volunteer moth trappers have been recording in the Skell Valley. Like butterflies and other insects, moths are a great indicator of overall environmental health, since healthy natural habitats will support a bigger number of different moth species. By better understanding the species living in the valley, we can also advise landowners and undertake habitat improvements to help populations of less common species which might be under threat elsewhere in the region.
14 August
In August we passed an important milestone for the project, with the installation of the first 5 leaky dams in the Skell catchment. Our contractors used conifer trees growing adjacent to the watercourse to build the dams, which allow the water to flow unhindered in normal weather conditions, but during heavy rainfall events the dams will divert water into the wider floodplain. This slows the flow of water and allows silt to settle out in the floodplain, reducing the risk of flooding and siltation downstream.
12 August 2022
We’ve recently welcomed Karen and Gabby our new Heritage Officer and Area Ranger. Karen has come from a similar role for the Lottery-funded Revitalising Redesdale Landscape Partnership scheme and will be working on a range of projects to connect people with the built and cultural heritage of the Skell Valley. Gabby has joined us from the National Trust’s Slindon Estate in the South Downs and will be working with farmers to improve the resilience of the valley to flooding and also supporting community groups to look after local green spaces.
11 August 2022
Our Area Ranger Gabby spent a productive day at Ripon Walled Garden clearing vegetation with her ranger volunteers along the path to the Wildlife Viewing Area. This has helped to maintain accessibility along the path and opened up the view from the bird hide through to the orchard. The team also managed to pull a lot more Himalayan balsam from the woodland area – all part of our ongoing work with Ripon Walled Garden to give people better access to nature.
5 August 2022
The Ancient Tree Inventory (ATI) is a citizen science project led by the Woodland Trust. As part of the Skell Valley Project we recruited a team of volunteers who spent the day recording and mapping special ancient, veteran and notable trees around the valley with guidance from the local Ancient Tree Inventory verifiers Historic sites like Fountains Abbey are important hotspots for such trees and provide an ideal place to learn more about them and how to record them to the Ancient Tree Inventory. The wonderfully sunny day began with a short presentation followed by a practical session to record trees in the estate.
29 July 2022
Seventy volunteers have been working with West Yorkshire Archive Service to research the fascinating history of Studley Royal water gardens. Working online, the volunteers have been busy transcribing hundreds of documents from the 1700s, many of these hand-written letters from the head gardener to the owner of the Estate John Aislabie, describing in detail the progress on creation and development of the gardens. A recent pop up exhibition at Fountains Hall enabled over 400 people to learn more about this exciting research work.
16 July 2022
Over 20 local North Yorkshire craftspeople came together for a 2 day fair to celebrate heritage crafts in the Skell Valley. 2200 visitors enjoyed learning about an impressive range of traditional crafts including pottery, willow weaving, blacksmithing, weaving and even coracle making
20 June 2022
Summer is now in full swing and the Skell Valley Project is providing lots of opportunities for people to learn more about the wildlife living the valley. Friends of Hell Wath, working with the project ranger, are doing weekly butterfly monitoring transects on the nature reserve and have also hosted a bumblebee workshop this month. We have just run a wild flower identification workshop and next weekend (Sat 25th June), there’s a free workshop on dragonflies and damselflies too. Volunteer moth recorders have been running a series of moth trapping sessions at locations in the valley to better understand the species which live here. The most recent session at Eavestone Lake found an amazing 110 moths including this Pebble Prominent and several Poplar Hawk Moths:
17 June 2022
This coming autumn we’re planning to install 8 new ponds and 20 leaky dams on privately-owned farmland and forestry sites in the Skell Valley. These features will be installed in the upper sections of the valley, slowing the flow of water in peak rainfall events and increasing the capacity of the catchment to hold water and silt which would otherwise wash down the River Skell. We’re currently busy working up designs for these natural flood management works, with the help of specialist hydrology and ecology consultants. Bringing in this expertise will help us to design new wetland features that provide multiple benefits, not only intercepting heavy rainfall and silt, but also creating new habitat which will help nature to recover in the Skell valley.
19 April 2022
The Skell Ranger volunteers and Open Country have been hard at work throughout the valley. They’ve finished planting 2500 hedge trees at a farm near Grantley which will slow the flow of water off the farmland to the river and connect the surrounding woodlands with wildlife corridors and have installed about 280m of fencing along the banks of the river; creating another buffer for water and more riverside habitat for wildlife.
18 April 2022
A mosaic of different habitats helps nature to thrive. Although only small, this pond plays a vital role in the ecosystem at Hell Wath. Small mammals such as hedgehogs, voles and mice use the pond as a watering hole and insects such as dragonflies and damselflies lay their eggs here. Amphibians such as frogs, toads and newts also rely on the pond for breeding. In April we’re helping the Friends of Hell Wath to put a fence around the pond to help protect the precious wildlife that the pond supports. Flea and tick medication used on dogs is extremely toxic to aquatic wildlife so keeping dogs away from the pond helps support biodiversity. The cost of the materials for the fence has been funded by a grant from North Yorkshire County Council and a donation by the Ripon Rowel Rotary Club. The fence will be put up by our Skell Valley project volunteers.
6 April 2022
The Skell Ranger volunteers helped at Picking Gill local nature reserve near Sawley to build some steps to make access to the site a little easier and remove the rotten old boardwalk that was unsafe. They’ll be installing a new boardwalk soon; one made of recycled plastics that will last a lot longer. Picking Gill is one of many sites we’re working at in the valley with local partner organisations to improve conditions for wildlife and help connect people with nature.
26 January 2022
As part of the project’s ‘Nature of your Doorstep’ initiative, we’ve partnered with various locations in the Skell Valley to deliver improvements to green spaces, making them more nature friendly. One of these locations is Picking Gill at Sawley where a team of volunteers from our lead partner organisation, Nidderdale AONB, have been busy hedge laying. Hedge laying is an important traditional method of stock proof barrier achieved by partially cutting the tree stem, bending it and securing it at an angle into the main body of the hedge. This creates a denser hedge which provides an excellent habitat for wildlife. This hedge at Picking Gill is hawthorn which will be rich in flower in May for pollinating insects and the haws in autumn are a good food source for birds.
7 January 2022
This January we’re continuing work to help nature thrive at Hell Wath nature reserve in Ripon by restoring a pond. Wetlands are an important habitat as they support a wide range of wildlife; particularly amphibians and insects which provide feeding opportunities for birds. The pond here is fed by a spring and once the weather warms up it will rapidly revegetate and become a haven for nature. The pond at Hell Wath has become heavily silted up over time, particularly with leaf litter. As a result, it dries up regularly and loses its value for wildlife as species such as frogs, newts and dragonflies can’t breed and thrive. In line with the Friends of Hell Wath nature reserve management plan, the Skell Valley Project is pleased to be funding the restoration of the pond.
19 December 2021
The Ripon Museums Trust are one of our local partners for the Skell Valley Project. We’ve been helping improve access to the workhouse garden using volunteer support and contractors. The hardworking team have resurfaced 165m of paths which has helped increase the slip resistance of the paths running between the planting beds. These can be tricky to navigate as they’re fairly steep and can become very slippery. It was heavy work to dismantle the old paths and barrow the new footpath aggregate around the garden. We’re very grateful to everyone involved and pleased to be able to make this amazing place more accessible to visitors and volunteers alike.
7 December 2021
This December, nature will be given a helping hand as work begins at Hell Wath Local Nature Reserve in Ripon, to restore precious wildlife habitats. Hell Wath is a wildflower rich grassland, home to species such as common spotted orchid and cowslips as well as botanical rarities such as adder’s-tongue fern and bee orchid. Invasive scrub is spreading across the open grasslands, swamping the wildflowers and reducing the feeding opportunities for butterflies and other pollinators. Scrub, the bushes and thicket that develop at the edge of the woodland, is an important habitat but left unchecked it loses its value for nature and overwhelms the delicate grassland. A mosaic of different habitats is best for biodiversity therefore contractors will be removing some of the scrub on the open grassland and playing fields to help wildlife thrive. The Skell Valley Project is working with Harrogate Borough Council and the Friends of Hell Wath (FOHW) group to deliver the Friends of Hell Wath Nature Reserve Management Plan. The scrub removal is part of a wider scheme of work that will be delivered at Hell Wath, funded by the Project to help nature thrive at this much- loved green space in Ripon. During the winter a silted-up pond will be reinstated which will restore habitat for amphibians and a range of dragonflies. In coming years, the Project will be working to improve footpaths on the reserve with better waymarking and interpretation.
29 November 2021
The West Yorkshire Archive Service Leeds team has been blown away by the number of people volunteering their time to help us with the Skell Valley’s ‘Digging Deep in the Archives’ project. Over 60 transcription volunteers are working their way through 18th century estate correspondence and in just three short weeks they’ve already transcribed over 17,000 words! So far we’ve been working on a bundle of letters between William Hallot and John Aislabie which detail the planting of trees, flooding and flood prevention and the names of local residents working on the land around the Studley estate. There have been stories of mad dogs running loose, cases of small pox in the area and masses of building works giving a fantastic insight into Skell Valley life.
13 October 2021
For many people with a disability, open countryside is the hardest thing to access and enjoy. Terraced paths, steps, styles, kissing gates, cattle grids, rutted surfaces and inclines all pose continual barriers. Hell Wath Local Nature Reserve is the perfect spot to start to resolve some of these issues and make a bit of open countryside more accessible to Ripon’s residents. The nature reserve is traversed by the River Skell on its journey through Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal to the City of Ripon and is a key location for the Skell Valley Project in rejuvenating the landscape for everyone to enjoy. Together with the Friends of Hell Wath and Experience Community, we held a free event at Hell Wath where people came to try out off-road all-terrain mountain trike wheelchairs where their own wheelchairs or mobility scooters weren’t suitable.
16 September 2021
We’ve held our first volunteer taster day in the garden at Ripon Workhouse Museum. 11 new volunteers got stuck straight in with hay-raking to restore the wildflower meadow in the traditional orchard, harvesting apples and creating a woodland path in the garden for native woodland trees. As with all good volunteer days, everyone was kept well fuelled with tea and cake during break times!
11 Sep 2021
We had a fantastic day at our Skell Valley Celebration event and were delighted that so many of our partners joined us on the day. Thanks to the Mayor of Harrogate Trevor Chapman for attending as well as David Renwick, Director in the North for The National Lottery Heritage Fund for opening the event. It was great to meet so many people interested in the project and we hope that everyone who attended enjoyed themselves as much as we did.
29 July 2021
A series of events will be taking place throughout the four years of the project that will reveal hidden layers of this special landscape and make it easier to discover the green space, wildlife and heritage where you live. From its source at the wild and remote Dallowgill Moor, the River Skell descends through Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal onto the wooded riverbanks of Hell Wath in Ripon before it joins the River Ure. Events will be taking place along the length of the Skell, not just here at Fountains.
There's everything from family fun days and archive discovery to nature exploration, so everyone can engage with the Skell Valley Project. Keep an eye on the Fountains Abbey homepage for upcoming events.
14 May 2021
The Skell Valley team is now in place and working hard on the delivery of the project.
The team will be led by the project manager Nabil Abbas who has been doing conservation work for around 20 years in South Yorkshire and the Peak District, both with the National Trust and the Wildlife Trust. Most recently Nabil has been working with farmers to deliver natural flood management (NFM) and wetland habitat improvements in the Sheffield Lakeland Landscape Partnership.
Jess Darwin is the area ranger for the project and has been recruited from the National Trust Lake District ranger team. Jess has a huge passion for nature, conservation and the outside world and is looking forward to getting stuck in and meeting members of the Skell community.
5 March 2021
Speaking to Alex Thompson, chief correspondent for Channel 4 News, about the rising threat to this World Heritage Site, General Manager Justin Scully said: 'This is a treasure for all humanity... we cannot stand by and let it be damaged.'
This week the teams at Fountains and Nidderdale AONB were delighted to welcome crews from Channel 4 News and Sky News to speak about the impact of climate change on the area and the way in which the Skell Valley Project will tackle these issues.
13 January 2021
In partnership with Nidderdale AONB, the stage two bid has been successful and the Skell Valley Project has been awarded a £1.4 million grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Thank you to all the farmers, landowners and communities who have helped to make sure that the scheme reflected the views and needs of a wide range of people living and working here in the Skell Valley. Delivery of the £2.5 million scheme will start later in 2021 and run to 2024.
14 December 2020
The project has been awarded £230,000 of funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). This grant will deliver natural flood management measures in the middle and upper reaches of the Skell Valley that will safeguard homes and businesses in Ripon from flooding, as well as improving conditions for nature and wildlife.
Historically, flooding occurs in Ripon when the water level in the River Laver and the River Skell is high and flowing quickly. In 2012, the Environment Agency completed the ‘Ripon Flood Alleviation Scheme’, which has significantly reduced the risk of flooding for 548 homes and 96 businesses in Ripon. This involved the construction of a flood storage area on the River Laver, with localised defences through Ripon.
The funding from the European Regional Development Fund will enable natural flood management work (NFM) to be delivered to provide further protection against flood risk to mitigate the impacts of climate change. By working with farmers and landowners upstream, a programme of natural flood management measures will be delivered with the combined effect of slowing the volume of water entering the River Skell as well as reducing sedimentation.
14 October 2020
Although the bid has been submitted, the fundraising appeal is still ongoing. The Royal Oak Foundation seeks to raise awareness of and advance the work of the National Trust by inspiring support from the United States for the Trust’s efforts to preserve and protect historic places and spaces.
In normal times, the Royal Oak Foundation would hold fundraising galas throughout the year in cities such as New York and Washington DC. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this year is a little different and for the first time they have held a virtual fundraising gala, focusing on Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal, the issues the site faces from flooding and the ways that the Skell Valley Scheme aims to tackle this.
11 September 2020
The stage two application to the National Lottery Heritage Fund has now been submitted. Thank you to everyone who has had a hand in helping to shape this project over the past year, it has been a huge collective effort from a wide number of people to get to this point. The result of the bid will be announced in the new year.
8 June 2020
As lockdown continues, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic is becoming clearer. Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal remains closed to visitors, as are many other tourism attractions and hospitality businesses in the Skell Valley. The tourism industry is so important to the area and the impact on the local economy is likely to be severe.
How the Skell Valley Scheme can help mitigate some of this damage and build a more resilient future is top of the team’s mind as they continue to work on writing the second-round application for National Lottery Heritage Funding. Like many in the country, the team is working remotely as the finer details of the project are being finalised.
30 April 2020
Something that being in lockdown has highlighted is how much communities who live in and visit the Skell Valley value this unique landscape. Spring has well and truly arrived, and the team has continued to work on the bid to the National Lottery Heritage Fund and consider how the project may help support communities after Covid-19.
7 March 2020
This month is all about celebrating the community partners working on the development of the Skell Valley Project. The ‘Sights and Sounds of Ripon’ community day saw people enjoy free interactive activities with groups all over Ripon and people visited to make natural bird feeders and wildlife badges.
6 February 2020
In early February, Jennyruth Workshops and Ripon Walled Garden did a nature photography walk with guidance from the Friends of Hell Wath.
One of the aims of the Skell Valley Project it to enable people to connect with nature and learn about wildlife. Trying out this sort of activity is helping to develop ideas for how to engage local communities with nature, wildlife and heritage in ways that are fun and also develop skills.
15 January 2020
The team took a consultant out in the cold to survey the wooden boat house on Eavestone Lake which is in disrepair. One of the project aims is to rediscover hidden features of heritage across the Skell Valley such as the 19th-century stone boathouse which had to be accessed by kayak.
Eavestone Lake is a hidden gem in the landscape. If successful in receiving funding, heritage features like these would be recorded and restored, as well as improving access to the lake.
5 December 2019
A Skell land use change workshop has been held with external partners such as Natural England, Nidderdale AONB, North Yorkshire County Council and Historic England. This looked at work commissioned by the Environment Agency and the Forestry Commission, which considered what the Skell Valley may look like in 25 years.
Several recommendations on forestry, nature conservation and flood management were developed in this workshop and will be looked at closely to determine how they will inform the bid for the delivery phase of the Skell Valley Project.
27 November 2019
A workshop was held in November with school reps from Moorside Junior School and Grewelthorpe Primary to learn about the amazing wildlife, or ‘underwater uglies’, living in and around the River Skell. The children did experiments around soil run-off to learn about how silt gets into rivers and are planning assemblies for their schools to share what they’ve learnt.
The Skell Valley Project, in partnership with Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust, will work with the schools to co-create education resources which can be used by schools and other community groups in the delivery of the project.
1 October 2019
Progressing into autumn, Project Manager David Hargreaves and Nidderdale AONB’s Land Management Team Leader Marian Wilby have been meeting farmers and landowners in the Skell Valley to talk about possible works which could improve the health of the River Skell.
Of the 16 farms which visited so far, some 120 potential projects have been identified in 14 of them. Highlights from the potential works include 3,176 metres of cow tracks, 7,976 metres of bankside fencing and an area of wildflower meadow creation.
21 September 2019
This summer has seen lots of engagement events as part of the community conversations developing the project. The team has been to events including village fairs, St Wilfrid’s Procession in Ripon and Nidderdale Agricultural Show. A highlight has been talking to visitors about water flow with Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust and their amazing ‘Rivers 2U’ mobile laboratory on World Heritage Day at Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal.
The responses from the public on what they value most about the Skell Valley and their ideas for improving it have gone into the planning of the project to ensure it represents what people want.
15 August 2019
In August the team met with the people behind the ‘Ripon City Plan’, which in 2018 identified possible green spaces in the City of Ripon. This fits with the Skell Valley Project’s ‘Spaces for nature’ plan, which aims to work with groups in Ripon to create up to ten spaces for nature in the city.
The hope is that creating green spaces and looking after them will help start a conversation in our communities about nature and conservation. This will also help bring the health and wellbeing benefits of nature into a city setting for local people.
20 July 2019
On 20 July the National Trust supported the Friends of Hell Wath, a local nature reserve on the edge of Ripon, in delivering an exciting BioBlitz event. This engaging form of Citizen Science encourages the public to take a role in observing and recording the wildlife they find in their local area. Local experts safely trapped, recorded and released wildlife including 54 different species of moth and small mammals.
The Friends of Hell Wath are a partner in the Skell Valley Project. They have received support in creating a five-year ‘Land Management Plan’ which will help people look after the natural and cultural heritage of this treasured place.
20 June 2019
The Farmers Facilitation Fund, run by the project’s co-lead partner Nidderdale AONB, held a summer barbecue at Fountains Abbey on 20 June. This was part of an ongoing conversation with local farmers and landowners about how different approaches to land management can improve the health of rivers and sustainability of farming.
As part of the event, National Trust archaeologist Mark Newman gave a talk about the historical links Fountains Abbey had in shaping farming practices in the area for centuries.
23 May 2019
On 23 May a footpath consultant came to train volunteers on how to conduct a footpath condition survey. This involves using a recording system, photograph gates, signage and pathways and rating them by their state of repair and physical accessibility. The volunteers who received the training went on to walk all over the project 40 sq km catchment area and record the condition of rights of way in the Skell Valley.
More than 700 photos were taken which have been used by the project team to generate a 200-page audit of footpaths. This will inform where and how to improve access in the Skell Valley as part of the project’s delivery.
1 April 2019
'My name is Jack and I’m the Community Participation Officer working on the Skell Valley Project. My job is to lead on engagement and ensure the work we’re doing is reflective of the communities who live, work and visit the Skell Valley. This means facilitating the project team to work in partnership with local groups who do amazing things in the area on developing the ideas in our plan and ensuring that the projects we would like to deliver are representative of what people believe is most important to them.'
Tackling climate change is a global challenge. Discover how the International National Trusts Organisation (INTO) has facilitated a practical exchange of skills in flood mitigation and community engagement, connecting the two World Heritage Sites of Skell Valley and Uganda's Rwenzori Mountains through the Melting Snow and Rivers in Flood project.
Find out how Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986 and how we're preserving its unique features for future generations to enjoy.
Find out more about the funding the National Trust receives from grants, and the projects it has helped support.
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