ICOMOS-UK Summer Conference delegates on Todd Crag, Lake District

Selected Summary Proceedings of the ICOMOS-UK 2008 Summer Conference are now online.

The conference was organised in collaboration with the University of Cumbria and took place on 12-14 June 2008 at its Ambleside Campus in the Lake District. The packed conference programme showcased speakers from across the UK and Europe, with a particular focus on cultural landscape World Heritage sites.

The persistent themes were how cultural and natural environments can be integrated in landscape management; the importance of educating local communities, especially young people in and about their landscapes; sustainable infrastructures and sustainable methods; the importance of a spirit of place or terroir in making one landscape, its produce and people, distinct from another; the challenges posed by government agendas and the use of international guidelines such as the European Landscape Convention and World Heritage Convention in protecting the integrity of cultural landscapes; and how landscape encompasses both tangible and intangible qualities, past and present.

If ever there was a conference which allowed delegates to ‘live’ its themes, it was this one. The peaceful and breath-taking environment of Ambleside was a constant reminder of the human yearning for discovering a sense of place. After the formal proceedings over two days, all delegates were invited to sign up to an afternoon guided walk on the Friday (13 June) (Rydall Hall followed by a circuit of Rydal Water; Low and High Sweden Bridge); Todd Crag) and a day’s excursion on Saturday (14 June) with options to visit a number of sites in the Lake District (Evolution of the Great Langdale landscape; Aira Force and Lyulphs Tower, Ullswater; Tarn Hows and Monk Coniston; Vernacular Buildings in Troutbeck; Villa architecture in the Lake District 1770 – 1900; Hill farming and land management at
Glencoyne Farm, Ullswater).

Prehistoric rock art on a boulder, Great Langdale Valley, Lake District

The close relationship between people and their landscape being part of the continuity of ‘place’ was most evident in the passion with which our guides led groups of delegates over Fells, in the valleys, around historic buildings and around the Lakes.

On behalf of the conference, we thank all the guides for leaving us with such a refreshing impression of the history and nature of the Lake District.

Some will remember the conference for the picturesque scenery and walks, some for the new information they gleaned from listening to others, others still, from the many opportunities afforded by meeting over lunch, tea and dinner, or while on a tour. After the evening buffet on Thursday 12 June, delegates who attended the conference dinner were treated to a short but highly-charged performance (a mini ceilidh) of Lake District folk music by local band, Striding Edge, including traditional clog dancing: a true demonstration of how place, landscape, and culture function as one. Listen to traditional Lakeland music by Striding Edge

Selected Summary Proceedings of Cultural Landscape Management