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The Skiddaw Forest is the whole eastern flank of the hill, running up to the summit ridge. Here 'forest' means a hunting estate, not implying trees (though the Wildlife Trust is going to turn much of it into a forest also in the sense of having trees). It has been owned by the Earl of Egremont, with the former keepers' cottage and grouse-shooting lodge, Skiddaw House, at one time a youth hostel and then managed by various voluntary bodies. It's now owned by the Wildlife Trust as a non-profit called Esmé has lent it the cash for the time being.

Since the Countryside and Rights of Way Act of 2000 the public has had a legal right of access to the whole hill, though with certain restrictions. In practice, we have had effective access since time immemorial. We still don't have legal entitlement to camp out overnight, but again in practice we can and do.

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Great piece. I love how knowledge of cultural history animates landscapes in our time.

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Yes and this applies to the Lake District especially. "Is the Lake District, then / Another bourgeois invention, like the piano?" W H Auden

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well researched and fascinating, really enjoyed it, thanks.

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Always funny.But also amazing to read these poems that you dig out ♥️

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I'm curious who "owns" the mountain now?

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Replied just above, to you Earth - it came out as 'comment' rather than 'reply'

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OK. I assume there's a law that prevents the Earl from subdividing the land and selling it so that others can build McMansions on it? That's what happens here in the U.S. Is venison something people enjoy eating, or is it the sport of hunting that keeps these hunting grounds going?

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Somewhere during my rain-swept,, wind-hammered solo thru-hike across Scotland circa Oct. '95, I came stumbling out of The Caithness onto a wild and lonely track where a drab stone marker bore witness to "last wolf killed in Sutherland" 1700 or somewhere thereabouts if I remember.

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No plans to bring back wild wolves in the Lake District that I know of. But the ones in Kingussie are going to break free some day.... Nobody planned to reintroduce wild boar to the New Forest, after all. Though for me preserving the peat swamp for carbon capture is the most important issue.

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Short essay on land ownership in UK? Oh all right then. Skiddaw is within 50 year old Lake Dist National Park and though the LDNP authority doesn't own land it does act as the planning authority (ie "zoning" in US ) . Any application to turn Skiddaw into posh flats would be refused. Elsewhere local government controls planning and the system makes it very slow and expensive to build anything at all in UK though somehow plenty of bad stuff still gets through. Venison? Skiddaw hasn't had deer for some centuries, they shoot grouse which are very fast flyers and fun to shoot if you enjoy shooting living beings. Grouse are quite tasty but not a significant food source. The sport shooting enterprise does create minor local employment. Scottish Highlands estates do have red deer which are killed for sport. Venison okay not that great somewhere between rabbit and sheep. Much of the meat is exported to Germany someone told me. The deer are ravaging the landscape by devouring all baby trees and where ground is managed for nature conservation rather than sport they shoot the deer more. I live in a post feudal valley in Scotland and could write a full Substack on this but this reply is quite long enough for now!

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Thanks for taking the time to explain this. I have been so fascinated by Scotland ever since reading a novel several years ago that mentioned the wolf reintroduction debate.

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