In search of the lost moors of the Vale of York

Moors are as much a part of Yorkshire’s identity as its accents, terriers and whippets, puddings, cricket and tea. Probably the most commonly held vision of Yorkshire Moors is that of wind-swept, heather-clad uplands, which are still easy to find today. A minority of people may also envisage the boggy moors and wastes of the levels between Doncaster and the Humber. Few, hearing the term ‘Yorkshire Moors’ today, would associate them with the Vale of York. This great central lowland, with York city at its heart, divides the Pennine dales, in the west of the county, from the Yorkshire Wolds, Howardian Hills and North York Moors to the east, and drains and waters a great expanse of the land between the Humber and the Tees. Today there is very little land in the Vale that could be considered moor, but some small fragments of remaining semi-natural habitat and an abundance of place-names hint at a past when moor was a prominent feature of its landscape. In this article I go in search of the lost moors of the Vale of York, and ask: Where were they? What happened to them, and when?