Cumbria Picture Library

Limestone Pavement

Limestone pavements are areas of hard limestone exposed by the scouring action of ice during the last ice age, dating in Cumbria from the Carboniferous Period. In Cumbria, it is most extensive in a ring around Morecambe Bay and on the limestone fells between Shap and Kirkby Stephen. Smaller areas are found on the high western edge of the Pennines and there are a few isolated areas on the northern edge of the Lake District. Cumbria contains 36% of all limestone pavement in Britain, where it falls roughly into two groups: low altitude, largely ungrazed, and hence wooded pavements; and higher altitude, generally grazed, open pavements.