Sanctuaries for Scenery
National Parks and the Heritage of Scenery. By Dr. Vaughan Cornish. (Sifton. ]freed.. 5s.) THE raising of the great question of National Parks and the existence of Dr. Vaughan Cornish make a very fortunate con- junction, for he is pre-eminent. if not alone as a scientific student of scenery. It was natural, therefore, when evidence was required whether - " it is desirable and feasible to establish one or more Natiohal Parks in Britain with a view to the preservation of natural characteristics, including flora and fauna, and for the improvement of recreational facilities for the people," when advice was sought, " generally and in par- ticular as to the areas, if any, that- are most suitable for the purpose," that Dr. Vaughan Cornish should be one of the first witnesses. The fruits of his long and loving study of the landscapes of these islands, and of the evidence he prepared, are now presented in the form of a book for which all lovers of England must thank him. Though the author yields to no one in his romantic admiration for the marvellously diversified scenery of his country, he approaches his subject with the philosophical practicality of the trained scientist, thereby giving clear answers to the two questions set by the Govern- ment Committee, both as to desirability and feasibility. The fourteen National Parks that he favourably discusses are not only of great individual and intrinsic merit, but are also well and widely distributed geographically and in relation to our great centres of population. The tale of them is as follows : Glen Affric, The Cairngorms, The Cuillins, Tynedale and the Wall, Lakeland, Snowdonia, Dartmoor, New Forest, Forest of Dean, Dovedale, South Downs, Broadland, Pembroke Coast and North Cornwall Coast.
Very properly, he considers the three " mainland " countries of the kingdom as one, tria juncta in una, as otherwise the allowance on a population basis would cause the anomaly of one park in Wales, two in Scotland, and fourteen in Rngland. For many reasons, the chief geological, the grandest scenery and widest stretches of unenclosed wild land are to be found in the north and west—i.e., in Scotland and in Wales. Against these grea% basic advantages the rapidly diminishing objection of relative inaccessibility can scarcely weigh, as in this small and crowded island it will become increasingly difficult to maintain the necessary industrial and residential vacuum implied by a National Park against the increasing pressure of development. Also the very cost of acquisition or sterilization against exploitation, drives one automatically to the poor lands, the uncultivated lands, the uplands, and it is happily these rather than the rich agricultural and relatively sophisticated parts of the country that are pre-eminently fitted for the variety of needs that a National Park is intended to meet. It is this very variety of function and the occa- sionally divergent and even conflicting aims that make some people doubtful about the whole National Park idea. It is pointed out with some truth that the preservation of flora and fauna is scarcely compatible with the dedication of an area as a great playground, and that more would be lost than gained by attracting all and sundry to our most cherished solitudes.
Dr. Cornish is fully alive to these objections, and deals with them convincingly. People have even objected that we do not want cocoanut shies and merry-go-rounds in the Forest of Dean. Of course we don't ; no one in their senses would, for recreation does not even yet necessarily mean " amusement." A National Park is a place for the quiet study of nature in all her manifestations, of walking, of climbing and exploration, even of camping, a paradise for pedestrians, a sanctuary for scenery, and generally a place for civilized persons to escape to, where they may refresh themselves away from the grinding hurly-burly of their everyday lives.
Perhaps I am partial because it is my own country, and because I, too, gave evidence on its behalf ; but the author does seem especially to favour the area of Snowdonia, which name, by the way, I should like to say is of no modern coining; but of so respectable an antiquity as to have been used in the Statute of Wales of 1284. Having given the most charming picture of these Welsh Alps, that all who know them know that they deserve, he goes on to say :---
" The argument for the institution of a National Park in
SnoWdonia ify-Vber-f-faSt.:tinit:"at every enttance of this mountain fastness stands a castle of antiquity, Conway, Carnarvon, Harlech and the rest, monuments of mediaeval archi- tecture so strong and stern of aspect that without garrison thliy seem to guard the gates of the historic stronghold of Gwynedd above Conway."
Perhaps, again, with personal bias I feel the claim for the Pembroke coast well-nigh irresistible, chiefly because of its great intrinsic merit, but particularly because coastal ribbbn building on this island has left us so little else of adequate length and area for preservation on a national scale.
I have pleaded myself elsewhere for a National Board of Amenity, and Dr. Cornish with his proposed Board of Scenery seems to support me. Also we seem to agree in considering any project for a National Park almost worse than useless if it does not imply a proper control of all developments upon its fringes through the adoption of adequately comprehensive Regional Planning schemes. He makes it clear also that the National Park must be on a scale hitherto undreamt of in this country ; in other words, that it must be truly National, and by no means in any sort of competition with local municipal parks and reservations that one hopes our municipalities will establish whilst yet they may, in the immediate neighbourhood of our still-growing towns.
It is a wide and a far-seeing attitude that is needed in this important and suddenly urgent question, and if Dr. Vaughan Cornish is our guide we shall be very well advised.
CLOUGH WILLLiMS-ELLIS.
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