Of mole hills in the UK

[ChrisGreaves]

I hate to admit this, but I have a friend who watches TV.
She asked me something about a series set in the Yorkshire Moors, very creepy stuff, she said, then asked why it was so.
Then “What is a Moor?”. I suggested an up-raised set of hills, bleak, devoid of trees.
Then I remembered studying Lorna Doone in high school, so I offered Dartmoor and Exmoor as examples.

At last I turned to my atlas.
I have heard of Westmoreland, presumably West moor-land.
I see the N. York. Moors and adjacent the York Wolds.
So what’s the difference, in Yorkshire, between a Moor and a Wold?
Further south I see Lincoln Wolds, but just before London, the Chiltern Hills.
What’s the difference between Hills and a Wold?
South of London I am on familiar ground with my readings of W.S. Churchill; here are the North Downs and the South Downs, but in between the two is The Weald.
What’s the difference between a Wold and a Weald, and is there really only one of them (Wealds)?
And how are either or both of them different from Downs, Moors and Hills?
Bodmin Moor (as two words), Exmoor and Dartmoor hang out together as Moors will, if left to their own devizes (sorry!), but as I head northward again I run into the Mendip Hills and then the Cotswold Hills, roughly same latitude as The Chilterns, previously mentioned.
Wales has Cambrian Mountains, and I’ve been to Stewart/Hyder so I know what Mountains are.
But now I recall a flight out of Manchester 5 years ago, foggy it was, and as we cleared the clouds the peaks of The Peak District, loved by my mother, poked out of the cloud.
What’s The Peak District? Is it/are they Hills? Mountains, or a Wold of some sort? I think it is part of The Pennines, but what are they? The Pennine Hills? The Pennine Mountains?
I see the Cumbrian Mountains, presumably placed there solely to confuse foreigners (and the Word 2000 spell-checker) with the Cambrian Mountains.
And where I thought, from my early musical education, Scotland had only Highlands and Lowlands, I see that those guys also have the Southern Uplands.
If I can get answers to some of these questions I promise to let you know all about the Southern Tier (as it is known in New York State, but “The Northern Tier” in Pennsylvania).

P.S. I'm starting to understand why people watch TV instead of reading their atlas.

[aekyall]

And whilst in Cumbria let us not forget the Fells!!!

[ChrisGreaves]

And whilst in Cumbria let us not forget the Fells!!!

Aaaaaaaaaargh!

I should have remembered Fells from our holidays at the GFS camp in Shap.

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[stuck]

She asked me something about a series set in the Yorkshire Moors

Would that be Heartbeat? If so, it was filmed in and around Goatland on the North York Moors.

The Yorkshire Wolds are lower in altitude than the moors and are not heather covered, since the underlying rock is limestone.

Does that help?

Ken

[ChrisGreaves]

The Yorkshire Wolds are lower in altitude than the moors and are not heather covered, since the underlying rock is limestone. Does that help?

Yes, thanks.
My friend was curious about why sinister-music drama is "always" shot in (or sometimes on) the moors. I figured them for bleak windswept places suitable for organ music in a minor key.
What rattled me (after all these years) was the sheer variety of names for types of elevated land in the UK.

[Jezza]

...and whilst in Kent you have to aware of the Downs, I like to go up the Downs and down the Downs

[ChrisGreaves]

...and whilst in Kent you have to aware of the Downs, I like to go up the Downs and down the Downs

Well, thanks Jezza. I got downs, but since you have butted in as the expert, what is the difference between Downs and Moors/Wolds/Weald(s)/Hills/Mountains/Uplands?

[HansV]

According to Wikipedia and other sources, with some notes from me in italics:

Moor: an extensive waste covered with patches of heath, and having a poor, light soil, but sometimes marshy, and abounding in peat; a heath.
A downland is an area of open chalk hills (dun is Old English for hill). Areas of downland are often referred to as Downs. (This term is used in the south of England)
Wolds: range of hills which consists of open country overlying a base of limestone or chalk. (This term is used in Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire)
Weald: a wood or forest; a wooded land or region; also, an open country. (So, a rather ambiguous definition)

The definitions of hills, uplands and mountains overlap, it'd be hard to draw a line between them.

[steveh]

The Yorkshire Wolds are lower in altitude than the moors and are not heather covered, since the underlying rock is limestone. Does that help?

Yes, thanks.
My friend was curious about why sinister-music drama is "always" shot in (or sometimes on) the moors. I figured them for bleak windswept places suitable for organ music in a minor key.
What rattled me (after all these years) was the sheer variety of names for types of elevated land in the UK.

Hi Chris

Steer away from UK maps before you go mad, for example Upper and Lower salughter, no, not murderous villages but 'muddy places', then theres the Wallops and the Bottoms, oh and don't forget all of the places that are called Little Chippings (you know when you are behind an American tourist who is driving because they always slow down when they see the village signs that say this as they think that there are some road works going on )

[stuck]

Around the Suffolk/Essex/Cambridgeshire border area there are quite a few villages whose names end with 'End' but though often signed posted, you can never find 'Diversion End'.

Ken
edited to add more in reply to Chris where he says:

My friend was curious about why sinister-music drama is "always" shot in (or sometimes on) the moors. I figured them for bleak windswept places suitable for organ music in a minor key.

Presumably because of the Brontes & Wuthering Heights.

[HansV]

In France, I once saw a road sign like this:

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[Leif]

In France, I once saw a road sign like this:

That is very unusual - I've never seen a French sign that colour before.

[StuartR]

In France, I once saw a road sign like this:

That is very unusual - I've never seen a French sign that colour before.

But, sadly, I have seen a pair of French signs with exactly that writing on them. I didn't know where to turn!

[ChrisGreaves]

Weald: a wood or forest; a wooded land or region; also, an open country. (So, a rather ambiguous definition)

Thanks, Hans; as I had started to guess, mostly localised terms, as the English are wont to have. I've only heard of 'weald" as in "The Weald", so a further guess is that there are several wealds in the area, but only one of them large enough to be granted the status of a proper noun and also show up in an atlas.

[Jezza]

Chris

In Kent, a Weald is classified as an ancient woodland, you may have heard the term "Weald of Kent". Weald comes from the German word Wald meaning forest.

The wealds stretch across the breadth of Kent and in the autumn it is a beautiful sight, my training partner and I always make a point of running across some of the major footpaths and bridleways during the autumn/fall as it is glorious. As an aside "weald running" is quite treacherous as you have to run paths covered in wet leaves and chalk. The Wealds are primarily over chalk ground (The North and South Downs) as described above, you will find that in Kent there are a number of villages with the work wald in them Waldershare and Walderslade are examples and get their name directly from the root word.

[ChrisGreaves]

Weald comes from the German word Wald meaning forest.

Jezza, thanks for all this. The Germanic origin then is possibly a result of Saxon invasions.

[Jezza]

Weald comes from the German word Wald meaning forest.

Jezza, thanks for all this. The Germanic origin then is possibly a result of Saxon invasions.

WHAT?...The Saxons have invaded?..Nobody told me.....Lock up your daughters