75 years of National Parks with Yorkshire Dales plaque

Around 50 guests gathered at Malham Youth Hostel on Monday (November 18), close to the village of Kirkby Malham where the legislation was conceived, to witness the unveiling of a Yorkshire Society blue plaque to John Dower.

Chief guests were the children and grandchildren of John Dower.

Dower was a civil servant and architect who, while living in Malhamdale in the 1940s, wrote the seminal report which led to the creation of National Parks in the UK.

From left at Malham YHA unveiling the blue plaque today - Robin Dower, Baroness Hayman, Margaret Hart (Chair, YHA), James Blake and David Butterworth (Image: YORKSHIRE DALES NATIONAL PARK) It was a parliamentary paper setting out the purposes of National Parks and identifying the areas within England and Wales which could be considered for National Park status. 

The report, “National Parks in England and Wales”, was published in 1945 and led to the development and passing of the Act four years later.

John Dower died at the age of 47 just before the passing of the Act, which became part of the rebuild of Britain following the Second World War, providing a level of protection for the nation’s landscapes and an opening up of the countryside.

Also present at the event was Baroness Hayman, the minister responsible for access at the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), as well as representatives of Natural England, the National Association for National Landscapes, Campaign for National Parks, Field Studies Council and the Open Spaces Society.

Archive photograph. In the summer of 1948 the YHA arranged a dedication of Malham Hostel to be the John Dower Memorial Hostel (Image: YORKSHIRE DALES NATIONAL PARK) Robin Dower, the youngest of John and Pauline Dower’s three children, was a boy in shorts when a photograph was taken in 1948 at the entrance of YHA Malham. 

At the event, he posed for a photograph in the same place, beside the blue plaque. 

In a short speech, he said his parents, fearing the outbreak of war, came to Kirkby Malham in 1939, and that his father, invalided out of the war, was appointed by Sir John Reith, minister of town and country planning, to draft a report on National Parks. 

The celebration happened just two days after the 70th anniversary of the date on which the Yorkshire Dales National Park was established in 1954.

Defra Minister Baroness Sue Hayman said: “These landmark laws were instrumental in improving access to nature, enshrining the rights of people in post-war Britain to be able to experience the many benefits of spending time in green spaces. This Government will make our Protected Landscapes greener and wilder, so they are enjoyed for years to come.”