page_title: Farnham Mires
section_title: Site history
hierarchical_section_title: Farnham Mires / Site history
caption_attribution_description: Yorkshire Naturalists' Union, in 1903.
context_page_description: Farnham Mires is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, or SSSI, to the east of the village of Farnham, North Yorkshire, England. It consists of a spring-fed marshy fen or mire with reeds and sedge, and drier calcareous grassland containing a diverse range of flora. It has a history of poaching and fox hunting, but since the late 19th century, the attention of botanists has been drawn to its large variety of flowering plants. It has received some consideration on this account since 1944, and from 1954 it was designated SSSI status. This site has no facilities, and is not open to the public.
context_section_description: In 1856, James Frankland, Thomas Jackson and James Kendrew were sentenced to three, six and four months imprisonment with hard labour, respectively, for poaching at Farnham Mires and for beating those who tried to apprehend them. In the 19th century, Farnham Mires was located in fox hunting country, it being close to Scriven Park. The York and Ainsty Hunt used to find foxes there. 
  However, by the end of the 19th century, attention was turning to the botanical value of the site. It drew the attention of the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union (YNU), who included it in their botanical and zoological excursions of 1885 and 1894. During the 1885 excursion the Reverend Robert Elmhirst, vicar of Farnham and Brearton, presented "a large number of the rarest botanical specimens, which are found on Farnham Mires" to the botanical section of the YNU. 
  Oenanthe Lachinalii or water dropwort, Samolus valerandi or water pimpernel, Euphrasia nemorosa or eyebright,  blunt-flowered rush, fen pondweed, 
  Eriophorum latifolium or cotton grass and black sedge, were found on the site in 1943-1944. "In 1944, Farnham Mires were scheduled for reclamation and cultivation, but an approach was made to the appropriate agricultural committee and to the Wild Plant Conservation Board, and the reclamation plans were cancelled."
caption: Yorkshire Naturalists' Union, 1903
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