The Forest of Bowland is a landscape rich in heritage, designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, much of this beauty is related to the wild nature of the landscape - itself a result of hundreds, if not thousands of years of human activity.

Many of the features present in Bowland today were established in the post medieval period.  Across Bowland there are many fine examples of the stone buildings that were built to replace timber houses between the 16th and 18th centuries, with their characteristic stone mullions, lintels and datestones.  There are also sites that survive as isolated reminders of the medieval heritage of the Forest of Bowland, for example the Cistercian monastery at Sawley.