Erosion from heavy foot traffic is an issue to many beauty spots and landmarks across the UK, with Glastonbury being among them. 2 Years ago we tried to solve the erosion at the top by re-turfing an area were there was high foot traffic. While the turf took well to the ground, the area outside then got eroded by cows and people now walking around the existing area.
As we cannot get to the top of the Tor where we were working, we had to carry everything up the steep slopes.
The extent of the damage from heavy foot traffic is shown here where the top layer has completely disapeared.
The main walkway from the view point and top of the Tor. Unless we can stablise the area there will be no alternative but to concrete this whole area.
We rotorvated this area and leveled the ground, adding compost and grass seed to give the best chance of growth
Mesh in place rolled out over the prepared ground being heavily pegged down and tied together to resist the high winds.
The Finished area, seeded and roped off to give the best chance of growth. The mesh is designed to protect the root systems of the grass and disperse the weight of human traffic so the weight is spread over a bigger area.
Having a large homogeneous area of similar looking surface will also effect the psychology of crowds arriving to the area. Crowds of people will act like a fluid is most situations (Hughes, 2003), often following traces in the ground or others to reach their target, but with a large area that is now uniform, there will be no tracks so subconsciously their patterns will be broken resulting in dispersion and therefore reduced acute foot traffic over similar areas.
We at Fencewize really hope this system will work and hold on, because the option of having to concrete a large area at the top of such a landmark would reduce its natural beauty.
The Flow of Human Crowds, Roger L. Hughes,
Annu. Rev. Fluid Mech. 2003. 35:169–82
doi: 10.1146/annurev.fluid.35.101101.161136
