Blue plaque unveiled to national park's founding father

A Dalesman credited with helping create the national parks of England and Wales has been honoured with a Yorkshire Society blue plaque.

Born in Ilkley, John Dower was a civil servant and architect who, while living in Malhamdale in the 1940s, wrote a seminal report which led to the creation of the national parks.

His parliamentary paper, National Parks in England and Wales, published in 1945, set out the purposes of national parks and identified the areas within England and Wales which could be considered for national park status.

The report led to the development of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act, which was passed in 1949.

The plaque was unveiled today at Malham Youth Hostel, close to the village of Kirkby Malham where his report was written.

Around 50 guests attended a celebration to mark the 75th anniversary of the passing of the act hosted by Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority and the national youth charity, YHA (England & Wales).

Mr Dower died at the age of 47 just before the passing of the act, which became part of the re-build of Britain following the trauma of the Second World War, providing a level of protection for the nation’s finest 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.

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

Archive photograph. In the summer of 1948 the YHA arranged a dedication of Malham Hostel to be the John Dower Memorial Hostel. A plaque in the dining room of the hostel was unveiled by G.M.Trevelyan, the President of the YHA.

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.
“Today’s event on the 75th anniversary of national parks and national landscapes is an opportunity to celebrate these special places, the people that made it happen and look ahead to their future.”

David Butterworth, chief executive officer of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, said: “It is humbling to recognise and celebrate the life and work of one of your heroes, and, because of John Dower, to proudly claim that national parks in England and Wales were made here in the Yorkshire Dales.  John came up with a vision for national parks inspired by the environs of Malhamdale.

“The story of the Dowers deserves this recognition, in this 75th anniversary year of the National Parks Act, and 70th anniversary of the Yorkshire Dales National Park.”