The area contains, by one definition, the geographic centre of Great Britain which is close to the Whitendale Hanging Stones, around four miles (6 km) north of Dunsop Bridge.

In turn, as Northumbrian influence waned, the westernmost areas of Bowland became part of Amounderness, a territory forged by the Norse hold Agmundr, a vassal of Eowils, Halfdan and Ingwaer, co-kings of Jorvik, in the early 10th century.

Contrary to the popular histories, the origins of the name "Bowland" have nothing to do with archery ("the land of the bow") or with mediaeval cattle farms or vaccaries (Old Norse, buu-, farmstead).

[citation needed] By the end of the 11th century, the Forest and Liberty came into the possession of the De Lacys, Lords of Pontefract.

By the late 14th century, Bowland comprised a Royal Forest and a Liberty of ten manors spanning eight townships and four parishes and covered an area of almost 300 square miles (800 km2) on the historic borders of Lancashire and Yorkshire.

The manors within the Liberty were Slaidburn (Newton-in-Bowland, West Bradford, Grindleton[7]) Knowlmere, Waddington, Easington, Bashall Eaves, Mitton, Withgill (Crook), Leagram, Hammerton and Dunnow (Battersby).

The survey showed that the forest was not just a demesne hunting ground, and that, since the 13th century, it had started to become a place of habitation by commoners, including tenant farmers, who had purchased their holdings from James I or Charles I.

The common result of these surveys was that the land was sold off, but the Chase of Bowland (as it was then known) remained under the ownership of the Duchy for a further decade.

[1] In 1661, the 28 manors contained within the former Honor of Clitheroe, including the Forest and Liberty of Bowland, were granted by the Crown to General George Monck as part of the creation of the Dukedom of Albemarle.

The original Bowland Forest courts appear to have been held at Hall Hill near Radholme Laund before moving to Whitewell sometime in the 14th century.

The name "forest" is used in its traditional sense of "a royal hunting ground", and rather than being covered by trees, much of the land is heather moorland and blanket bog.

This ongoing work has helped to undo decades of damage caused to the ecology and landscape of the area by bad land management practices.

[16] The Abbeystead estate holds the record for the largest number of grouse killed in one day, when on 12 August 1915, 2,929 birds were shot by just eight hunters.

[26] In 2014 it was announced that the Forest of Bowland would be one of the SPAs included in a European Union LIFE project designed to ensure a sustainable future for Hen harriers in England and Scotland.

Called "Conserving the hen harrier (Circus cyaneus) in northern England and southern and eastern Scotland",[27] the project aimed to work constructively with landowners and the shooting community.

[29] In 2020–22 the work of staff from Natural England and gamekeepers from the area's estates, monitored by the RSPB, showed further progress, with 22 hen harriers fledging in 2020, 31 in 2021[30] and at least 39 in 2022.

The lower slopes of the fells are dotted with stone-built farms and small villages and are criss-crossed by drystone walls enclosing reclaimed moorland pasture.

[1] The Forest of Bowland is formed largely from the succession of sandstones, mudstones and siltstones dating from the late Carboniferous period which constitute the Millstone Grit Group.

[35] One mile to the west of Chipping is Bowland Forest Gliding Club,[36] ICAO airport code GB-0339,[37] which is used by winch-launched gliders.

The Bowland Challenge was a fundraising event held from 2006 to 2009, and again in 2011, in which teams of walkers navigated around a series of grid references over a ten-hour period.

[38] Crafty Vintage Festive Markets take place every year in December within Wyresdale Park near to the village of Scorton.