116 - Berkshire and Marlborough Downs : Analysis: Landscape Attributes & Opportunities

Analysis supporting Statements of Environmental Opportunity

The following analysis section focuses on the landscape attributes and opportunities for this NCA.

Further analysis on ecosytem services for this NCA is contained in the Analysis: Ecosytem Services section.

Landscape attributes

A chalk mass defined by complex escarpments, rolling downland and dry valleys. Well-known features include White Horse Hill and Avebury plain.

Justification for selection:

• With little woodland and settlement across the high Downs and escarpment, there is a dramatic, sinuous scarp slope and broad expanses of rolling downland on the high ground. The views to and from the escarpment and across the high Downs are defining features of the area.
• The lengths of escarpments are extensive and complex with several chalk-cut horse figures providing distinctive landmarks. From the Goring Gap in the east, the escarpment defines the northern boundary of the NCA and, at Swindon in the west, curves back on itself to border the vales to the south. There is a double escarpment along the northern boundary, incorporating Avebury plain upon which the stone circle and numerous other monuments are sited.
• White Horse Hill SSSI is a famous example of a karst dry valley.
• Erosion of the chalk bedrock has created valleys, terracettes, clay-with-flint deposits and head deposits in the valleys.

The open, largely uninhabited high downs offer vast skies, panoramic views and a sense of remoteness and tranquillity. Isolated features stand out on skylines, including chalk-cut horse figures, barrows and hill forts.

Justification for selection:

• A lack of water has largely dissuaded settlement in modern times other than isolated farmsteads across the downs. The lack of habitation, the vast numbers of prehistoric monuments and the expansive views generate a sense of remoteness and antiquity.
• Before the Second World War, the high Downs were unenclosed and uninhabited, sheep-grazed pastures. Conversion to arable retained this open landscape. Field boundaries are minimal and defined by post-and-wire fencing or grass baulks.
• Farmsteads are large by national standards due to a long history of amalgamation of fields and landholdings.
• The escarpments overlook adjacent vales, offering panoramic views. Milk Hill is the second highest chalk hill in the country and provides views as far as the Black Mountains in Wales.
• Experiences of tranquillity are high except along major transport corridors including the M4.
• Many standing stone monuments, chalk-cut horse figures, historical earthworks and beech clumps were deliberately positioned by their creators to be visually prominent in the landscape. The escarpment displays numerous such features.

Woodland is found across agriculturally marginal land mainly on the lower dip slope. On the high Downs, woodland is restricted to beech clumps, shooting coverts and shelter belts.

Justification for selection:

• Semi-natural woodland on clay-with-flints comprises oak and ash, often with a hazel understory, bracken and bluebells. Wet woodlands in the flood plains include the Kennet Valley Alderwoods SAC complex where herb paris and green hellebore are found. On the chalk, the semi-natural woodlands are dominated by oak and ash, with a hazel understory and ground flora including dogs mercury, wood anemone and ramsoms.
• Hanging woodlands grow on the steep slopes of the valleys and scarp.
• Conifer plantations are found on the poor agricultural soils. Across the arable fields of the high Downs, trees have been planted as shelter belts and, in the 18th century, as landmarks in the form of beech clumps.
• Half the woodland resource is ancient, with the remnants of Savernake royal hunting forest being the significant concentration.
• Just over 900 ha of Savernake is designated SSSI for its outstanding lichen flora, fungi, rare invertebrates and breeding bird community. Over 160 species of lichen and some 500 species of fungi have been recorded. Savernake includes wood pasture areas and there are many veteran trees supporting deadwood fauna including many notable invertebrates.

Smaller-scale, irregular fields defined by woods, hedgerows, meandering watercourses and winding lanes are typical in the valleys and on the lower dip slope. This contrasts with the vast rectilinear fields spread across the high Downs and the regularity of horse studs and training grounds.

Justification for selection:

• Evolution of field pattern differed between the high Downs, valleys and lower dip slope due to the difference in agricultural potential of soils and land.
• Fields on the valley sides are large and irregular, suggesting enclosure pre-dating the Parliamentary enclosures. Historic tracks and roads linking valley bottoms to the high ground have determined sinuous field boundaries in the valleys. Hedges are largely hawthorn with frequent oak trees and along historical parish boundaries.
• Farmsteads around Savernake are small scale.
• The high downs were unenclosed and uninhabited sheep-grazed pastures before the Second World War. Conversion to arable retained this open landscape. Field boundaries are minimal and usually consist of post-and-wire fencing or grass baulks.
• Horse-racing industry developed over the past 150 years, dividing land into regular components such as gallops and paddocks.

A mixed agricultural landscape with a predominance of arable farming in the high Downs and in the fertile Vale of Pewsey, supporting important arable biodiversity.

Justification for selection:

• Grade 1 land is found across the Vale of Pewsey, with Grade 2 land concentrated on the northern plain. River alluvium and combe deposits make many valley floors good for cultivation. Elsewhere, land is largely Grade 3.
• The Vale of Pewsey benefits from fertile, easily cultivated soils and water issuing from the Upper Greensand. Grade 1 land supports relict orchards and arable crops, with meadows and pastures along the watercourses.
• The lower, wooded dip slope is characterised by mixed farming.
• There are established populations of farmland birds, arable plants and mammals including brown hare. Arable biodiversity is richest where there is a long continuity of cultivation and sustainable land management. A long history of arable farming can be traced back to at least the 17th century when the local brewing industry was thriving in Ramsbury, Marlborough and Devizes.
• Thin chalk soils support rare arable plants where there is a continuity of traditional cultivation practices.
• Within the arable landscape of the high Downs, features such as droveway verges, grassed Scheduled Monuments, fallow plots, beetle banks, relic dew ponds and small woodlands provide heterogeneity in the landscape. This mosaic of farmland habitat supports brown hare, harvest mouse and farmland birds.
• A farmland bird project in combination with agri-environment scheme agreements has, for several years, supported farmers in providing habitat for birds including skylark.
• There is a small population of breeding stone curlew in the Lambourn Downs.

Fragments of unimproved chalk grassland comprising a variety of swards and supporting a wealth of plants and animals.

Justification for selection:

• Chalk downland is limited in extent and restricted to the steep scarp slopes of the Pewsey, Marlborough and Lambourn Downs. The variety of aspect, gradient and management history has created a variety of swards. Pewsey Downs SAC and Hackpen Hill SAC, for example, support a mosaic of community types and the richest may contain up to 50 species per square metre.
• Important plant populations of early gentian, Chiltern gentian, chalkhill eyebright, pasque flower, wild candytuft and dwarf mouse-ear can be found. Invertebrates found here include Adonis blue, silver-studded blue, chalkhill blue, Duke of Burgundy fritillary and wart-biter cricket. The grasslands are important for stone curlew and quail populations, alongside more common farmland birds such as skylark and tree sparrow.
• The largest area of chalk grassland is Pewsey Downs at around 300 ha and smaller grasslands are to be found in clusters such as around Calstone and Cherhill Downs SSSI.

Watercourses, springs, rivers, including internationally important chalk streams, wet woodland and watermeadows with many rare and scarce plants.

Justification for selection:

• Across the permeable Chalk, watercourses and springs only occur where and when groundwater levels are sufficiently high enough to reach the surface. Groundwater-fed features are found only in some valleys and at the foot of the escarpment. Changes in groundwater levels over time mean that some features are intermittent, in particular the winterbournes which flow during wetter periods only.
• The Kennet and Lambourn host a range and mosaic of habitat types such as chalk stream, fen, reedbed and wet grassland. The rivers Lambourn and Avon are designated SAC to reflect the European importance of their chalk stream plant communities and also populations of bullhead and brook lamprey. The River Kennet is designated SSSI for its chalk river plant and animal communities and there are areas of a wet grassland community (MG8) that is very restricted nationally.
• The Kennet and its tributaries drain the dip slope, with the Kennet flowing eastwards to the Thames in the London Basin. Water arising at the foot of the escarpments flows out into the surrounding vales to supply the Hampshire Avon, the Bristol Avon and the Vale of White Horse catchments.
• Historic settlements are associated with rivers, including Marlborough and Hungerford, and there are vestiges of human uses of the rivers including watermeadows and watercress beds.
• Special species include river water-dropwort, summer snowflake, Desmoulin’s whorl snail, bullhead, brook lamprey, wild brown trout, water vole and white-clawed crayfish.

Immense archaeological and cultural resource including the Ridgeway, the Uffington White Horse and Avebury stone circle and associated sites, early field patterns, enclosures and hill forts as well as more recent remains of past human activity.

Justification for selection:

• Visibly ancient landscape with 442 Scheduled Monuments and additional monuments identified in the local Historic Environment Record. This wealth of monuments survives despite damage and loss that is known to have occurred over centuries. There are barrows, stone circles, earthworks, Roman roads, ancient tracks, chalk-cut horse figures and ancient field systems.
• Above ground features are often made prominent and dramatic by their location on skylines.
• Monuments are dramatic due to their scale, remarkable engineering and survival. The stone circles at Avebury and Hatfield Farm in the Vale of Pewsey are huge. The West Kennet long barrow is 113 m long. Silbury Hill is the largest man-made mound in Europe. The Ridgeway runs the full length of the scarp.
• Prehistoric monuments and sites in the Avebury complex are internationally recognised through World Heritage Site status as being of “outstanding universal value” to humanity. The site is just over 25 square kilometres with 188 Scheduled Monuments and also several listed buildings.
• There are relatively rare Early Neolithic causewayed monuments, with their absence in other areas indicating the emergence of different regional traditions.
• The Ridgeway is reputedly Britain’s oldest green road and, having escaped cultivation or other forms of significant disturbance, it is an “archaeoreserve” preserving centuries of archaeology. It is said to have been in use since prehistoric times. The Ridgeway National Trail provides critical access to the historic environment – it passes some of the most notable and important sites in the NCA.
• This region was the setting for power struggles between the emerging kingdoms of Wessex and Mercia. Substantial defences were developed, including the massive earthworks of the Wansdyke.
• Modifications by succeeding generations have created complex monuments, as illustrated at Avebury.
• High potential for undiscovered and non-designated heritage features in this landscape, including buried archaeology as indicated by cropmarks.

Compact villages and hamlets nestle in the valley bottoms and vales, with Hungerford, Marlborough and Devizes being principal settlements. Settlement on the hills is limited to isolated farms and racehorse establishments.

Justification for selection:

• A lack of water across the high Downs has largely dissuaded settlement through to modern times, other than isolated farmsteads. In contrast, watercourses and springs in the lower lying areas attracted settlement which persists today. Small settlements are often regularly spaced along the valley bottoms and there are spring-line settlements along the base of the escarpments. Settlements are densely scattered across the Vale of Pewsey which has numerous watercourses.
• Marlborough, Hungerford, Devizes and Pewsey are the main settlements. All are agricultural market towns.
• Swindon is one of the major urban centres just outside the NCA and it is visible from the northern escarpment.
• Gallops and stables define the Lambourn Downs which is a national centre for racehorse training, with further equine influence found elsewhere.

Distinctive sarsen stones of national importance for their geology, ecology and history of human use.

Justification for selection:

• Fyfield Down SSSI and Piggledene SSSI are striking and rare examples of ‘sarsen trains’, surviving relatively intact since the glaciations of the Quaternary.
• Sarsen stones provide one of the few incidences of natural exposures of hard acidic rock in lowland Britain. They are notable in supporting species more usually confined to a north western distribution or maritime species. Other lichens are unique to sarsen stones and represent relict lichen and bryophyte flora of great importance.
• During the cementing process, sarsen stones have fixed evidence of plants growing at the time in the form of holes or ‘fossil roots’.
• Sarsen stones have been used in construction since Neolithic times. The well known Avebury stone circle and West Kennet long barrow incorporate sarsen stones. They are also a distinctive feature of historic buildings in the west of this area.
• Grooves on the Polissoir stone on Fyfield Down resulted from the sharpening of axe heads over millennia.

Traditional building materials include thatch, red brick, flint, chalk and weather-board. Sarsen stones occur as lintels and gate posts and in foundations.

Justification for selection:

• Although there is a general lack of true building stone, much of the local geology has been used for construction, for example hard bands of the Melbourn Rock, the Chalk Rock and sarsen stones. Foundations are built of flint, brick or occasionally hard bands within the Upper Greensand. The Chalk has also been used to create cob.
• Red brick imported into the area, particularly in the 19th century, and often associated with the expansion of the traditional market centres.
• Weatherboarding occurs in areas where woodland is more prevalent, for example in and around Savernake Forest.

Through-routes are a feature, including the key historical routes of the Ridgeway and the Kennet and Avon Canal. Rights of way are a focus for recreation in an area where accessible greenspace is limited.

Justification for selection:

• The Ridgeway is reputedly the oldest green road in Britain. It links Overton Hill in this NCA to Ivinghoe Beacon in the neighbouring Chilterns NCA.
• The Kennet and Avon Canal provided a fully navigable waterway between Bath and London after its completion in 1810. It is physically and hydrologically linked to the River Kennet. It is a recreation corridor today.
• The export of wool and livestock established a network of medieval droveways which survive today as valued recreational assets. There are numerous byways.
• Communication routes developed during the 19th century with the construction of turnpike roads, two canals and the Great Western Railway.
• The M4 and A34 are the largest modern roads. Beyond the major routes, relatively narrow roads characterise the countryside.

Landscape opportunities

• Conserve the open aspect of the downlands where it is valued and particularly where there are views of key landforms and historic features.
• Protect sarsen stones from removal or displacement in the countryside, especially intact ‘trains’ and scatters in pasture; manage them as lower plant habitats and maintain them as building stones in prehistoric and historic constructions.
• Conserve geodiversity and geomorphological features and facilitate research and education. Raise awareness particularly in relation to key views, designated sites and well-visited sites.
• Plan for new features that are necessary to ensure sustainable water management, including establishing winter reservoirs and increasing flood plain capacity by expanding existing and creating new wetland areas.
• Maintain and restore the natural and cultural heritage of chalk streams and their wider flood plains through sustainable abstraction, habitat
• restoration, pollution prevention and conservation of historic features from mills to watercress beds to bridges. Harness catchment scale approaches, recognising the interrelationships between watercourses, wetland habitats and groundwater resources. Facilitate public access to chalk streams where possible, particularly within and near to settlements.
• Manage the physical and hydrological links between the Kennet and Avon Canal, the River Kennet and associated water-dependent features in order to maximise opportunities for public access, recreation and habitat conservation.
• Conserve and restore historic hedgerows, semi-natural woodlands, ancient woodland sites and distinctive planted beech clumps as appropriate. Plan for new woodlands and hedgerows, particularly where they will enhance and restore existing landscape features such as the historic woods of Savernake or along chalk streams.
• Manage existing shelter belts, woodlands and hedgerows as parts of a connected woodland network. Work on a landscape scale to tackle deer damage, manage public access and sustainably meet local demand for wood fuel and game.
• Plan to influence proposals for future plantations and buildings to ensure they are not incongruous and conspicuous in the landscape.
• Expand areas of species-rich grassland to conserve and enhance the pastoral character of the landscape and where it will also help to protect and conserve scheduled monuments. Where large blocks of arable reversion are not possible, create grassland strips to buffer grasslands and watercourses with existing interest to increase the structure and character of the landscape and to improve habitat connectivity.
• Adapt horse gallops to incorporate more diverse grassland swards with increased biodiversity.
• Conserve the chalk grassland interest by supporting sheep farmers and building local flocks. Encourage rare breeds most appropriate to the area such as Wiltshire Horn. In targeted locations, restore historic downland pasture scenes.
• Conserve numerous historic features that are valued at a local level but not appropriate for designation as Scheduled Monuments through engaging local communities and landowners in conservation activities including promoting ‘local lists’.
• Enhance access to the historic environment and increase the resilience of features to visitor pressure through physical improvements, visitor
• management, interpretation and engagement with the tourism and leisure sectors. Target conservation and liaise with user groups to identify and protect features already suffering degradation, including and particularly those associated with the Avebury World Heritage Site and byways.
• Conserve the tranquillity found across much of the area by working to ensure that only appropriate development and recreational use occurs across the unsettled downs. Identify and plan for visual and noise reduction measures that are specific to their location; for example, the use of noise reducing road surface improvements rather than tree buffers across open downland. Develop safe cycling and walking routes linking settlements, public transport hubs and features of interest.
• Secure sustainable development which also reflects traditional local building styles and materials. Conserve and enhance the traditional built environment through skills training, settlement characterisation, design statements and planning conditions.
• Manage light pollution through influencing new development and through awareness-raising among home owners and others.