31 - Morecambe Coast and Lune Estuary : Description

Physical and functional links to other National Character Areas

The NCA is bounded to the north by the Morecambe Bay Limestones NCA, where the soft sediment and superficial deposits of this NCA are replaced by harder limestone geology. To the east the area grades into the Bowland Fringe and Pendle Hill NCA, as its character moves from that of lowland to upland, roughly along the line of the M6 motorway. To the south, the coastal fringe gives way to the reclaimed coastal wetland landscape of the Lancashire and Amounderness Plain NCA. This coastal stretch from Cockerham to Knott End-on-Sea also protects the low-lying farmland of the Lancashire and Amounderness Plain from the influence of Morecambe Bay. The western boundary of the NCA merges into the intertidal sands of Morecambe Bay, which provides a common physical identity to the margin of all the NCAs that border the bay. The Morecambe Coast and Lune Estuary NCA and its coastal neighbours are inherently linked by coastal processes, being part of the shared single Morecambe Bay sediment system.

The rivers that empty into the bay also provide a strong physical connection between the area and the upland NCAs that frame it, particularly through the Lune Catchment, which drains a number of NCAs including Cumbria High Fells, Howgill Fells, Yorkshire Dales and Bowland Fells.

Upland NCAs form the backdrop from viewpoints in the area to the Bowland Fells to the east and the Lake District across the sands of Morecambe Bay to the north. From these surrounding NCAs the Morecambe Coast and Lune Estuary NCA forms a low-lying fringe punctuated by such features as Heysham nuclear power station and the Ashton Memorial.

The Morecambe Coast and Lune Estuary today

Underlain by sandstones and mudstones of Carboniferous, Permian and Triassic age, but with a surface mainly shaped by superficial deposits of glacial, fluvial and coastal origin, this is a low-lying NCA which grades into the flat expanses of Morecambe Bay. The area is crossed by the rivers Lune and Cocker, both of which enter the NCA from the Bowland Fringe and discharge into the expanse of Morecambe Bay.

On the coastal margin and around the low-lying marshes of the Lune Estuary the landform is the product of coastal processes, with a flat topography incised by creeks, channels and, where land has been reclaimed, ditches. Elsewhere it is gently undulating with shallow slopes and enclosed views. This plain is a drumlin field formed by glaciers moving southwards between the Westmorland Fells and Yorkshire Dales Fells, over Silverdale and around the Bowland massif during the Quaternary period. There are limited outcrops of the solid geology with Carboniferous Millstone Grit sandstones on the beach and the low cliffs of Heysham Head and with Permian and Triassic rocks outcropping near Sunderland Point. Across much of the NCA the soils are free draining and acidic, supporting Grade 3 agricultural land, but on the reclaimed margins some pockets of Grade 2 land are present associated with former peatlands. Throughout the NCA the management of the rural landscapes is dominated by pastoral agriculture.

The most distinctive characteristics of the NCA’s rural landscape are tied to the coast of Morecambe Bay. From the Lune Estuary south there is a broad open coastal margin composed of salt marshes that grade smoothly into the vast expanses of intertidal mud and sand flats of the bay. From Sunderland Point north the same features are present but as part of a narrower coastal strip associated with a more open coastline. This part of the NCA’s coast is more diverse with occasional rock outcrops and glacially derived cobble skears. The natural attributes of the coast include extensive salt marshes and intertidal mud and sand flats which, along the entire coastal margin of the NCA, are nationally and internationally important and designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), Special Area of Conservation (SAC), Special Protection Area (SPA) and Ramsar site for the habitats they include and the species they support, most notably hundreds of thousands of wintering wildfowl and waders including oystercatcher, knot and pink-footed geese, rare insects such as the belted beauty moth and also extensive reefs of the honeycomb worm on cobble skears.

Throughout much of the coastal plain the low-lying and flat landscape, combined with the open views punctuated by the natural features of Morecambe Bay and an upland backdrop, gives a strong sense of isolation to the area. However, this changes along the coast between Heysham and Hest Bank, including Morecambe itself, to one where an urban coastal landscape, which has developed in conjunction with the visitor economy and coastal industry, looks out on a vista of the natural expanse of Morecambe Bay with its ever-changing sand flats and seascape.

These natural assets, manifest in distant views, often across shining wet mudflats and glistening sand banks animated by large numbers of shore birds, serve to accentuate the characteristic sense of wide open space that has been the base from which the cultural landscape has developed. This can be seen economically, with Morecambe Bay’s traditional economy based on the collection of cockles, mussels and shrimps as well as the visitor economy that developed during the 1800s, and socially, as is reflected in the high density of pre-Conquest churches and religious artefacts on the coast.

Backing many of the coastal salt marshes are areas of reclaimed ground including both former salt marshes and peat bogs. These areas are defended by a sea wall and drained through an artificial network of ditches, with little or no tree cover and large, open fields bounded by ditches. From the coastal fringe, the area grades eastwards into gently rolling farmland whose origin lies in glacial deposits and the glacially smoothed sandstone bedrock. This is a more intimate pastoral landscape of gently graded low hills where smaller, older field patterns are enclosed by hedges, often with standard trees. Away from the urban extents of Heysham, Morecambe and Lancaster, this pastoral landscape reaches the coast from Heysham northwards, providing the green space between the urban settlements. The easternmost parts of the NCA are the highest, reaching to 110 m, with stone walls gradually replacing hedges as soils thin towards the upland margin of the Bowland Fringe and Pendle Hill NCA. The transition to stone walls is also evident where drumlin fields provide an abundant source of field stones. Throughout the area tree cover is generally limited to hedgerow trees, occasional farmland copses and urban areas with very little cover of woodland away from the steeper slopes flanking the River Lune.

Although coastal trade was part of the early influence on settlement, more recently land-based trade routes have been more important and the NCA sits at one end of a bottleneck in north-south trade routes up the west side of England. This route is still much evidenced today with the Lancaster Canal, the West Coast Main Line railway and the M6 motorway all squeezed into a narrow corridor between the uplands of Bowland and the lowlands of Morecambe Bay.

The coast has also shaped the modern industrial character of parts of the NCA, dictating the evolution of the Port of Heysham and the nuclear power plant on Heysham Point. Away from the principal coastal settlements the modern recreational sites, such as caravan sites and golf courses, now form a distinctive element of the rural coastal landscape, particularly from Heysham north to Carnforth.

The urban settlements in the NCA differ in nature. The town of Morecambe has a Victorian seaside resort character, particularly along its seaside town facade, reflecting its development as a coastal town with recreation and visitors at its heart, which was made possible by the arrival of the railway in the 1840s. The coastal strip is dominated by guest houses and shops serving the needs of seaside visitors. Behind this the town has a more suburban character. This character, which is shared by some of the other coastal towns, differs from that of Lancaster, the important historic city and modern university town, which was formerly the administrative centre for Lancashire. Associated with its history as a trade and administrative centre, the city has a number of historic buildings including Lancaster Castle, overlooking the Lune crossing points, and Lancaster Cathedral. It rises up from the banks of the River Lune to high points such as the Ashton Memorial in Williamson Park, with panoramic views across the NCA, Morecambe Bay and on towards the mountains of Cumbria. The majority of the buildings in Lancaster are constructed from local natural sandstone from the Millstone Grit Series and typically take the form of two- and three-storey stone terraces. Millstone Grit is also the traditional building material in the villages south of Lancaster along the course of the Lancaster Canal.

The landscape through time

Occasionally outcropping, but more often buried, the NCA is underlain by mudstones and sandstones that owe their origins to the Carboniferous, Permian and Triassic periods. This solid geology is generally capped by glacially deposited material, often in the form of drumlin fields, which were formed by glaciers moving southwards between the Westmorland Fells and Yorkshire Dales Fells, over Silverdale and around the Bowland massif in the Quaternary period. Due to marine transgression, which caused the partial drowning of the drumlin field, the lower margin of the NCA merges gradually into the flatter coastal strip. Along the coast material has been reworked by coastal processes and often more recent Quaternary deposits of estuarine origin dominate. Some of these areas developed into peat-forming systems, as seen at Heysham Moss.

This natural landform has been extensively modified by human activity. The long history of the human landscape is evident in its links with Christianity, with a high density of churches and religious artefacts including Norse hogback tombs, Anglian preaching or sepulchral crosses and chapels such as the chapel of St Patrick at Heysham. Since the 1100s the peatlands have been modified by human activity, for fuel and agriculture, to such an extent that now only a small remnant survives, at Heysham Moss, in a semi-natural state.

Between the 12th and 14th centuries, population pressure resulted in land claim along the coast, reflected in earth embankments, sea walls, and drained marshlands crossed by a network of deep ditches and surface drains, with further reclamation from the late 17th century. As a consequence, extensive areas of the coastal plain have been reclaimed for agriculture, and are now defended from the sea by large embankments following drainage through a network of artificial watercourses. By the mid-1800s the land around the bay was mostly drained and let in large farms producing crops of wheat, oats or barley, turnips and seeds. Today, however, the agricultural system is essentially pastoral with grazing and grass managed for winter feed which forms the dominant agricultural land use.

The reclamation and enclosure of low-lying areas was carried out in two phases. Post-medieval enclosure resulted in regular medium-to-large fields being created bounded by thorn hedgerows, as concentrated in the area inland and south of Glasson (where some is taken from former parkland). This is also evident in the area south of Morecambe and east of Cockerham where enclosure of former mossland was the dominant process. Modern enclosure is more limited in extent and relates mainly to reclaimed coastal areas near Pilling. Earlier enclosures are more apparent away from the coastal strip, where pre-1600 enclosure patterns can be seen around Hest Bank, west of the River Lune around Middleton, and also to the north of Cockerham. The rural buildings that survive, including farmsteads, mostly date from the late 18th century, there being only rare fragments of earlier buildings of timber frame and earth construction.

As well as agricultural modification, the landscape has been modified by commerce. Local shellfish fisheries and coastal trade routes led to the development of parts of the coastal strip while, to a lesser extent, inland trade routes affected areas along the Lancaster Canal. From the 16th century the landscape became densely settled through demands for raw materials for industry and the expansion of settlements.

Until the late 18th century the main trade routes through the NCA were coastal. However, as a response to the silting up of the Port of Lancaster, and the rise in importance of the Port of Liverpool, the Lancaster Canal was built in the 1790s to reinvigorate the declining Lancaster trade. The first part of the canal network linked Preston with Tewitfield, via Lancaster. Connections north to Kendal and a branch to Glasson Dock were added in 1819. The canal was superseded by the railway in the 1840s but the route established for the canal is now followed by both the rail and road networks, most recently in the form of the M6 motorway which opened in 1968.

North of Heysham development of the coastal strip has been reinforced over time, starting with the arrival of the railway in the 1840s, which led to the development of the seaside resort of Morecambe. In the 20th century caravan sites and golf courses were also developed either side of Morecambe in the rural zone, followed by the development of the port and the power station at Heysham, the latter with a connecting infrastructure of power lines. These economic forces, combined with the development of Lancaster as the (former) administrative capital of Lancashire, have resulted in large parts of the NCA developing into urban and suburban landscapes.