63 - Oswestry Uplands : Description

Physical and functional links to other National Character Areas

The Oswestry Uplands National Character Area (NCA) is a small area of steepsided, flat-topped hills, lying within the county of Shropshire on its western boundary with Wales. It is bounded by the Shropshire Plain to the east and south, the Welsh hills to the west and the River Ceiriog to the north. The River Ceiriog is a tributary of the River Dee which flows into Liverpool Bay. It rises on the south-east slopes of Moel Fferna in the Berwyn mountains, and flows eastwards through the Ceiriog Valley in Wrexham. It flows below Chirk Castle and the town of Chirk, where the Chirk Aqueduct carries the Llangollen Canal over the river. The Ceiriog joins the Dee east of the town.

The Ordovician shales, mudstones and volcanic ash deposits that run westwards through to the Berwyn Mountains link this NCA geologically with Wales. The lower ground boulder clay drift that covered the area ran from the North Wales glaciers through to the Shropshire, Cheshire and Staffordshire Plain NCA.

Many fine views range westwards into the uplands of Mid and North Wales; eastwards into the Shropshire, Cheshire and Staffordshire Plain and on to the Wrekin; and north-eastwards towards the Peak District.

Most of the transport links run north-south, and include the A5, which joins this area with numerous other NCAs (indeed, the 420-kilometre route runs from London through to Holyhead in Wales), and the A495, which runs from Swansea through to Chester.

A north-south historic and recreational link is provided through the area by the famous Offa’s Dyke Path. This well-used National Trail runs along the English-Welsh border, passing through several NCAs including the Shropshire Hills, the Clun and North West Herefordshire Hills and the Black Mountains and Golden Valley.

The Shropshire Union Canal links Shropshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire with the canal system of the West Midlands, at Wolverhampton and the River Mersey and Manchester Ship Canal at Ellesmere Port, Cheshire.

The Oswestry Uplands today

The distinct character of the Oswestry Uplands lies in the undulating landscape of Carboniferous limestone hills with calcareous grasslands and occasional rocky outcrops, together with steep, wooded valleys and marsh and fen habitats found scattered along its valley floors. Soils are derived from the Carboniferous limestone bedrock, with glacial drift present at the base of the slopes around Oswestry. As a consequence this landscape supports a diverse assemblage of rare flora and fauna. Among the characteristic calcicolous species that occur here are pyramidal and greater butterfly orchids, together with yellowwort, rock rose, fairy flax, cowslip and salad burnet.

Ordovician shales, mudstones and ash deposits some 470 to 450 million years old fringe the western boundary of Shropshire and run away westwards through the Berwyn mountains of Wales on a broad anticlinal fold. This western margin is dissected into a number of rounded hill blocks by the north-south tributaries of the easterly flowing rivers Tanat, Morda and Ceiriog. The Carboniferous Limestone is most conspicuous at the southern end of the area, where the naturally steep hillsides of Llanymynech, Llynclys and Nant Mawr hills are further emphasised by the dramatic cliffs of quarrying. Considerable industrial archaeology interest now attaches to this area, all related to winning, transporting and burning the limestone. Inclines from the quarries transported the limestone eastwards down to lime kilns by the canal now known as the Montgomery Canal – a branch of the Shropshire Union Canal – which in turn carried limestone across to east Shropshire. Later this was superseded by a complex of railway lines, now the subject of restoration proposals.

There are numerous streams winding across the undulating landscape. Major rivers such as the Dee and Morda have carved out dramatic gorges in the limestone. Atlantic stream crayfish, salmon, trout, otter, dipper and grey wagtail are all found, associated with the area’s rivers and streams. The River Dee also hosts an internationally designated Special Area of Conservation (SAC) for its rare watercourse vegetation, of which 5 ha can be found within this area. North of Pant-glas the land drains northwards to the rivers Ceiriog and Dee. From a ridge between Pant-glas and Treflach the land drains via steep-sided valleys to the River Morda, with glacial deposits around the base of the limestone slopes around Oswestry. To the west, the ridge drains steeply to the rivers Cynllaith and Tanat, which drain southwards into the River Vyrnwy, which converges into the River Severn.

Woods and hedgerows are significant components of the landscape, helping to create the intricate pattern and small scale of the lower slopes. The hedgerows, where hazel often predominates, also often contain mature oaks, adding variety and scale to the hedgerow network. Ancient and semi-natural woodland is present here: mixed deciduous woodlands characterised by ash, hazel and elm are abundant along the steep valley sides, with natural regeneration also occurring around the disused limestone quarries. There are a number of small but important alder woods, which occur at streamside locations along valleys between the hills. There are a few conifer plantations to the north on land of moderate gradient.

Woodlands on limestone are usually of exceptional interest botanically. The main tree species found are ash and wych elm above an understorey of yew and hazel. The ground flora consists essentially of columbine, stinking iris, herb-Paris and wood sanicle, which is an indicator of ancient deciduous woodland – especially on limestone. These woods are also often accompanied by a diverse moss flora. Several large limestone quarries that were abandoned in the last half century have developed into dense pockets of scrub dominated by ash, hawthorn and blackthorn along with spindle and dogwood. Wet woodlands are in the main dominated by alder, with opposite-leaved golden saxifrage characteristic of flushed slopes. The bird communities of these woodlands characteristically include breeding redstart, tree pipit, wood warbler, spotted flycatcher and pied flycatcher.

Scattered farmsteads and hamlets are linked by a network of narrow, winding, sunken lanes. However, in the north, on higher ground, straight lanes run between the late enclosures and open common land. Older buildings are mainly low, slate roofed and roughly constructed in local limestone, sometimes whitewashed and occasionally rendered; some retain earlier timber-frame cores. Industrial settlements are found to the north and south, associated in part with quarrying and mining. The historic market town of Oswestry is situated in the middle of the area.

Disused Carboniferous limestone quarries are characteristic in the south of this area. The quarry faces are dramatic features in the landscape, particularly at Llanymynech and Llynclys. Some form important roosting sites for lesser horseshoe bats, and peregrine falcons now breed in other former quarries. Significant plants occurring on the exposed limestone include limestone fern, Welsh polypody, yew, rue-leaved saxifrage and stone bramble.

The area is rich in history, as evidenced in the iron-age forts at Llanymynech and Old Oswestry, its anciently enclosed farmland, and the development of parkland at Sweeney Hall, Broom Hall and Brogyntyn. Offa’s Dyke, a linear earthwork that roughly follows the border between England and Wales, is both an important historic landscape feature and a recreational route, as the popular Offa’s Dyke Path National Trail attracts many visitors to the area. Relatively few roads cut through this area. The A5 and A483 run along the eastern edge of the NCA. Development is mainly around Oswestry; the rest of the area is very rural. This lack of large-scale development or infrastructure has contributed to the area remaining one of the most tranquil in the West Midlands.

The landscape through time

The oldest rock – Ordovician shales, some 470 to 450 million years old – were deposited in varying submarine conditions, with associated volcanic activity producing ash deposits. The Carboniferous Limestone was deposited in shallow, warm tropical seas. This can be seen in the classic road section at Llanymynech up Pen-y-foel Lane, a site made more notable by Charles Darwin’s description of it, where Carboniferous Limestone lies unconformably on steeply dipping Ordovician shale. As the seas became shallower and deltaic conditions with coastal forests took over, sandstones and Coal Measures were deposited. The pale grey to ferruginous brown sandstones from the Cefn y Fedw Sandstone Formation have been used quite extensively for local building. This Sandstone is succeeded stratigraphically, and geographically eastwards, by the Coal Measures, striking southwards from the heart of the North Wales Coalfield to terminate in the region of Treflach and Morda, south of Oswestry. The presence of the coal has resulted in a small-scale industrial landscape in the immediate vicinity of the old mines around Trefonen, Morda, Park Hall, Gobowen and St Martins. As recently as 25,000 years ago, the glacial, periglacial and tundra conditions led to the deposition sand and gravel deposits on the flood plains and lower ground of all valleys coming out of Wales, from Ceiriog at the northern boundary to Tanat Valley in the south. These deposits are dug locally for aggregates.

The history of the area is dominated by its position at the junction of upland and lowland and its’ natural resources. The large iron-age hill forts at Llanymynech and Old Oswestry are evidence of the area’s importance in the Iron Age, and it is possible that lead and copper were already being mined in the prehistoric period at Llanymynech. Certainly copper was being mined during the Roman period.

The pattern of scattered hamlets and farmsteads with small, irregular fields and open moorland on the high ground was probably present by the time the Anglo- Saxons arrived in the locality. In the 8th century, Offa’s Dyke was created to protect Mercia against attacks and raids from Powys. In the later Saxon period, the area around Oswestry was part of the manor of Maesbury, but the Angl

o-Saxon hold on the landscape was probably tenuous, since there are virtually no old English names west of the town.

The Normans realised the strategic importance of the area and built a castle at Oswestry, which became the centre of the Fitzalan lordship. Here a walled town developed, which, despite frequent Welsh raids, became an important market town that has remained to the present day.

The rural areas in the medieval and early post-medieval period saw continued clearance of the woodlands for livestock and arable farming, which included the practice of commoning on Llynclys Hill. These farming practices have checked scrub encroachment and maintained the characteristic grazed calcareous flora of the area. There was a long history of cattle rearing on the hill farms, with extensive sheep grazing from the late 18th century. More arable-based mixed agriculture with cattle fattening developed on the lowlands to the east and across most of the uplands in the 19th century, where there are fewer and larger farmsteads set within fields, evidencing re-organisation and enclosure in the late 18th and 19th centuries.

During the 18th and 19th centuries the quarries at the southern end of the area really developed, and the mosaic of small, irregular fields and cottages dates from this period. The quarried limestone was transported along the Ellesmere Canal, which opened in 1796, to be replaced by a railway in the 1860s. Prosperity in the 18th and 19th centuries saw the development of parkland at Sweeney Hall, Broom Hall and Brogyntyn. Opened in 1840, the railway station, once on the main line of the Cambrian Railways, closed on 18 January 1965 in favour of a route via Shrewsbury.

Recent development and growth have tended to be focused around Oswestry. The historic legacy of limestone quarrying continues on a large scale at Whitehaven but elsewhere occurs on a much smaller scale. Today the town still retains its vital function as a market and shopping centre serving north-west Shropshire and Mid Wales.