106 - Severn and Avon Vales : Description

Physical and functional links to other National Character Areas

To the western edge of the NCA the Malvern Hills form an abrupt feature, rising steeply out of the Severn Vale. On the eastern boundary the area flows more subtly into the Arden and Dunsmore and Feldon NCAs. There is a similarly subtle boundary with the Teme Valley and Herefordshire Plateau NCAs to the north and north-western edges of the area. From the Forest of Dean, Malvern Hills and the Cotswolds there are impressive views over the contrasting low lying and level landscape of the area and respectively there are expansive views outwards to the surrounding hills. The M5 motorway running right through the area, used by thousands of people each day, also provides widespread views of this landscape and those of neighbouring NCAs.

The River Severn flows from the Mid Severn Sandstone Plateau into the area and the Warwickshire Avon flows into the area from the Arden and Dunsmore and Feldon NCAs. The Teme, rising from the Welsh border, flows across the Clun and North West Herefordshire Hills, Herefordshire Lowland and Teme Valley NCAs entering the Severn and Avon Vales from the north of the Malvern Hills, while the Leadon, rising in the Herefordshire Plateaux flows across the Herefordshire Lowlands and South Herefordshire and Over Severn NCAs, entering the area from the south end of the Malvern Hills.

Distinct areas

• Cotswold outliers: Bredon, Dumbleton, Churchdown and Robinswood Hills.

The Severn and Avon Vales today

The Severn and Avon Vales is a low-lying open agricultural vale landscape with the Severn and Avon rivers, threading through this large and complex area, providing a unifying feature. The Cotswolds to the south-east, the Forest of Dean to the south-west, and the Malvern Hills to the west, form abrupt boundaries providing prominent viewpoints across the vales. To the north, the Avon Vale rises more gently.

The Severn and Avon Vales are underlain by soft rocks, mostly consisting of the Mercia mudstone group and Liassic clays, which form heavy loam or clay soils. River terrace deposits of sands and gravels are found in the Severn Vale, some of which are worked commercially. An unusual feature is the localised salt deposit around Droitwich, which has been worked since Roman times and gives rise to inland salt marsh. Narrow riverside levels in the south widen out to the north of Gloucester. The northern section of the area divides into two distinct landscapes characterised by their historic patterns of settlement and field boundaries. In the west, on poor, wet soils of the Mercia Mudstones, there is an ancient landscape of dispersed settlements with numerous open commons (survivors of the historic droving trade which crossed the area) and small pasture fields. To the east, fertile soils on Lias clays give rise to rich agricultural land, particularly around the Vale of Evesham where market gardening predominates. Here settlements are more nucleated, often around a church that stand prominently in this low lying landscape, and fields are medium to large sized, with many following the narrow rectangular fields derived from parliamentary enclosure of medieval strip farming. Many villages are characterised by red brick, stone and black and white timber framed buildings.

The River Severn flows north to south through the NCA and the River Avon meanders east to west between Stratford and Tewkesbury where it joins the Severn. The floodplains of the two rivers, plus a small length of the River Teme north of Worcester, are a major unifying feature through this large and complex NCA. To the south and east the NCA is dominated by nucleated towns and villages; larger town and cities are mostly located on riversides, including the cathedral cities of Worcester and Gloucester, and the Abbey Towns of Tewkesbury and Pershore, which form prominent features in the landscape. To the west of the Severn, settlements are more dispersed in nature, linked by a network of lanes leading to the River Severn and to the higher ground to the west. Alongside the rivers the major land cover is pasture, or further south, estuarine levels. Many of the levels and grasslands have historically been managed as flood meadows, Hams or Lammas meadows. The nationally scarce narrow leaved water dropwort is particularly associated with the Hams and they are locally important for breeding waders.

Flood embankments, integral to past and current management of the floodplain grasslands, line much of the length of the rivers, allowing agricultural activity in former floodplain criss-crossed by tree lined ditches, called rhines south of Gloucester, and where veteran pollard willows are frequent. South of Gloucester the Severn floodplain takes on an estuarine character, ever widening and with a gently undulating topography. Here wetlands and saltmarshes are internationally important for wildlife such as wading birds. Rare plants such as sea barley, ribbon-leaved water-plantain and true fox-sedge utilise the ponds and rivers of the floodplain.

Oolitic limestone outliers of the Cotswolds stand out prominently in the landscape around Gloucester and to the north-east of Tewkesbury. These well wooded hills are part of the Cotswold Hills, standing as an isolated microcosm of the Cotswolds stranded in the vale. Bredon Hill is an internationally important site (designated Special Area for Conservation) for wildlife, with calcareous grassland and historic parkland containing many veteran trees, which host key invertebrate species such as the violet click beetle and redhorned cardinal click beetle. Across the Vales woodland is generally sparse, localised and broadleaf in nature. However, a well wooded feel is provided in many places by frequent hedgerow trees, traditional or bush orchards and poplar shelter belts, or remnants of Royal Forests and Chases such as Feckenham. One of the largest concentrations of the declining native black poplar is found at Castlemorton.

Across the NCA, many traditional orchards survive, retaining an important genetic resource in a wide range of local fruit varieties. Though commercially superseded by more recently planted bush orchards, the traditional orchards are rich in wildlife, providing the UK stronghold for the noble chafer beetle and nest sites, including rot holes, for birds and bats. This and surrounding NCAs are a key area for mistletoe, which particularly thrives on old fruit trees, lime and poplar. Mistletoe along with annual orchard blossom and fruit displays, provide striking seasonal features that have strong cultural associations within the area.

In the north-east of the NCA pasture is more frequent. Many species-rich hedges (some of which date back to Saxon times), nationally significant areas of lowland meadow, traditional orchards, wood pasture, parkland and scattered ancient woodlands support many priority species. A high level of public access in enjoyed across the area, including 11 km of the Cotswold Way National Trail and long distance routes such as the Severn Way, Wysis Way and Gloucestershire Way, enabling the public to access and enjoy the natural environment. There are nationally recognised attractions such as sites associated with Shakespeare, Berkeley Castle, the Severn Bore and the Slimbridge wetland reserve which are popular with visitors.

The Roman influence on the landscape is particularly strong around Gloucester. Earthworks of medieval townships and extensive ridge and furrow survive, particularly in Honeybourne parish. There is also a nationally important ridge and furrow fieldscape at Weston Subedge on the eastern fringe of the area. Substantial estates and parklands survive across the area, such as Croome, Sudeley Castle, Overbury (Bredon Hill) and Berkeley.

The M5 runs through the length of the area while at the southern end, and along the tidal Severn, the M4, M48, M49 and M5 motorways together with the two Severn Bridges, riverside power stations, the canals and associated industrial heritage of mills and docks and the current industrial and commercial activity at Avonmouth and Sharpness docks create prominent features.

The landscape through time

The whole of the NCA is underlain by soft rocks of Triassic and Jurassic age resulting in the fertile soil that has influenced the land use throughout the human settlement of the Vales. West of the Severn the Mercia Mudstones predominate, producing poorer silty clay soils. Lias clays in the Avon Valley and east of the Severn create heavy but productive soils surmounted in places by outliers of the Cotswold oolitic limestone forming Bredon, Dumbleton, Churchdown, Robinswood and Alderton Hills. The oldest Triassic sandstones of the Bromsgrove Formation give rise to hills and ridges fringing the northern part of the area.

Staircases of fossil-bearing river terrace gravels, formed in response to changes in global climate and sea levels, flank the edges of the Severn and Avon and are significant for interpreting environmental change during the Pleistocene. In places these deposits are worked commercially for gravel. Unusual localised salt deposits (from the Triassic Mercia mudstone group) feature around Droitwich, producing rare inland saltmarsh. Peat deposits occur in the Gordano Valley at the southern tip of the area and at Walmore Common, where they give rise to distinctive wetlands.

Along the lower reaches of the Severn, the youngest of the Triassic rocks (Rhaetic) crop out to produce a series of cliffs, for example Hock, Aust and Sedbury Cliffs, revealing further fossil exposures.

Extensive evidence of human settlement as far back as the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic has been found on the gravel terraces, Oldbury provides evidence of Neolithic tools. The second half of the 1st Millennium BC saw major woodland clearance, crop marks still showing where farmstead roundhouses once stood. Bredon Hill was a focus of early activity, reflected in its surviving standing stones and hill forts. By the Iron Age, settlement had spread beyond the gravels and Droitwich salt was being exploited. This was expanded by the Romans and further evidence of their activity is seen in the legacy of Roman roads crossing the area and in the Roman centre at Gloucester.

The River Severn divides two sharply contrasting areas of historic significance that strongly influence the present character of the NCA. To the west, there is a predominant pattern of highly dispersed settlements, which was well established by the 11th century. The present pattern of small-medium scale fields and an intermingling of assorted fields and open commons, derives from medieval piecemeal enclosures of the once much more extensive heaths that developed through the grazing in common, of the poorer soils.

To the east the predominant pattern is of stronger nucleation, with fewer isolated farmsteads. The latter formed as part of the enclosure of open fields that extended across most of the land, between the 16th and 19th centuries. The surviving field boundary patterns give a real impression of the former nature and extent of the medieval townships, with their extensive common arable fields, most notably at the relict ridge and furrow fieldscapes of Weston Subedge. There is a high survival of 17th century and earlier houses across the area, from small wayside houses to the farmhouses of a prosperous class of farmer that developed from the 15th century. There are also some barns of medieval (mostly ecclesiastical) estates with notable concentrations along the Cotswolds Fringe where these estates were active in the clearance of woodland in the 12th and 13th centuries.

The heavy and fertile soils of the east have supported a concentration of arable farming, while the Vale of Berkeley and Gloucester provided rich pastures for cattle and for over-wintering sheep brought down from the Cotswolds. Fruit orchards for cider and perry developed from at least the 17th century. Horticulture developed on gravel terraces in the 19th century as railways brought urban markets closer.

The 9th-century Anglo-Saxon church at Deerhurst is an internationally significant survival of early Christian architecture, and early Christian centres have developed as important cities and towns across the area, for example, Worcester, Gloucester and Tewkesbury. Later, towns at Evesham and Stratfordupon- Avon developed from the 12th century while Cheltenham developed as a spa town from the 1830s. Shakespeare’s Stratford, its theatre and historic buildings and Regency Cheltenham and associated festivals are internationally important visitor destinations.

The use of traditional building materials across the area has been highly varied; local stone (red sandstone, grey Lias or Cotswold stone) intermixed with timber frame buildings sometimes retaining their thatch, and deep-red brick and pantile roofs. The grander houses at the base of the Cotswolds benefitted from the availability of local Cotswold stone. Modern developments tend to be in modern red brick or render with a mixture of slate, tile or pantile being used.

Broadcloth production (a major feature of Stroud valleys in the Cotswolds NCA) developed in the south of the area from the late 14th century. Stocking knitting developed at Tewkesbury, which also became a major corn milling centre from the medieval period. The building of the canal network during the 18th and 19th centuries, to transfer and export the goods produced in the area, simulated the growth of the Worcester porcelain pottery. The one time important dairy industry around Gloucester gave us double and single Gloucester cheeses. The Severn has long been a major salmon fishery and historically, sturgeon and lamprey were supplied to the Crown.

During the 20th century there has been rapid urban expansion, particularly of the larger cities and towns. This has been mirrored by many villages becoming commuter settlements with new residential areas. Elm was once a highly characteristic hedgerow tree of the area and the loss of mature elm trees during the Dutch elm disease outbreak of the 1970s, has dramatically changed the landscape making it feel far more open.

Research showed that in the period 1990 to 1998, the landscape of the Severn and Avon Vales experienced a slight increase in small woodland planting, consistent with the character of the NCA, but there were changes in agriculture and development that were inconsistent with character. In the second assessment period from 1998 to 2003, it was noted that the woodland resource appeared to have strengthened, but changes in agriculture and the pressure of development continued to transform the area. Riverine, boundary and historic elements also showed signs of neglect.

The development of the motorways that cross the area and the two Severn bridges have increased access to this NCA and neighbouring Wales. The old Severn Bridge, now a grade 1 listed building, was a pioneering design of its time using aerofoil technology, which produces its characteristic slim profile. The flat landscape and access to the water of the Severn has provided opportunities for industrialisation particularly at Avonmouth. Riverside power stations and industrial and commercial activity at Avonmouth and along the tidal Severn to Gloucester and beyond, all create prominent landscape features.