128 - South Hampshire Lowlands : Description

Physical and functional links to other National Character Areas

The area is drained by four main river valleys – the Test, Itchen, Hamble and Meon – flowing from their origins in the Hampshire Downs and South Downs National Character Areas (NCAs) to estuaries running into Southampton Water. They function as key wildlife corridors, for example for otter and Atlantic salmon. They also feed wetland and European or internationally designated wetlands, such as the Solent and Southampton Water Ramsar site and the Portsmouth Harbour Special Protection Area (SPA) (in the neighbouring South Coast Plain NCA), which are important for breeding and overwintering birds. Therefore, water quality and sediment load need to be carefully managed throughout the whole catchment.

There are wide views across Southampton Water from Southampton. However, the high-rise buildings and industrial areas of Southampton have an impact on the views from surrounding NCAs such as the New Forest and South Coast Plain. From Portsdown Hill, it is possible to see Portsmouth, the Solent and the Isle of Wight.

Southampton has several regionally and nationally important transport links, such as the M3 to London and the M27 along the south coast. A ferry service from the port connects the Isle of Wight to the mainland. Southampton Airport at Eastleigh on the outskirts of the city serves routes to the Channel Islands, European and international destinations.

Two National Parks, the New Forest and South Downs, in neighbouring NCAs are popular recreational destinations for people from the Southampton area and elsewhere within the NCA. Southampton and the coastal river valleys offer many water-based activities such as yachting and attract visitors from outside the NCA.

The South Hampshire Lowlands today

The South Hampshire Lowlands National Character Area is a low-lying and gently undulating plain that lies between the chalk outcrops of the Hampshire and South Downs and Southampton Water. Wedge-shaped, to the west it melds with the New Forest NCA while to the east it tapers to a narrow point at Havant. The area is underlain by gently folded Tertiary sands, silts and clays in places overlain by more recent river-deposited sands and gravels. This has given rise to widespread, seasonally waterlogged, heavy, clay soils, with small areas of light, well-drained loams, for instance to the east of Romsey and the west of Chandler’s Ford. Its highest feature, Portsdown Hill, is an outlying chalk ridge which forms a backdrop to Portsmouth and contrasts dramatically with the flatter countryside around it. It is the only area of chalk grassland within the NCA and supports a rich chalk grassland flora and diverse invertebrates such as the endemic early gentian, bee and fly orchids, and the chalkhill blue, small blue and brown argus butterflies.

The shoreline of the NCA is contained entirely within the inlet of Southampton Water and is heavily developed with the docks and city of Southampton. Despite being a busy waterway, Southampton Water is noteworthy for its international/ European designations: the Solent and Southampton Water Ramsar site, Solent and Southampton Water SPA and the Solent Maritime Special Area of Conservation (SAC) for its wetland habitats and overwintering waders.

Several fast-flowing rivers are a significant feature of the landscape. The Test, Itchen, Hamble and Meon rivers drain the lowlands as they travel southwards from their origins in the Downs to their estuaries in Southampton Water. Their clear, spring water supports a rich aquatic flora and fauna and wildlife habitat that is now scarce elsewhere in England for species such as otter, Atlantic salmon, white-clawed crayfish, brook lamprey and southern damselfly. Dry fly fishing is thought to have originated on the River Test and the Test and Itchen are now managed for angling along most of their length.

Along the chalk rivers lie meadows of species-rich flood plain grassland. Beside the Test these undergo a transition from neutral grassland through to brackish grassland, reedbed, fen and salt marsh. These flood plain grasslands are important for breeding wading birds and wintering wildfowl and invertebrates, supporting many nationally rare and scarce species. Small pockets of fen and fen grassland, important for their distinctive flora such as marsh helleborine and marsh orchids, are associated with calcareous springs that rise at the foot of the Hampshire Downs, for example at The Moors, Bishop’s Waltham Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

To the north and east of Southampton lie the remnants of the Royal Hunting Forest of Bere, now a mosaic of grassland, wood pasture and woodland, a high proportion of which is designated as ancient woodland. The area has a relatively high density of traditional farmsteads and historic houses set within 18th-century and earlier enclosed fields. Within broadleaved woodland, oak with a hazel understory is the prevalent woodland type but in some areas (such as Everett’s and Mushes Copses and the upper reaches of the Hamble) there are stands of small-leaved lime with wych elm. Along the upper reaches of the Hamble are estuary edge woods, some of the botanically most diverse in the NCA, which show an unusual transition from woodland through brackish marsh to salt marsh. Conifer plantations introduced in the Forest of Bere provide small-scale commercial forestry operations.

Isolated patches of agriculturally unimproved grassland are scattered across the NCA such as Moorgreen Meadows and Hook Heath Meadows SSSI. Despite their fragmented nature, they are valuable for their rich flora and invertebrate assemblages.

The farmed landscape is typically pastoral in character but some arable farming also takes place, especially cereals and oilseed rape. Around the Meon Valley, soils are lighter and there are some small but intensive pockets of market gardening/horticulture as well as nurseries and garden centres. The field pattern is varied with some small and medium irregular fields, resulting in some cases from medieval enclosure and typically bounded by a low oak hedgerow.

A significant proportion of the NCA, about 29 per cent, is urban. Southampton is by far the most important city but there are also several other significant, large towns including Eastleigh, Havant, Romsey, Totton and Waterlooville. The rural settlement pattern is more dispersed and less strongly nucleated with some often loosely clustered villages, hamlets, isolated small farms and cottages set within medieval and later enclosed fields and linked by a network of minor roads and narrow lanes. A few large houses and estates are dotted throughout the landscape.

The area benefits from good transport links including the M3 to London and Southampton Airport. However, these have a significant visual and environmental impact on the area, fragmenting farmland and semi-natural habitats. Only 7 per cent of the area, mostly within the Forest of Bere, is identified as remaining tranquil/undisturbed, with 65 per cent being described as disturbed in 2006.

The landscape through time

The NCA lies within the Hampshire Basin to the south of the South Downs ridge. Chalk, which forms the outlying ridge of Portsdown Hill, represents the oldest geology in the NCA. The Chalk was deposited in the Upper Cretaceous (between 100 and 66 million years ago) in an extensive shallow sea which covered much of northern Europe. Overlying the Chalk is a sequence of Tertiary sands, silts and clays which represent fluctuating marine, estuarine and freshwater environments which dominated southern England and the Hampshire Basin from approximately 66-34 million years ago. Towards the end of the Tertiary, the formation of the Alps (about 15 million years ago) led to folding of rocks in southern England resulting in the gently tilted and folded chalk ridges and Tertiary sediments. During the Quaternary ice ages, the NCA lay to the south of the maximum ice sheet advance in a tundralike environment. There are extensive river terrace deposits (along the Test and Itchen, for example) which document the river response to fluctuating climatic conditions during the Quaternary.

Prehistoric occupation of the area seems to have been concentrated around the river valleys and Portsdown Hill where there are the remains of Neolithic and bronze-age barrows. A possible bronze-age jetty at Testwood Lakes suggests that even at this early period trading links were important for the area.

The first urban centres were established under Roman occupation as small market towns at Havant and Wickham. A Roman fort was constructed at Clausentum, possibly at modern-day Bitterne, a suburb of Southampton (Hampshire County Integrated Character Assessment, Part 2 An Overview of the Hampshire Landscape, Hampshire County Council, draft March 2010). The remains of Roman villas as well as kilns have also been found across the NCA (Hampshire County Integrated Character Assessment, Forest of Bere East, Hampshire County Council, 2012).

In the 7th century, under the West Saxons, Hamwic, an important port and trading emporium, the forerunner of Southampton, was founded on the banks of the Itchen. By the 10th century, the threat of Danish raids prompted the inhabitants to rebuild it on the west bank of the Test where its proximity to the continent and the double tides of Southampton Water helped it to become a major port. Today, Southampton still retains parts of its original medieval walls and several fine examples of wealthy merchants’ houses dating from the 12th century.

During this period, the Church also influenced the establishment of settlements such as at Bishop’s Waltham, where the bishops of Winchester held an estate, and Netley and Romsey where abbeys were founded.

The modern Forest of Bere is a composite of the remnants of several Royal Hunting Forests – the forests of Melchet, Buckholt, Bere Ashley and the largest, the Forest of Bere Portchester. They were designated as Royal Hunting Forests by the Normans and were probably at their greatest extent during the 12th century. During the Middle Ages, the forests’ value for hunting began to decline and the woodland began to be cleared for farmland. Timber from the forests was also in demand for ship-building at Southampton and later to fuel iron foundries for the construction of iron-clad ships.

From the 17th century onwards, watermeadows became a distinctive feature along the rivers Test, Itchen and Meon. Flooding the fields increased their fertility and prevented the ground from freezing, allowing livestock to be put out to graze earlier in the season The system was abandoned from the early 20th century and the valleys have now become more wooded. The fastflowing waters of the rivers Itchen and Test were also harnessed to power mills, particularly paper and silk mills.

The proximity of the area to the continent and its coastal location has meant that, throughout its history, it has been at risk of invasion. In the 19th century, a series of forts were built along Portsdown Hill, known locally as Palmerston’s Follies, to protect the naval base at Portsmouth.

The arrival of the railways in the 19th century connected the port of Southampton to London and spurred the development of Eastleigh as a railway town. It also gave local market gardening a new outlet as perishable produce such as strawberries could now be quickly transported to London.

During the 20th century, Southampton emerged as the major starting point for cruise ships and it remains a major port today for both freight and passenger traffic with the port authority being the largest employer in the city. In the post-war period, other urban centres within the NCA, such as Waterlooville and Havant, saw a rapid expansion to provide housing for an increasing population. Southampton City Council became a unitary authority in 1997.

Hampshire County Integrated Character Assessment, Part 2 An Overview of the Hampshire Landscape, Hampshire County Council (draft March 2010)
Hampshire County Integrated Character Assessment, Forest of Bere East, Hampshire County Council (May 2012)