Landscape Character Assessment
The physical geology and topography, combined with the green cover, are major contributors to the structure and the aesthetic aspects of landscapes. These have combined with cultural, historic, social and economic infleunces over centuries to create the unique and distinctive character of the AONB.
Landscape Character Assessment seeks to identify local landscape features, the broad character of a locality, indigenous materials and all the other elements that contribute to the particular sense of place. LCA therefore presents an integrated view of the landscape and includes all the features which contibute to the special and distinctive character of the AONB. It plays a crucial part in enabling the AONB Partnership to conserve and enhance the AONB.
This AONB is characterised by a diversity of landscapes and these variations and differences are represented by eight broad LANDSCAPE TYPES . Each of these landscape types can be futher sub-divided into component geographically specific LANDSCAPE CHARACTER AREAS.
An independent Landscape Character Assessment was undertaken in 2003 and detail from this can be read below. The report itself is also available to download.
What is Landscape?
The European Landscape Convention has defines Landscape as "an area, as perceived by people, whose character is the result of the action and interaction of natural and/or human factors".
Landscape therefore is more than just topography and ground cover; it includes the interactions of generations of people who have lived, worked, or passed through, it includes the cultural as well as physical attributes, and it includes the living wildlife, the aesthetic, and the productive.
Landscapes are more than three dimensional, they change daily and seasonally, they respond to the weather, some have a greater proportion of hard and constructed elements whilst in others the soft and semi-natural predominate.
Landscapes are multi-faceted and are perceived and valued in different ways by individuals and communities.
It is with this definition in mind that the CCWWD AONB approaches its task of enhancing and conserving the landscape.
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Physical and Ecological Qualities of the AONB
One hundred million years ago this Area was covered by a shallow sea. The Gault Clay and Upper Greensand that we see in the Vale of Wardour formed the sea bed. The skeletons of invertebrates that teemed in the warm waters slowly accreted to form the impure Lower Chalk strata and then the harder, purer Upper Chalk layers. It is this chalk rock that determines the landscape character of the AONB. During the twenty million years of chalk accretion, the silicate skeletons of sponges were concentrated in voids and formed flint. This hard but frangible rock was extensively used by the very first humans to settle the Area and is still a characteristic building material in the villages.
During successive glaciations, when the porous chalk was frozen into an impermeable state, rivers followed faults in the rock and eroded the valleys and steep scarp slopes. The dry valleys and folded landform of the Downs date from this period. The rivers cut down through the chalk to expose the Greensand and Kimmeridge Clay of the Vale of Wardour and the Chilmark Stone that was used to build Salisbury Cathedral.
The scarp slopes hold remnants of the once extensive unimproved chalk grassland. This rare habitat holds a huge diversity of plant and invertebrate species. The chalk streams are biologically rich and support an established sport fishing industry. The largest habitat is the arable fields. This area is dotted with typically small woodlands. A significant proportion of the woodland is of ancient origin, but many have been replanted with non-native species or their management has lapsed. These woodlands contain some of the best aggregations of ancient trees in Europe, supporting internationally rare species of invertebrate and fungi. Rare arable plants and several declining bird species occur in the arable habitats.
For a more detailed analysis and description, download the PDF Physical Influences (PDF 4.12mb), or PDF Ecological Character (PDF 2.32mb) from the Landscape Character Assessment.
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Agricultural Qualities of the AONB
Eighty-nine percent of the AONB is farmland. Half of this area is cropped and about a third is grazed, the rest is mostly woodland and set aside land. It is managed in typically large land holdings, there are only eight hundred and forty holdings covering about ninety-eight thousand hectares and a third of these are less than five hectares. Of the thirty-two thousand AONB residents, only six percent are employed in agriculture.
A sustained period of low farm incomes has lead to, among other things, an amalgamation of holdings into larger units and the sale of land to non-farmers. This has been going on as farms try to diversify into non-agricultural enterprises and have concentrated on game shooting to the extent that game cover crops have had a significant visual impact.
As fundamental changes to the Common Agricultural Policy occur there are expected to be very different decisions being made by land managers. What the outcomes will be remains to be seen.
For a more detailed analysis and description, download the PDF Overview of Agricultural Character (PDF 127kb) from the Landscape Character Assessment.
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Human and Socio-economic Qualities of the AONB
The current changes in agricultural support are just the latest in a constant flux in human influences in the Area over the last eight thousand years. Neolithic peoples first started to change and manage the land. They built the first burial mounds and mysterious constructions such as the Dorset Cursus. During the Bronze and Iron ages the area became settled and large areas of pasture and arable farmland were created. The pastures of the Downs date from this period and basic woodland management was practised. During the Anglo Saxon period large landholdings began to change rural society and the manor of Cranborne became part of The Honour of Gloucester. This was already a royal hunting area when the Normans invaded. The Honour of Gloucester passed to William I's queen and forest law was imposed on the area that had become known as Cranborne Chase. Agricultural expansion continued outside the Chase and by the Fifteenth Century the land was consolidated into large blocks divided by hedges and walls. This trend continued as sheep production became vastly profitable and large houses were built with extensive parks. Forest law persisted in the Chase until 1828 when the Chase was disfranchised. The period 1900 to the present has seen the most rapid changes in agriculture, but the settlement patterns are very similar to those that existed in the seventeenth century.
For a more detailed analysis and description, download the PDF Human Influences (PDF 90.2kb), or PDF Social and Economic Influences (PDF 875kb) from the Landscape Character Assessment.
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Recreational Qualities of the AONB
Many of the Public Rights of way in the AONB are of immense historic importance. The AONB lies at the hub of the ancient routes that connected the south west of England, across the great arc of chalk geology, to East Anglia. Many of these routes are designated as bridleways and by-ways as well as footpaths. The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 created about five thousand hectares of open access land in the AONB.
For a more detailed analysis and description, download the PDF Recreational Influences (PDF 837kb) from the Landscape Character Assessment.
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Download Summary LCA Report ( PDF)
Here you can download a PDF summary of the Landscape Character Assessment (PDF 149kb).
Listed below are the contents of this PDF.
Chapter 1: Introduction:
Introduces the landscape of the AONB and the hierarchy of landscape assessment that already exists in the area.
Chapter 2: Physical Influences:
Establishes the physical factors that have influenced the character of the AONB, including geology, topography, hydrology and soils.
Chapter 3: Ecological Character:
Provides an overview of ecological characteristics across the AONB that relate to their underlying physical environment.
Chapter 4: Human Influences:
Establishes the human factors that have influenced the character of the AONB.
Chapter 5: Social and Economic Influences:
Provides an overview of social and economic influences across the AONB.
Chapter 6: Overview of Agricultural Character:
Provides key features of the agricultural character of the AONB based on DEFRA June Census data.
Chapter 7: Recreational Influences:
Provides an overview of recreational influences across the AONB.
Chapter 8: The Landscape Character of Cranborne Chase and the West Wiltshire Downs:
This is the main body of the report and contains an introduction to each landscape type followed by detailed descriptions for each character area, identification of key issues and a broad management objective for each area. June 2003 Final Report 4
Chapter 9: Managing the Nationally Important Landscape:
This concluding chapter summarises the special character and outstanding qualities of the AONB, considers changes occurring within the AONB and provides Broad AONB Management Aims.
Appendix 1:
The Agricultural Character of Cranborne Chase and the West Wiltshire Downs.This section provides a description of the agricultural characteristics of the 'farming character areas' across the AONB and their contribution to the economy of the AONB.
Appendix 2:
Perceptions of the Landscape.Provides an overview of perceptions of the landscape as expressed through literature and art.
Appendix 3:
Comparison of the landscape classification with the 1995 Assessment
Appendix 4:
Method Statements
Appendix 5:
Sample Field Survey Form
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Download Landscape Character Assessment Full Report (PDF)
This section contains the full Landscape Character Assesment Report available as a series of downloadable PDFs.
1) Acknowledgements / Introduction (PDF 1.53mb)
2) Physical Influences (PDF 4.12mb)
3) Ecological Character (PDF 2.32mb)
4) Human Influences (PDF 90.2kb)
5) Social and Economic Influences (PDF 875kb)
6) Overview of Agricultural Character (PDF 127kb)
7) Recreational Influences (PDF 837kb)
8) The Landscape Character of Cranborne Chase and the West Wiltshire Downs (PDF 819kb)
9) Type 1: Chalk Escarpments (PDF 11.4mb)
- 1A Melbury to Blandford Chalk Escarpments
- 1B West Wiltshire Downs Chalk Escarpment
- 1C Fovant and Chalke Escarpment
10) Type 2: Open Chalk Downland (PDF 7.72mb)
- 2A West Wiltshire Downs Open Chalk Downland
- 2B Southern Downland Belt
11) Type 3: Wooded Chalk Downland (PDF 3.96mb)
- 3A Cranborne Chase
12) Type 4: Downland Hills (PDF 3.94mb)
- 4A Martin -Whitsbury Downland Hills
13) Type 5: Chalk River Valleys (PDF 11.4mb)
- 5A Wylye Chalk River Valley
- 5B Ebble Chalk River Valley
- 5C Stour and Avon Tributary Valleys
14) Type 6: Greensand Terrace (PDF 7.71mb)
- 6a Fovant Greensand Terrace
- 6B Kilmington Greensand Terrace
15) Type 7: Greensand Hills (PDF 11.4mb)
- 7A Donhead - Fovant Hills
- 7B Penselwood - Longleat Hills
16) Type 8: Rolling Clay Vales (PDF 3.95mb)
- 8A The Vale of Wardour
17) Managing the Nationally Important Landscape (PDF 793kb)
18) Appendix 1: The Agricultural Character of Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs AONB (PDF 869kb)
19) Appendix 2: Perceptions of the Landscape (PDF 72kb)
20) Appendix 3: Comparison between 1995 classification and 2003 classification (PDF 46kb)
21) Appendix 4: Method Statements (PDF 120kb)
22) Appendix 5: Field Survey Form (PDF 59kb)
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Other Landscape Character Assessments
There are several other Landscape Character Assessments of relevance to this AONB.
In 1996 the former Countryside Commission and English Nature, with support from English Heritage, produced The Character of England Map. This map combines English Nature's Natural Areas and the former Countryside Commission's Countryside Character Areas into a map of 159 Joint Character Areas (JCAs) for the whole of England.This map provides a picture of the differences in landscape character at the national scale. Click here for more information.
In 1995 Land Use Consultants published the first Landscape Character Assessment for this AONB. This was based on the 1993 landscape assessment guidance. However since this time new guidance has been provided and the approach to landscape character assessment moved on.
Wiltshire County Council undertook a LCA for the whole county in 2005 details of which can be found here
The Dorset County Landscape Assessment was undertaken in 1993, and a summary of which can be found in the book "A new view of Dorset" [ Burden R & Le Pard G 1996 A new view of Dorset. Dorset Books: Tiverton ]
Hampshire County Council prepared its own LCA, in 2000, which is currently under review. Click here for more details.
Regarding the individual districts LCAs have been undertaken by East Dorset District Council, New Forset District Council, South Somerset District Council and West Wiltshire District Council. Salisbury District Council are currently considering conducting a new LCA.
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