Landscape
Breadcrumbs
Berkshire and Malborough Downs
The key characteristics of the Berkshire and Malborough Downs are:
| Key Characteristics |
| •High, large-scale rolling chalk downland characterised by intensive arable farming, sparse woodland cover and few hedges or hedgerow trees becoming more enclosed towards the east. •Dramatic scarp on northern edge. •Well-wooded dip-slope characterised by mixed farming with tree-lined arable fields. •Tree belts and clumps punctuate the skyline in many places. •Dry valleys forming deep combes with steep slopes and some remnants of grazed chalk grassland. • Scattered small hamlets clustered along valleys with fast chalk streams, wet and grazed pastures, hedgerows and small woodland blocks. •Includes the Vale of Pewsey's meadows and orchards and the beech avenues and ancient oak glades of Savernake Forest. •Many sites of archaeological significance including numerous scattered barrows, Neolithic stone circles, earthworks, Roman roads and ancient tracks, and also the distinctive chalk white horse carvings characteristic of this area. •Historically linked to the Chilterns landscape by the Ridgeway which runs along the top of the chalk scarp. •Horse gallops are a common feature linked to the numerous racing stables on the Downs. |
| Landscape Character |
| The Berkshire and Marlborough Downs is an area of distinctive landscape character encompassing broad expanses of essentially open downland dissected by numerous dry valleys, richly-farmed vale and valley landscapes with many extensive areas of woodland. Part of the extensive Chalk deposits in south and east England, the Downs meet the river Thames and the Chilterns along the wooded Goring Gap to the east while south of the Vale of Pewsey and woodlands of Savernake Forest, lie the Hampshire Downs and Salisbury Plain. To the north and west, the low-lying clays of the Upper Thames Clay Vale and the Avon Vales provide the setting to the Downs, the vale villages sharing many characteristic features with those on the Downs. The Vale of Kennet forms the southern boundary to the Berkshire Downs. The escarpment of the Berkshire and Marlborough Downs is a prominent relief feature reaching over 250 m AOD, sweeping round in a huge arc from near the Buckinghamshire/Oxfordshire border to the north of Devizes in Wiltshire. Much of the downland is an elevated dip-slope plateau, dissected by a network of dry valleys, much like other downland areas such as the Chilterns. Although numerous, the dip slope dry valleys or 'combes' become shallow and gentle features towards the scarp resulting in smooth rounded hills, giving a typically rolling or undulating landform. With the move towards intensive arable farming, the chalk grassland has been replaced by vast, rectilinear fields of cereals. These large arable fields, coupled with a lack of hedgerows or tree cover, save for the few clumps of planted beeches, make for an open homogenous character with a simple but strong structural form. The dry valleys provide a pleasing contrast to the chalk plateau; the valley landforms hidden from view by the undulating topography. It is on the scarp itself and on the steeper sides of the dry valleys that the remaining tracts of traditional chalk grassland can be found. These remnants of former sheep pasture provide visual interest in contrast to the monotony of arable fields and are of considerable wildlife conservation value with their distinctive wild flowers amid the springy turf, maintained by the grazing of numerous rabbits. To the south and east, the open downland character gives way to increasing numbers of tree belts and woodlands, including the heavily wooded rolling hills of Savernake Forest on the isolated area of clay south-east of Marlborough. Beech in particular thrives here, a species often occurring as planted avenues among the ancient oaks and the more recent conifer timber crops. The settlements here are small and scattered in contrast to those in the valleys of the open downland, where a broad scatter of clustered settlements are linked by the more major roads and lanes that tend to follow the dry valley bottoms. On the exposed higher downland, numerous tracks, byways and footpaths cross the intensively farmed but sparsely settled landscape. Many of these are quite ancient in origin, such as the Ridgeway. Within this vast expanse, isolated farm buildings, post-and-wire fences and the odd clump of trees or shelterbelts form the only significant elements. |
| Physical Influences |
| The Berkshire and Marlborough Downs are underlain by Cretaceous Chalk, the surface of which is often covered by a stony layer of clay-with-flints. Sarsen stones, isolated remnant blocks of weathered Tertiary sandstones with a hard silica cement, are a particular feature. Solifluction processes have transported these blocks down slopes resulting in distinctive dry valleys dotted with sarsens. The black or brown tinted soils of this area are predominantly light, free-draining and generally thin except wherever clay-with-flints caps the chalklands. This creates areas of damp heavy soils which support major areas of woodlands such as Savernake Forest. The open rounded chalk downs form an elevated plateau of typically rolling or undulating topography, incised with dry valleys or combes. These characteristic chalk landscape features were formed by surface streams, during the Ice Age, when permafrost impeded sub-surface drainage. The Vale of Pewsey to the south of the Downs is not a true river valley but an undulating lowland vale of subdued terrain. This anticlinal structure has had its crest denuded to expose the Upper Greensand, while Chalk forms inward facing escarpments to the north and south. The Vale is entirely drained by the river Avon, which flows south through Salisbury Plain, while the upper reaches of the river Kennet have cut a significant valley running west to east through the Marlborough Downs towards Hungerford and into the Vale of Kennet. The majority of the high open downland is now water-less due to the porous nature of the chalk bedrock. |
| Historical and Cultural Influences |
| The Berkshire and Marlborough Downs have been settled since Neolithic or early prehistoric times as the numerous barrows, and other prehistoric earthwork features that are scattered around the chalk downs, testify. The Neolithic stone circle at Avebury, the ceremonial mound known as Silbury Hill plus the adjacent West Kennet longbarrow on the Marlborough Downs are collectively designated as a World Heritage Site. Further significant archaeological features are found on the north scarp of the Berkshire Downs around White Horse Hill. These include the Bronze Age hillfort of Uffington Castle, the Neolithic chambered longbarrow of Wayland's Smithy built from massive sarsens and the striking figure of the White Horse itself, dating from the first century, cut into the chalk scarp face. Linking these sites was the Ridgeway - a broad track created by early peoples and their livestock, considered one of Britain's oldest 'green' roads. The Ridgeway follows the highest part of the chalk scarp linking Avebury with Ivinghoe in the Hertfordshire part of the Chilterns. The landscape through which the Ridgeway passes remained much the same up until about two centuries ago when new Enclosure Acts came into force. The Ridgeway was enclosed by hedges and banks to prevent livestock straying onto newly cultivated fields. Much of the open sheepruns, that gave rise to the distinctive close-cropped chalk grassland turf, turned to scrub or ploughed fields as the price of wool fell and cereals became more productive. Many of the open panoramic views became interspersed by planted clumps and belts of trees as a result of farmers' attempts to shelter their crops sown on the windswept plateaux. The chalk hills and plateaux were abandoned hundreds of years earlier as prehistoric peoples began to clear the lower river valleys and vales of the thick scrub and forest, allowing the first settlements to be established close to water supplies. Subsequent invaders, such as the West Saxons, also favoured the valleys and carved out their farmsteads on the valley floors, leaving the high grassy downlands for their sheep. This settlement pattern has changed little up to the present day. |
| Buildings and Settlement |
| The Berkshire and Marlborough Downs are generally thinly settled, with most settlements largely clustered along valleys. On the chalk uplands a broad scatter of modern farm buildings and large horse racing establishments are prominent in the thinly populated open landscapes, while the distinctive valleys that intercut the Chalk plateau contain generally compact villages and hamlets. These nucleated villages have Saxon origins and are often evenly spaced along the valleys, with thatch, red brick and weather-board characteristic of the cottages and barns. These villages often contain attractive historic buildings many of which have knapped flint and weathered chalk in their walls and locally-occurring sarsen stone for their foundations. Marlborough and Pewsey are the main settlements in the area, both historic agricultural market towns inextricably linked to their respective wider landscape settings. |
| Land Cover |
| Few areas of traditional chalk grassland have survived on the Downs except for limited tracts on the scarp itself and on the steep sides of dry valleys. These few areas support colourful lime-dependant wild flowers among the short rabbit-grazed springy turfs. On some steeper slopes, juniper and hawthorn scrub is frequent and beech is the dominant tree type occurring as characteristic clumps on numerous hill crests in the area. Much of the open chalk downland, although traditionally pasture for sheep grazing, has now been ploughed up and replaced by neatly cultivated fields for arable crops or, in many areas, by race horse gallops. The fields are mainly large within the richly farmed valley landscapes which includes the particularly fertile Vale of Pewsey's meadows and orchards. On the open chalk uplands, the predominantly large rectilinear fields are largely defined by post-and-wire fencing, with very few hedges. In contrast, the fields on the lower slopes tend to be more irregular with managed hawthorn hedges that frequently contain oak hedgerow trees, within numerous blocks of woodland and shelterbelts. On these lower slopes, woodland is a significant land cover. Areas such as Savernake Forest are characterised by the ancient semi-natural oak glades, juxtaposed with planted beech avenues and more recent commercial forestry plantings of conifers. The conifers thrive on the heavy soils generated by the thick mantle of clay on the south fringes of the Downs. This wooded landscape is criss-crossed by a winding network of lanes, often with high grassy banks which link the small farm settlements and clustered hamlets to the wider road network, including the M4 motorway which crosses between the Marlborough and Lambourn Downs. |
| The Changing Countryside |
| •Field amalgamation, leading to loss of hedgerow features on the Downs, and widespread arable farming and commercial forestry has changed the character of some areas. •Clearance and lack of management of historic woodlands, including several former Royal hunting forests, has altered the woodland character. •Scrub invasion of chalk grassland due to removal of traditional management regime. •Replacement of former sheep pastures with arable fields or race horse gallops resulting in the loss of characteristic chalk grassland. •Spread of new land uses such as golf courses and pig-farming have changed the appearance of significant areas of the Downs. •Changes to the appearance of the downland landscape have occurred as a result of inappropriate management of set-aside land. •Pressure for new roads and improvements to existing roads. •Pressure for new motorway services, petrol stations and other associated developments along major routes. •Recreational pressures from conflicting interest between walkers, motor-cyclists and off-road vehicles on downland tracks. |
| Shaping the future |
| •Many archaeological features have suffered damage in recent times and deserve further conservation and protection. •The open nature of the higher areas of downland, including important views, is an important aspect of the local character. •The management and restoration of chalk downland and associated woodland (including hill-top shelter-belts) should be considered. |
| Selected References |
| Yarrow, I (1974), Berkshire, Robert Hale and Co, London. Babtie Public Services Division (undated), A Landscape Strategy for Berkshire: Consultation Proposals, Berkshire County Council. Landscape Design Associates (1993), Newbury District-Wide Landscape Appraisal, LDA, Peterborough. Stedman, A R (1960), Marlborough and The Upper Kennet Country, Butler and Turner, Marlborough. |
