The key characteristics of the Dorset Heaths are . . .

Dorset Heaths

The key characteristics of the Dorset Heaths are . . .

•An exposed, open, broad-scale landscape forming a strong contrast with the adjacent character areas.

•Undulating lowland heath with tracts of heather, stunted pines and gorse scrub.

•Blocks of conifers forming locally-prominent landmarks.

•Mosaics of heathland, farmland, woodland and scrub.

•Much is sparsely populated with scattered settlements and a few small villages and towns but the extensive conurbation of Poole-Bournemouth forms a major influence in the south and east.

•Flat-bottomed, open valleys with floodplain pastures and willows.

•An outer edge of low, rolling hills with an irregular patchwork of pasture, woodland and dense hedges marking the transition to the chalk.


Landscape Character 

The Dorset Heaths lie to the south of the Dorset Downs and extend south of Poole Harbour to the prominent Chalk ridge of the Isle of Purbeck. To the east the boundary with the New Forest is formed by the Avon Valley.

Most of the area forms a shallow basin around Poole Harbour and is drained by the rivers Piddle and Frome. The sandy infertile soils were once covered almost entirely by heathland - the Egdon Heath of Thomas Hardy – which, although fragmented by reclamation, modern development and tree planting, remains the dominant and unifying feature. The larger areas of heather have an open, wild character, in which even subtle variations in landform are clearly revealed. Minor breaks in slope are emphasised in many places by changes in vegetation, such as the heather, purple moor grass, bracken and gorse, which carpet the area. The pattern is broken locally by steep-sided sandstone hills and patches of exposed chalk where the vegetation has eroded on the steepest slopes. The changes in the weather, captured so evocatively in Hardy's novels, are strong influences: the heathlands can appear bleak and desolate in dull weather but in sunshine there is rich variety of colour and texture.

The extensive areas of conifer woodland within the heathland date from the 1950s and 1960s. Open pastures, marshes and patches of broadleaves in and around these plantations break up their dominance of the landscape. They are nevertheless bold features which screen some of the large-scale developments in the south-east. There are also smaller clumps of trees, particularly oak and birch as well as isolated pines, many of which are wind-shaped and stunted, forming dramatic silhouettes.

Around the edges of the heathland, and in places as pockets within it, secondary woodland and pasture form irregular and intricate mosaics. In places, open pastures are becoming overgrown, with a succession from gorse to birch and thence to mature oak. Here, the sense of enclosure is very strong, in contrast to the openness of the heath.

Surrounding the heathland, conifers, pasture and scrub at the core of the area, is a transitional landscape of rolling hills. Small blocks of woodland on the low summits increase their prominence and contrast with the surrounding Chalk. Fringes of arable chalk fields extend into the hills, while to the east, the transition to the heathland is much less distinct than elsewhere. Patchworks of small fields, frequent hedgerow trees, conifers and deciduous woodlands form attractive mosaics of vegetation and the rolling landforms are broken occasionally by deeply-incised valleys.

Broad river valleys with fertile floodplains cut through the heathlands. Large pasture fields are typical of the floated flood meadows and there are scattered riverside trees and local areas of arable farmland. Many of the older settlements, such as the small towns of Wool and Wareham as well as many villages, are sited on the low, riverside terraces.

At the coast, the valleys open out into the reed beds, marshes and mudflats of Poole Harbour with the largely 20th century conurbation of Poole-Bournemouth on its northern side. Here, urban influences dominate and the passage of commercial shipping and pleasure craft create an impression of intense activity. In contrast, the tranquil mudflats, sand dunes and saltmarshes of the southern edge grade into some of the most extensive and least disturbed heaths forming the edge of the Isle of Purbeck. The harbour itself is dotted with small islands, almost like an inland sea. The conurbation has spread across the heathland and has, in parts, an industrialised urban edge as well as satellite commuter settlements. In some cases its impact on the surrounding countryside is limited by gentle landforms and woodland but elsewhere the built edge is prominent. In the urban fringe, Bournemouth Airport, powerlines and aggregate extraction sites intermingle with tracts of heathland, emphasising its fragile character. 

Physical Influences 

The Heaths are largely surrounded by Chalk and the transition from Chalk to the heathland landscapes consistently follows the same pattern. The eroded dip-slope margins of the Chalk are overlain by the clays and sands of the Reading Beds and London Clay, producing a rolling and hummocky landscape along the margins. The Reading Beds and London Clay always separate the Chalk from the generally more acidic fluvially-deposited sands, gravels and clays of the Poole Formation and Branksome Sand (formerly the Bagshot Beds and the Bracklesham Beds) which occupy the middle of the Poole Basin. The bulk of the two latter deposits form the impoverished, freely-drained soils which support the heathlands. South of Poole Harbour, thick clay units within the Poole Formation give rise to the locally important 'wet' heaths.

More recent and fertile alluvial soils are present in the river valleys, covering the underlying rock to produce a flat, uniform valley floor. The rivers are commonly bordered by river terrace deposits forming extensive terrace flats. Upstream, the rivers cut through the Chalk, sands and clays in narrower, more incised, valleys.   

Historical and Cultural Influences 

The heathlands were originally created by clearance of woodland in or before the Bronze Age and round barrows of that period are to be seen on the more prominent sites. The internationally important Hengistbury Head, however, is the area's major archaeological site being an international port in the prehistoric period. The porous, easily-leached, sandy, heathland soils rapidly lost their nutrients as farming became more intensive and the heathlands remained as unenclosed areas of common grazing and turf cutting into the modern era. There is evidence of settlement as early as the Neolithic period in the fertile valleys. The acidic clays on the margins of the heath supported small, isolated farmsteads by medieval times. The valleys became quite densely populated and, at strategically important sites, towns such as Wimborne and Wareham were founded in the Saxon period.

The heathlands were largely unaffected until the 17th century when extensive attempts at reclamation met with limited success. Many smallholdings of this phase were subsequently amalgamated and field boundaries removed. Attempts at more intensive agriculture were largely abandoned in the period leading up to the late-19th century, with heathland reversion and encroachment by bracken, gorse and scrub.

However, although most of the area was dominated by sparsely inhabited heaths, trade and industry have had significant effects on the landscape. Poole was a major industrial centre and port in the Iron Age/Romano - British period and an important port from the Middle Ages onwards. Ball clay has been dug in the area around Wareham for the past 200 years, leaving a landscape of whitish hillocks and small pools still visible in some areas. Although clay was transported to the coast by rail, and thence across to the Bristol Channel bound for the Midlands potteries, brickmaking and Verwood pottery were significant local industries. Large areas of heathland form part of the Army firing ranges at Povington.

The Dorset Heaths, and settlements like Wimborne and Wareham, are at the core of many of Hardy's novels. The Heaths gave full rein to one of Hardy's central themes of the contrast between harsh and fruitful landscapes. Real places appear in his novels in thinly disguised form. The landscapes that Hardy created have taken on a life of their own - Egdon Heath for instance was written by Holst as a reference to The Return of the Native. The fine Woolbridge Manor, seen at its best across the attractive 17th century bridge is famous as Hardy's 'Wellbridge Manor-house' in Tess of the d'Urbervilles. There are many other literary figures associated with the area, especially Bournemouth, where as wide a range of authors as F.W. Rolfe, Kilvert, R.L. Stephenson and Verlane lived and worked. Kilvert wrote of 'wild sand, sweet trysts in the snow and under pine trees, among the sandhills of the East Cliff and in Boscombe Chine'. 

Buildings and Settlement 

Settlement on the infertile heaths was always sparse until recent times. It took the form of dispersed hamlets and isolated farms and cottages of red brick, commonly from clay dug from local pits, roofed in tiles or thatch. Many of these still survive, as does the denser pattern of more modern development. They are linked by narrow, winding lanes but with straighter main routes created by turnpikes and enclosure. On the rolling farmland edge, settlement is denser although screened by substantial tree cover. However, most of the older settlements and communication routes lie in the valleys. As well as the small towns of Wool, Wareham and Wimborne there are many small villages. Wareham and Wimborne have fine cores mainly of brick buildings. Wool is an attractive historic settlement built of a variety of stones including the dark brown 'pudding stone' that locally occurs on the heaths.

The early settlement pattern has been overlain by the 19th and 20th century growth of Poole-Bournemouth. On the heathland areas, the urban edge is sometimes quite well-contained by landform and conifer woodland, although there are suburbanised villages beyond the main conurbation and some edges of residential areas can be very abrupt. On the more open valleys, the urban influence is strongest. For instance, industrial buildings and some residential estates extend right up to the edge of the river Stour floodplain. Major roads lie on the slightly higher land on the valley sides.   

Land Cover 

Outside the built up areas, there are substantial heathlands where heather is intermingled with purple moor grass and other plants of wet and dry heath. Scattered pines and naturally-regenerating woodlands are dominated by birch, but commonly with oak and Scots pine. Conifer plantations are formed of Corsican and Scots pine. Gorse scrub is also common.

The small amount of arable land is confined mainly to the river terrace deposits bordering the Frome floodplain and to a few patches on the heaths. The pasture of the heath and hilly farmland areas lies in a matrix of small woodlands and hedges which commonly comprise gorse, bracken and birch but also contain mature stag-headed oaks and occasional beech. Holly is a common, isolated hedgerow tree and the invasive rhododendron, common around Bournemouth, occurs locally in pest proportions. In the valleys, the land cover is mainly improved grassland in large irregular fields although those adjacent to the river may be smaller and have a rougher hummocky texture.

Apart from the large urban areas, there are a number of urban fringe land uses, notably golf courses, equestrian centres, garden centres and nurseries. 


The Changing Countryside 

 •Some areas of heathland are reverting to scrub and woodland. Grazing regimes are often difficult to maintain, especially where the viability of holdings is marginal and the land is subject to urban fringe pressures.

•Heathland near urban fringes can be damaged by trespass, vandalism, fires, fly-tipping, erosion and temporary occupation by travellers.

•Urban expansion, new development and roads, aggregate and ball-clay extraction could cause loss or further fragmentation of the remaining heathland.

•Recreational pressure from the Poole-Bournemouth conurbation and from further afield is increasing, bringing with it the risk of increased traffic congestion, erosion and pressure for new facilities.

•The effect of on-shore oil exploration has, to date, had only a limited effect on the landscape.

•Some of the most unspoilt areas of heathland are those within the Army firing ranges at Povington.


Shaping the future 

•Up to 95 per cent of the remaining heathland, including all of the major tracts, are covered by protective designations and ownership. In addition, the Forestry Authority has a policy of heathland conservation, including removal of unproductive plantations and reversion to heathland. There are still opportunities for active conservation, including the promotion of better heathland management, which is particularly important in urban fringe areas.

•Objectives of the conservation bodies might include the following: •re-establishment of large grazing units through co-operation of landowners and co-ordination of management;

•re-creation of heathland habitats on former agricultural and plantation land, as well as the restoration of old ball clay and sand and gravel workings, particularly where this allows links to existing heathland fragments;

•co-ordinated management of scrub and trees to prevent encroachment of open heathland, while maintaining a balance of tree and scrub cover;

•emphasis on the interpretation and promotion of heathlands as a valuable and irreplaceable resource;



•There is scope for the management of hedges, the replacement of ageing hedgerow trees, the reversion of arable to permanent pasture and the re-establishment of flood meadow systems in river valleys. 


Selected References 
Landscape Design Associates, (1993), Dorset County Landscape Assessment, Countryside Commission, Dorset County Council, Purbeck District Council.

Taylor, C (1970), Dorset, Hodder & Stoughton.

Countryside Commission (1993), The Dorset Downs, Heaths and Coast Landscape, Countryside Commission, Cheltenham CCP 424.

Countryside Commission (1994), The New Map of England: A Celebration of the South Western Landscape, Countryside Commission, Cheltenham CCP 444.