The key characteristics of the Hampshire Downs are . . .

Hampshire Downs

The key characteristics of the Hampshire Downs are . . .

•Strongly rolling downland with scarps, hilltops and valleys which have an overall open and exposed character.

•Scarps and hilltops are characterised by extensive open tracts of large arable fields and some ley pasture, sporadically interrupted by woodlands. In contrast, within the sheltered downland valleys, the network of mixed-species hedgerows interspersed by numerous oak/ash or hazel woodland coppice gives a strong sense of enclosure.

•Clay-with-flints overlying Chalk mainly on higher ground supports a mix of arable farms, former commons, wood-pastures and ancient semi-natural woodland. A network of distinctive and ancient droving roads and track ways are a particular feature, as are numerous large estates with formal parkland.

•Distinctive appearance of chalk cob and flint in traditional rural buildings and walls surrounding farm courtyards, with thatch surviving in many places.

•Widespread prehistoric settlement and burial mounds with visually prominent Iron Age hillforts, Roman estates and nucleated medieval village settlement patterns.

•The Test and Itchen are significant and distinctive Chalk river valleys cut into the broad downland landscape.


Landscape Character 

The Hampshire Downs are part of the broad belt of Chalk linking the Dorset Downs and Salisbury Plain in the west with the South Downs in the east, and the Berkshire and Marlborough Downs to the north. In stark contrast to the Hampshire Downs, adjacent character areas are dominated by the heaths and coniferous forestry of the Thames Basin Heaths to the north and the Wealden Greensand to the east. The South Hampshire Lowlands form the landscape immediately to the south separating the Downs from the south coast.

Characterised by a complex landform consisting of strongly rolling chalk downland, dissected by both deep and shallow sheltered valley landforms with numerous distinct hilltops, ridges and scarps, the Downs are both striking and conspicuous. The landscape is large in scale with a predominantly rural character typified by often extensive views and widely dispersed settlements.

Many of the higher parts of the Downs are capped by a shallow deposit of clay with flints. In places this is in the form of a flat or gently domed plateau. The plateau is predominantly a landscape of arable farmland with varying degrees of enclosure. Hedgerows or the edges of numerous ancient woodlands frequently define the field pattern, although some areas of former common or open field system are more open with fenced fields and long views.

Away from the clay plateau on the lighter chalk soils, intensive arable production is typical in the largely open landscape. Low, trimmed hedgerows, post and wire fences or coniferous shelter belts define the large fields. There are few woodlands. Throughout the Downs on the steeper uncultivated slopes, woodland or unimproved chalk grassland occurs.

Numerous wooded valleys are particularly characteristic features. Within them ancient semi-natural woodlands are seemingly interconnected by a dense and well-trimmed network of mixed-species hedges with oak hedgerow trees that frequently mark field and road boundaries. These pockets afford a degree of enclosure and seclusion within the more open and exposed areas of higher ground more typically characterised by large fenced fields and extensive views. 

Physical Influences 

The underlying Chalk gives rise to a variety of contrasting landforms including broad strongly rolling downland, both deep and shallow valleys, and distinct hilltops and ridges with minor steep scarps in places. On the plateau and ridge areas the Chalk is typically overlain by a shallow but virtually continuous deposit of clay-with-flints. This stony clay cap creates damp heavy soils amongst the generally free-draining thin chalky soils, supporting former heaths and oak wood-pastures mixed in with the surrounding arable farming.

The rivers Test and Itchen have cut significant valleys into the Chalk and their swiftly flowing rivers are notable features within the landscape. The vast majority of other valleys within the Downs are generally dry, although some support winter streams or 'bournes'. 

Historical and Cultural Influences 

Flint, with its remarkably hard crystalline structure and strong planes of fracture, played a significant role in the prehistoric and cultural development of the Hampshire Downs. Using flint tools to clear substantial areas of woodland, early Neolithic farmers began to cultivate the light chalk soils. The land cleared for cultivation and pasturing had, by the Middle Ages, become dominated by sheep grazing. Grazing sustained the chalk grassland or 'sheepwalks' which were often defined by long boundary banks.

Settled agricultural communities became more widespread during the Bronze and Iron Ages within the Chalk valleys and along the ridges of the Hampshire Downs. Towards the end of the Iron Age, and through the Roman periods, the Downs were noted for their exports of cereals and wool, an economy that boomed until the end of the Roman occupation when some cultivated areas were abandoned.

Successive settlers exploited the Downs according to their own socio-economic needs. Of particular note were the Saxon infield-outfield and later open-field systems surrounding medieval settlements. Between the 15th and 19th centuries, open-field downland became increasingly enclosed following successive Parliamentary Enclosure Acts which helped create much of the present day hedgerow and field pattern.

Amidst this downland and agricultural landscape, parklands and large estates feature widely, among them Chawton House, providing rural inspiration for the novels of Jane Austen.   

Buildings and Settlement 

The predominantly agricultural landscape of the Hampshire Downs is characterised by a widely dispersed settlement pattern of villages and hamlets linked together by a complex network of remote and narrow lanes, often with steep hedgebanks. The occasional settlements are generally of brick, or brick and timber in the valleys, or of brick and distinctive knapped flint in the hills. Thatch roofs survive in some buildings, although plain tiles are a more typical roofing material. Chalk is used infrequently as a building stone due to its inherent softness and solubility, although chalk cob is used in walls surrounding some farmsteads.

Major routes, such as the M3 motorway, pass through this area, linking Winchester and Basingstoke with London.   

Land Cover 

Some parts of the steeper, uncultivated slopes are covered by short, grazed turf on chalk soils which have been generally exempt from agricultural 'improvements' such as the application of herbicides/pesticides or ploughing. These traditional areas of chalk grassland or 'sheepwalks' are a scarce landscape feature with only comparatively small areas remaining among the predominantly arable landscape.

Oak is the dominant tree species, particularly on the clay-capped ridges, with infrequent but characteristic occurrence of beech on the lighter valley soils. Ash, hazel and field maple occur widely while yew, holly and whitebeam are restricted to the thinner, chalky soils. Oak is also found as a hedgerow tree within the frequent mixed-species hedges that follow the remote and narrow lanes in the area. The hedges tend to be either low and well-trimmed, or high, overgrown and unmanaged. In many areas, hedges are non-existent. 


The Changing Countryside 

 •Many hedgerows and woodlands have been removed in recent years as field sizes have been increased for arable crop production, thus causing the more traditional patchwork pattern of the landscape to be eroded.

•Significant development pressures arising from expansion of major settlements such as Andover and Basingstoke.

•Development of major new roads and improvements has significantly diminished the character of the landscape, such as the M3 cutting at Twyford Down.

•Over-abstraction of water resources and ground water pollution has affected the viability of the Chalk aquifer under the Hampshire Downs leading to detrimental effects on Chalk streams and rivers.

•Strong past and future pressures for large golf course developments within the Downs.


Shaping the future 

•The landscape and nature-conservation interest of ancient woodlands, former wood pastures and relic commons should be addressed.

•There is scope to conserve and manage neglected and fragmented hedgerows.

•The protection of archaeological features and their settings is important.

•The protection of the Chalk aquifer from pollution should be addressed, together with the management of water resources and the conservation of rivers and their landscape setting.

•There are opportunities to conserve Chalk grassland by the reinstatement of traditional management regimes.


Selected References 
Countryside Commission (1991), The East Hampshire Landscape, CCP 358, Countryside Commission, Cheltenham.

Hampshire County Council (1993), The Hampshire Landscape, Hampshire County Council, Hampshire.

Hunton, D A and Insole, A N (1988), Ordnance Survey Historical Guides: Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, George Philip, London.