The key characteristics of the Midvale Ridge are . . .

Midvale Ridge

The key characteristics of the Midvale Ridge are . . .

•Low irregular wooded limestone ridge giving way to a series of isolated steep-sided tabular hills in the east which rise from the surrounding clay vales.

•Large geometrically spaced fields divided by regular pattern of hedgerows and trees supporting both arable and pastoral farming. 

•Villages, typically built of local limestone, perched high up on spurs, hilltops and along ridges giving extensive views across the open, gently undulating, clay vales to the north and south. 

•Visible archaeology dating from early Roman settlement of the area found on prominent areas of higher ground.

•Spring-line settlements associated with blocks of ancient woodland along the ridge. 
Contrast between the moderately elevated limestone hills and ridges and the surrounding low-lying clay vales.


Landscape Character 

The Midvale Ridge is a low, irregular outcrop of limestone that changes from a well-wooded ridge in Oxfordshire into a series of isolated steep-sided tabular hills in Buckinghamshire which rise above the surrounding clay vales. The Ridge separates the low-lying clay areas of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Vales to the north and the Vales of the White Horse and Aylesbury to the south.

The landscape is made up of woods and arable fields interspersed by numerous distinctive small villages. Woodland cover tends to be most extensive along the Corallian Limestone ridge in Oxfordshire while, in contrast, the Portland Limestone hills of Buckinghamshire have few large woods. Here, isolated trees and small woodlands are more typical. Fields are typically defined by a regular pattern of hedgerows and trees that enclose characteristically large and geometrically spaced fields.

Villages are found perched high up on spurs, hilltops and ridges giving extensive views across the open, gently undulating clay vales to the north and south. A local pattern of small fields often surrounds these villages in contrast to the more typical and widespread occurrence of large fields. Villages such as Brill have many stone buildings, typically of local limestone with red tiles or thatch common as roofing materials. The hilltop villages are very distinctive with village greens and thatched cottages typically set around the village church as a local landmark.

These villages are connected by a network of small sunken lanes with low trimmed hedges and hedgerow trees that wind up the slopes towards the hills and ridges. Below the limestone ridge in Oxfordshire where the clay vale meets the rising ground, spring-line settlements associated with blocks of ancient woodland are found.

Visible archaeological features dating from early Roman settlement of the area are a prominent feature on areas of higher ground. Parkland is a common feature within Oxfordshire, while windmills are distinctive landmarks throughout the area.

The moderately elevated limestone hills and ridges provide regional contrast and variety to the surrounding low-lying clay vales.   

Physical Influences 

The Midvale Ridge forms a low irregular ridge above the clay vales that gives way to a series of isolated steep-sided tabular hills in the east, rising above numerous intermediate valleys and basins.

The ridge comprises coarse and rubbly-textured Upper Jurassic Corallian limestones and sands, overlain in places by Kimmeridge Clay. These rocks form a distinct escarpment rising from the clay vales with a low and irregular north-facing scarp (100 m - 110 m AOD) and a very gentle dip slope that gradually falls, almost imperceptibly in places, to the Vale of the White Horse to the south. Lower Greensand caps many of the higher parts of the ridge such as Boars Hill near Oxford which stands proud of the Corallian Limestone at more than 150 m AOD. To the east, where the ridge becomes more broken up, a discontinuous outcrop of Portland sand and limestone overlies the clay and is in turn capped locally by Purbeck limestones and younger sand beds.

Soils are predominantly heavy rendzinas and sandy brown earths with areas of plateau sands giving rise to acidic soils. These soils are only suitable for arable use where well-dressed with lime and, in many places, are planted with conifers, in particular larch.

Apart from the upper Thames which cuts a steep valley between the limestone hills around Oxford, there is very little dissection by rivers along the ridge itself except for the springs at the base of the escarpment. Further east, streams and springs drain the lower slopes of the limestone hills south-west to the Thames via the river Thame.   

Historical and Cultural Influences 

The Midvale Ridge exhibits very little archaeological evidence of the Palaeolithic or Mesolithic period. The first significant settlement of the area occurred during the Bronze Age with further occupation during the Iron Age in places such as at Faringdon Folly and Boars Hill.

From the 6th to the mid-9th centuries the area was fought over by the West Saxon/Wessex and Mercia kingdoms with the river Thames eventually forming the boundary between the two. During this period, Oxfordshire's oldest recorded community was built at St Frideswide in 735 and fortifications were built in Oxford to defend the kingdom against the invading Danes.

Reference is made in Domesday Book to the good cover of 'Forests' in the area, such as Bernwood Forest, although it is unclear as to what proportion was woodland. Remnant ancient woodland from the Forests of Shotover and Bernwood dominate the ridge to the east and west of Oxford. Corallian Limestone was quarried at Wheatley during the 12th century and also from 1400 onwards at Headington. Oxford was noted for its tanning and woollen industries from the 16th to the mid-17th century. Historic evidence shows that field sizes on the hills in the east were generally small-scale with larger open fields to the west. By the early 19th century, much of the area was considered good quality corn land although perhaps slightly too sandy in places.

Although difficult, navigation of the Thames was enhanced in 1624 by an Act of Parliament that opened up the river from Burcote to Oxford. In 1790 the Oxford Canal was completed allowing the carriage of coal and providing an important link to the rest of the canal network.

The area is closely associated with light engineering in general and agricultural machines in particular. The first steam rollers and ploughs were invented locally by a John Allen of Oxford in 1868. Swindon is renowned as the centre of the railway industry, with the development of the town closely associated with the growth of the Great Western Railway.   

Buildings and Settlement 

Away from the towns, the eastern part of this area is distinguished by the pattern of small villages perched on spurs above the lower-lying land with stone-built houses of local limestone, mostly roofed in plain tiles but also commonly thatched. In contrast, the villages along the western ridge are characterised by their stone walls derived either from the local rubbly Cornbrash or Corallian Limestone, with roofs generally of stone slates, The stone buildings are often of a simple and straightforward design in comparison to their limestone-built counterparts in the Cotswolds. The densely built-up city of Oxford lies on the Thames floodplain below a rural landscape of low limestone hills.

Notable buildings include the Oxford Colleges, which grew from the 14th century onwards, and Waddesdon which is owned by the Rothschilds and designed by the French architect Destailleur. Lying in the west of the area, Swindon is a dominant urban feature with considerable commercial, residential and light industrial development.   

Land Cover 

The mainly arable and grassland land use also includes a good woodland cover with, in particular, significant blocks of coniferous woodlands on the plateau gravel soils. Characteristic tree types include oak, ash, birch and larch many of which occur within ancient semi-natural woodlands such as the oak-dominated Bagley Wood. Coppice with standards occurs to the west together with forest woodlands such as Shotover. Some small patches of stony limestone grassland and isolated pockets of heath and acid grassland occur on the Greensand, such as at Cumnar Heath. 


The Changing Countryside 

 •Agricultural intensification, in particular the expansion of arable cropping, leading to a deterioration and complete loss of hedgerows due to under-management and/or neglect.


Shaping the future 

•Restoration of field margins within arable fields and restoration and/or replanting of hedgerows, including establishment of new hedgerow trees. 

•The management of extensive grassland.

• The less intensively farmed parts are an important characteristic of the area. 

•The appropriate management of the riverine landscape should be addressed.


Selected References 
Reed, M (1979), The Buckinghamshire Landscape, Hodder and Stoughton, London.

Emery, F (1974), The Oxfordshire Landscape, Hodder and Stoughton, London.

Richards Moorehead and Laing (1989), Buckinghamshire Trees and Forestry Strategy: Volumes 1, 2 and 3, Richards Moorehead and Laing, Clwyd.

Martin, A F and Steel, R W (eds), (1954), The Oxford Region, Oxford University Press, London.