The key characteristics of the Salisbury Plain and West Wiltshire Downs . . .

Salisbury Plain and West Wiltshire Downs

The key characteristics of the Salisbury Plain and West Wiltshire Downs . . .

•Extensive open, rolling Chalk plateau dominated by large arable fields.

•Scattered copses and shelterbelts.

•Woodland confined mainly to valleys and steep slopes.

•Unimproved chalk grassland of high nature-conservation value.

•River valleys with frequent settlements and narrow floodplains, dominated by former floated flood meadows and meandering rivers.

•Steep scarps with unimproved grassland and woodland.

•Abundant older buildings of cob, thatch, brick, Chilmark Stone, flint and clunch.

•Outstanding prehistoric ritual landscape with widespread earthworks and monuments prominent in an open landscape, including Stonehenge.

•Military structures, airfields, tracks and signs.


Landscape Character 

Salisbury Plain and the West Wiltshire Downs are bounded by the chalk downland of the Hampshire Downs and the Berkshire and Marlborough Downs on the eastern and northern sides and by the Dorset Downs and Cranborne Chase in the south west. On the southern margin, where they abut the heaths and woodlands of the New Forest, and in the west and north west, where they abut the greensands, clays and limestone of the Blackmoor Vale, Vale of Wardour, and the Avon Vales, the predominance of chalk landscapes is broken. Within this large and varied area, the dominant and unifying features are the rolling chalklands, the steep escarpments and the attractive sheltered and populous valleys of chalk rivers flowing southwards and eastwards to Salisbury.

Much of Salisbury Plain is a vast, rolling landscape of seemingly endless arable fields and unimproved grassland punctuated only by small hilltop woodlands of beech and conifer. There are also areas of pasture with very few hedges and low post and wire fences which maintain the feeling of openness. It is an upland grazing country, with spacious far horizons. The long and round barrows and dykes, commonly sited prominently on the low ridges, give a very special sense of an ancient landscape which is nowhere greater than in the views of Stonehenge across the open downs. Indeed, the Plain is of international significance, not just for the immediate World Heritage Site and Stonehenge, but for its other extensive 'ritual' landscapes and evidence of prehistoric activity. The sense of historical continuity is perhaps greatest when looking at the banks, trackways and strips of scrub and woodland which mark present-day parish boundaries. These extend up from the valleys onto the open downland and mark Saxon estate boundaries and Bronze Age land divisions. Apart from the intensive farming, the main modern influence on this landscape is military activity in the form of buildings, airfields, waymarking for tanks, the vehicles themselves and their tracks.

To the south and west of the Plain, the West Wiltshire Downs are gently domed, broad hills separated by shallow, dry valleys. Only in the extreme west have they been eroded by the headwaters of the Wylye to form dramatic hills and deep chalk combes. Arable cultivation dominates, with copses around farms and barns. Ridgeways, field systems and hillforts emphasise the prehistoric significance of this part of the area.

Cutting through these spacious rolling landscapes with their long views and broad sweeps of arable farmland are the more intimate landscapes of the Wylye, Avon and Bourne Valleys. The river Wylye has cut a fairly straight course, forming a valley with gentle northern slopes and small, dry, side valleys but with more convoluted southern slopes. At the edge of the floodplain, low hillocks are the sites of compact villages, clustered around spired limestone churches. There is a great variety of materials in the older buildings but a particular characteristic is the use of Chilmark Stone and a chequered pattern of clunch and napped flint. Unimproved chalk grassland and woodland is found on the steeper slopes and there are abundant willows and alders along the water courses. The low ridges of the abandoned floated flood meadows are characteristic of all the valleys, including the Avon, which is narrower and more densely populated. Here, there are frequent settlements and a strong influence of modern development around the small towns of Durrington, Amesbury and along the A303.

The valleys lead to Salisbury, dominated by its cathedral spire, where 20th century settlement has spread from the old riverside city centre up the surrounding hillsides and towards Wilton. A pleasantly remote area of meadows along the river Avon provides a fine setting for the ancient core of Salisbury. This character continues along the river Nadder to Wilton, which is dominated by the grand mansion of Wilton House and the surrounding parkland. There are well-timbered historic parks like Boyton and Wilbury in similar valley-side settings.

In contrast to the densely-settled character of the valleys and the remote and austere landscape of the downland and Plain, the Chalk scarps are abrupt and dramatic. This is particularly the case, for instance, with the scarp overlooking the Vale of Pewsey with its patches of unimproved grassland and clusters of woodland above closely-spaced scarp-foot villages.   

Physical Influences 

The Chalk margins to the Plain in the north and west are dominated by a near-continuous scarp. There is, for instance, a steep scarp along the northern boundary overlooking the Vale of Pewsey and along the western edge overlooking the Upper Greensand. During the Quatenary, Clay-with-flints deposits were laid down over at least part of the Chalk and these high-level deposits survive today, generally supporting woodland, in contrast to the thin, dry soils of the Chalk. Scattered across the Plain and Downs are Sarsen stones - weather-worn blocks of grey sandstone ('greywethers') derived from the former cover of Tertiary deposits.

The rivers, forming the principal valleys of the Wylye, Till and Avon, flow south and south-eastwards to form the Hampshire Avon. The valley bottoms are lined with gravel and alluvium. Most of Salisbury Plain is, however, without surface water. 

Historical and Cultural Influences 

The Plain and Downs are one of the major lowland prehistoric landscapes in England. By Neolithic times, there was extensive occupation and it seems likely that much of the original covering of vegetation had been cleared. The Neolithic culture was centred on the causeway camps of Whitesheet Hill and Robin Hood's Ball but long barrows are also conspicuous features. By about 2200 BC, a complex of features had developed in the Stonehenge area and much of the land had been exploited for pasture and cropping for a long time. There were ritual complexes at Durrington and Stonehenge, the latter serving as the symbolic focus of the great ridgetop barrow cemeteries of the second millennium. As the Bronze Age progressed, the landscape was divided up by boundaries which formed the basis of later territorial units and, from about 600 BC, major hillforts were built either on new sites like Scratchbury and Battlesbury or as enlargements of Bronze Age enclosures.

Roman roads are conspicuous features of the landscape, possibly serving a town near Old Sarum, but villa sites are sparse and it may be that part at least of the area was a grain-producing imperial estate. Certainly, the Anglo-Saxon placenames indicate an ancient, substantially cleared, landscape. The earliest Anglo-Saxon incomers, perhaps in the 6th century, occupied the most favourable valley sites and, by the middle Saxon period, most settlement was concentrated within the valleys, a process that accelerated as the Middle Ages progressed. Planned villages, surrounded by strip fields, were laid out in the river valleys and much of the downland was given over to sheepwalks, a pattern which remained until the present century. The later medieval prosperity of the area, largely from the wool and cloth trade, is most obviously reflected in the 13th and 14th century grandeur of Salisbury Cathedral but also in its parish churches.

During the post-medieval period, the system of floated flood meadows was developed and the earthworks of the now abandoned meadows are amongst the most characteristic features of the area. Very large estates were formed and large country houses were built, notably those clustered around Salisbury, Wilton, Longford, Standlynch and Clarendon. However, in general, the period down to the present century was one of out migration and decline: throughout the 19th century, Wiltshire was one of the poorest counties in England. Much of the landscape was dominated by open sheepwalks. Whitlock writes of his father in the 1880s taking the sheep on the 15-mile journey from Tilshead to Pitton – 'he walked them over the downs for the whole distance, never encountering a face, never using a hard road ... and always treading the soft, springy virgin turf'.

In the 20th century, the two major trends have been the expansion of the Ministry of Defence training areas and agricultural change. Military camps were established at Tidworth, Larkhill and Bulford and have become substantial settlements: airfields are also conspicuous. Sheep farming has disappeared over most of the area in the post-war period, replaced by the large, commonly hedgeless, fields of arable farms.

The deeply rural qualities of much of the landscape are celebrated in the novels of A G Street, in the writing of W H Hudson, and in Hardy's novels, whilst Salisbury's fine setting has attracted many artists, most notably Constable.   

Buildings and Settlement 

The pre-20th century settlement pattern was one of nucleated villages lying on the edges of the valley floodplains and at the foot of the scarps. In this area of strong landlordship, groups of estate cottages in uniform style are quite frequent. The oldest cottages are in cob with thatch roofs, but brick and tile became common in the villages in the 19th century and are also the dominant materials of the small towns. In some places, flint has been used in combination with brick edging and banding. Locally, a porcellanous chalk from the base of the Upper Chalk has been used for houses and farm buildings. In the south, the greenish, grey-brown Chilmark Stone has been used, while the Wylye Valley has distinctive buildings in a chequered pattern of napped flint and clunch. Amidst this great variety, the churches are usually imposing buildings in grey limestone. Wide boundary walls of cob or brick and flint with tile or even thatch coping are a typical feature around parks, farmsteads and larger houses. Although many villages are compact, they are sometimes rather strung out along the valleys and some have stone-lined streams flowing through them.

There are scattered farmsteads on the more sheltered sites on the downs and between the villages along the valleys, with large isolated barns on the open downland.

There has been extensive 20th century development around the edges of many villages. Salisbury has a fine riverside and water meadow setting to the old centre but 20th century development has spread up the hillsides towards Old Sarum and Westwood. Fortunately, the long views of the Cathedral's magnificent spire have been unaffected by post-war changes.

Military housing at Tidworth, Larkhill, Durrington and Amesbury has a considerable impact on the landscape although Amesbury itself is an attractive riverside settlement. Military buildings can be intrusive, particularly on the open Plain, where they are usually the only structures of any kind and the military settlements can hardly be expected to lie as inconspicuously in the landscape as the older villages.

The principal roads connect the valley settlements, and only a few roads and unenclosed trackways rise over the open downland. However, the A303 and some north-south roads lie on ridges for considerable sections and can be prominent in the open landscape.   

Land Cover 

Flat chalk downland on the plain has been saved from the plough by military use and now contains one of the largest remaining areas of calcareous grassland in north-west Europe. The surrounding cereal cultivation within very large fields with few, if any, hedges dominates much of the Plain and Downs. In some areas, and particularly on the high Plain, the only other land-cover is shelterbelts, small plantations of beech or conifers and occasional patches of scrub. Only a small proportion of the formerly vast sheepwalk survives but it nevertheless comprises substantial areas of high nature-conservation value.

Below the high downland and plain, the landform becomes more intricate. There is more common woodland and a predominance of pasture within small to medium-size fields, particularly in the Hampshire section of the area. Along the valleys, tree cover increases around the villages and alongside streams and rivers. Here too, the land is mainly pasture but arable extends down the valleys on the more gentle gradients.

Woodland is common along the scarp above the Wylye Valley, along the Great Ridge and on the steepest parts of the northern scarp. In these areas, as the landform becomes more irregular, arable landcover changes to pasture and small irregular fields with patches of scrub on the steepest places.

A final land cover element is landscape parks, which are generally well-maintained and some of which, like Wilton, are extensive. 


The Changing Countryside 

 •There are several trunk roads across the Plain and the A303 runs directly past Stonehenge. There are strong pressures to upgrade the road to dual carriageway at this point and other road improvements could have significant impacts.

•The impact of the army on the Ministry of Defence lands has continued for decades and the damage caused by tanks to the Ancient Monuments has been severe. This is apparently now under control. It could decline with the reduction in the defence programme although there could be an increase in activity if troops are brought back to bases in the area. The MOD has been planting trees on the plateau which are at odds with its otherwise open character.

•The general decline in grazing is damaging the remaining areas of unimproved grassland and there is some scrub encroachment.

•Hedgerows, which are only a recent feature of the downland in many places, have largely disappeared. On the scarp slopes and along the valleys, they have more historic significance and there has been some neglect, mismanagement and removal.

•Arable farming and pressures for development are a potential threat to archaeological features that do not have statutory protection.


Shaping the future 

•The targeted use of a number of management initiatives offers the chance to create grassland of nature-conservation interest.

•Many of the villages still retain their historic pattern and are still dominated by older buildings in very localised materials like Chilmark Stone and clunch. Such villages would benefit from local design initiatives.

•The area contains some of the country's outstanding prehistoric monuments. There is scope for their continued management in conjunction with landscape and nature-conservation objectives and increased public education and interpretation.

•The chalk grasslands and valley bottom wetlands, particularly the flood meadows, are an important characteristic of the area. 


Selected References 
Whitlock, R (1955), Salisbury Plain, Robert Hale, London.

Countryside Commission (1995), The Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Landscape, Countryside Commission, Cheltenham, CCP 465.

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