Natural England

39. Humberhead Levels

• A flat landscape occupying the area of the former pro-glacial Lake Humber
• Very low lying, commonly at or below mean high-water mark
• Surface geology of drift deposits, including glacial tills, clays, peat, sand and gravel and wind blown sand, giving local variations in character
• Broad floodplains of major navigable rivers draining to the Humber Estuary with extensive areas of washlands and some alluvial meadows
• Rich high-quality land which is intensively farmed and includes substantial areas of warp land
• Essentially flat, very open character with occasional rising ground formed by ridges of sand and outcrops of Mercia Mudstone
• Very large open fields divided by dykes, with relatively few hedgerows or field trees
• Peat bogs of international ecolgoical and historical importance whcih are widely exploited for commercial peat extraction
• Widespread evidence of drainage history in rivers, old river courses, ditches, dykes and canals
• Important areas of historic landscape such as the more enclosed agricultural landscape at Fishlake, the remnant open fields of the Isle of Axholme and the unique 'cable' landscape of Thorne
• Areas of remnant heath and large, isolated conifer plantations on poor sandy soils
• Modern motorways on embankments and large installations, notably power station, which are often prominent in the flat landscape

For further details on this character area and for an introduction to the region, please see the PDF documents in the box at the top right hand side of this page.