Summary of Landscape Character

• Steep west-facing scarp with outcrops of Oolitic Limestone

• Open high Oolitic Limestone plateaux enclosed by dry stone walls and few trees

• Fields on valley sides enclosed by often untrimmed hedges with trees

• Thin well-drained loam soils on plateaux and deeper slowly permeable clayey soils on lower valley sides and floor

• Arable and pastoral farmland on plateaux

• Pasture and woodland on valleys sides

• Narrow steeply sided valleys that cut into the plateaux

• Larger fields on plateaux and smaller more irregular fields on valley sides

• Villages and isolated farms follow foot of slopes close to the spring lines

• Warm coloured Oolitic Limestone buildings and walls

• Straight roadson the plateaux

• Narrow sunken winding lanes along the valley sides

• Broadleaf woods along scarp and upper slopes

• Open landscape on plateaux and more enclosed and intimate landscape within valleys

• Many historical features including Bronze Age fort at Solsbury Hill, the Fosse Way Roman road at Bannerdown and second world war airfield at Charmy Down

• Many locally well-known landmarks and beauty spots and Cotswolds Way national trail

Description

Landform and Drainage Pattern

7.16.8 The Cotswolds rise abruptly from the Avon Valley and comprise three distinct elements. They are firstly the west facing scarp, then the steep sided river valleys and finally the plateau tops or Downs as they are known locally. The scarp rises from 15m by the River Avon at Swineford to high points of 218m at Kelston Round Hill, 236m at Bath racecourse, 212m at Charmy Down and 204m at Bathampton Down. The plateau is relatively flat and level, generally above 180m. The river valleys steeply dissect the plateau as their streams flow to the Avon. Each valley has in turn steeply sided tributary valleys forming a complicated indented valley landform. There are frequent springs along the valley sides and scarp face at the junction of the porous limestone with the Fuller’s Earth and Lias Clays below.

Land-uses

7.16.9 Land use is predominantly pastoral on the steeper slopes and a mixture of short-term pasture and arable on the flat plateau tops. There are also several areas of historic parkland including Kelston Park designed in 1768 by Capability Brown, Widcombe Manor largely laid out in 1727 at the time of rebuilding the manor and Prior Park where Pope was involved in the design and modifications in the 1730s / early 1740s and Capability Brown in the early 1760s.

Fields, Boundaries and Trees

7.16.10 The fields are small and medium and quite irregular on the steeper valley sides and scarp slopes which is typical of the piecemeal clearance of wooded landscape that occurred from the Bronze Age through to Saxon times. The fields on the plateau areas by contrast are larger and more regular resulting from the gradual enclosure of common land and the development of large estates during the 16th to 18th centuries. The fields on the steeper slopes are usually enclosed by hedges which are often untrimmed and ‘gappy’ and occasionally are enclosed by walls. The plateau areas are distinguished by the long lines of drystone walls.

7.16.11 Woodlands are an important feature of this landscape and are most common on the steeper slopes especially on the upper slopes. These woodlands are quite variable in size, ranging from small clumps to large woodlands many hectares in size. Most are irregular in shape. They are mainly broadleaf and beech is common. There are frequent lines of trees, sometimes these are of Scots pine. Individual trees such as ash trees are more common in the hedge lines of the valley slopes. The relative lack of individual trees on the plateau areas reinforces the very open nature of the landscape.

Settlement and Communications

7.16.12 The settlement pattern and form is dictated by the landform. The villages run along the valley sides frequently close to the spring line. Other settlements are isolated farms and hamlets that are evenly spread along the slopes closely associated with the springs. The plateau areas have no natural water bodies and consequently settlements here are much less common. One of the major unifying elements of this landscape is the use of the local Oolitic Limestone in buildings and walls. The traditional building style has many features that are also very characteristic. These include steep-sided roofs using limestone tiles and the detailing around windows and doors designed to shed water away from the stonework are typical of the ‘Cotswold style’.

7.16.13 The roads are divided between two types. The larger roads across the plateaux, for example the A46, The Fosse Way and Lansdown Road, tend to be straight, wide and open. By contrast the smaller lanes that connect the villages tend to be winding and narrow and are typically sunken, enclosed by high hedgebanks. The straighter roads are either Roman in origin as is the case of the Fosse Way or date from the 18th and 19th century enclosure of the plateau areas and consequently reflect the regular layout of this part of the landscape. The winding lanes developed with the villages and the clearance of woodland and so in places could date back to prehistoric times. There are numerous well-used public rights of way including the Limestone Link, part of the Cotswold Way National Trail and the Bath Skyline Walk to the east of Bath. This reflects the importance of the area for casual recreation.

Landscape Characteristics

7.16.14 There are expansive views over the wider countryside and over the city of Bath from the plateaux and the scarp that give an open exposed character while the smaller valleys are more enclosed and can feel quite cut off from surrounding areas. The overall character area is unified by the common occurrence of the broadleaf woodlands, the frequent dry stone walls and the building style in the local Oolitic Limestone.

7.16.15 The presence of historic and prehistoric monuments and features are an integral part of the character of this landscape. There are many Bronze Age burial mounds in the area, particularly on Landsdown, Charmy Down and Banner Down. The area also contains some of the most impressive prehistoric and Romano-British earthwork monuments in the District. The Scheduled Monuments of Solsbury Hill Fort and Little Down Camp are two of the most visible and influential of these. The Fosse Way Roman road links Bath and Cirencester. The valley slopes were enclosed in the late medieval times and are characterised by smaller more regular outlines with frequent ‘dog leg’ angles where adjoining strips meet. The steeper slopes were also enclosed in the later medieval period but here they have a more distinctive form due to the ‘strip lynchets’ and other methods used to reclaim productive land on such gradients. Many of these earthworks are still visible today and in some locations such as Bathampton Down and Charmy Down the earthwork remains of prehistoric or Romano-British field systems and enclosures are clearly visible. The plateau tops were enclosed in the 18th and 19th centuries by Parliamentary Enclosure Acts. These tend to have large rectilinear fields bounded by stone walls. Many of the lanes and roads though straight are remnants from an earlier landscape and may be old drove roads. A large memorial marks the civil war battlefield site on Lansdown. There are historic parks and estates from 80 the 18th century such as Kelston Park, St Catherine’s Court and Prior Park. More recently there is the now disused airfield on Charmy Down, a remnant from the Second World War.

7.16.16 There are a number of locally well-known landmarks, beauty spots and features and places of interest some of which are listed below: 

• Kelston Round Hill – a landmark viewed from miles around to the south, east and west 

• Beckford’s Tower – A folly built in 1827 on the Lansdown Ridge and a prominent landmark 

• Kelston Park – The mansion at Kelston Park is a prominent landmark in the Avon Valley, jutting out on a lower level plateau into the valley 

• Solsbury Hill Fort, a Scheduled Monument – Late prehistoric hill fort east of Swainswick 

• Lansdown Race Course – on the Lansdown ridge 

• Prospect Stile – Well known viewpoint on the western edge of the Lansdown plateau 

• Battlefields Monument – Civil war monument at northern end of Lansdown plateau

•  Charmy Down – prominent disused airfield. 

• Bathampton telecommunication mast Sham Castle on the edge of Bathampton Down

•  St Catherine’s Court – Historic house and garden in the St Catherine’s Valley, itself a well-known beauty spot 

• Prior Park – National Trust Historic Garden.