Summary of Landscape Character

• Gently undulating landscape

• Red soils

• Numerous minor brooks and tributaries

• Distinctive angular field pattern of late medieval enclosure

• Historical wet meadowlands along the Cam and Wellow Brook valleys

• Historical core to settlements of Hallatrow and Farrington Gurney

• Distinctive ‘treed’ setting of Farrington Gurney and Hallatrow

• Lias Limestone and Pennant Sandstone buildings with some painted and rendered houses

• Open landscape

• Views to surrounding ridges and distant churches

• Disused Farrington, Old Mills and Springfield Collieries now used for a variety of uses

• Disused North Somerset Railway passes through the area

• Distinctive local Pennant Sandstone stiles

• Many detractors such as modern barns and pylons and development at Old Mills

Description

Landform and Drainage Pattern

7.8.5 The area is crossed by tributaries of the Cam Brook, which flows through the northern part of the site and tributaries of the Wellow Brook towards the southern part of the area. This drainage pattern has given rise to its distinctive gently undulating character.

Land-uses

7.8.6 The land is used both for pasture and arable.

Fields, Boundaries and Trees

7.8.7 There is a roughly equal mix of small and medium sized fields, typically angular and irregular in form. They are generally enclosed by clipped hedges generally with few trees. There are very few trees or woods within the area. Most trees are located along the watercourses and at the edges of the settlements. Enclosure took place during the late medieval period as evidenced by the remaining pattern of relatively small regular and often rectilinear fields. The enclosed areas of rich, wet grassland along the Cam and Wellow Brook Valleys are also of particular note. Historically these areas of meadowland provided early seasonal growth of grass.

Settlement and Communications

7.8.8 Farrington Gurney and Hallatrow are the main settlements in the area. The older cores of the settlements were linear in form but each has been extended around the edges during the 20th century. Paulton abuts the area to the east. Elsewhere there are occasional isolated farms. The traditional buildings are of Lias Limestone with clay tile roofs. Cream coloured rendering and Pennant Sandstone is also evident. Farrington Gurney church, an important landmark, is constructed of both Pennant Sandstone and Lias Limestone. The main settlements of Farrington Gurney and Hallatrow are both set within a ‘well-treed’ setting. 

7.8.9 Three major routes radiate from Farrington Gurney including the A39 Glastonbury to Bath Road, the A37 Shepton Mallet to Bristol Road and the A362 running eastwards to Midsomer Norton and Radstock. There is also a secondary road to Paulton.

Landscape Characteristics

7.8.10 The landscape has an open character giving some long distance views for example to the churches at Ston Easton and Chilcompton and Downside Abbey. Otherwise views are typically contained by surrounding ridges that are often clothed with hedges with occasional trees and broken lines of trees.

7.8.11 The relicts of the industrial past are very evident within the area. Of particular note is the widely visible and distinct conical shape of the Old Mills batch with its generally unvegetated surface. There are at least three disused collieries in the area, which have subsequently been developed for light industry, a depot and a superstore. The buildings and associated features are widely visible as a result of the scale of the developments. The line of the North Somerset Railway that once crossed the area is now evident from scrub along its course and its gently curved alignment that now forms field boundaries. Pennant Sandstone was locally available and was used to make the curved stones of the distinctive local stiles.

7.8.12 There are several detracting elements within the landscape such as pylons, modern barns and commercial development at the edge of the settlements which dominate some views into and within the area.