Area Summary Assessment Guidelines Evaluation HERTFORD HEATH

HERTFORD HEATH summary assessment evaluation guidelines area64

Buntingford

100019606 2004 Watton Stortford -at- Stone

Hertford

area 64

LOCATION KEY CHARACTERISTICS North of Broxbourne Woods, east of the Bayfordbury and • gently undulating wooded pasture Balls Parklands and west of Great Amwell. • open aspect to east • strong presence of woodland with regular field pattern LANDSCAPE CHARACTER • ancient woodland throughout with heathland An area of gently undulating wooded farmland, much of it pasture, with extensive areas of woodland and heath. At DISTINCTIVE FEATURES the heart of this rural area lies Haileybury College, which • settlement of Hertford Heath and Haileybury College also influences the only settlement in the area, from which • Ermine Street it takes its name. The damp acid grasslands and relic heath • Nature Reserve (Balls Wood) and Hertford Heath are ecologically and visually important. • A10(T) appears to form boundary of urban edge to east

Golders Wood, Hertford Heath • (HCC Landscape Unit)

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PHYSICAL INFLUENCES HISTORIC AND CULTURAL INFLUENCES Geology and soils. Slowly permeable seasonally The historic pattern of this area is both apparent and waterlogged fine loam and clay soils over chalky till (Beccles widespread, a mixture of ancient woodland, an old 3 series) with some similar Windsor series and Hallsworth 1 settlement and an early 19th-century educational series soils. establishment. Haileybury College was designed in 1806 by Topography. Slight plateau sloping gently eastwards William Wilkins (who designed Downing College, Degree of slope. 1 in 25 Cambridge and University College, London) as a training Altitude range. 75m to 90m school for the East India Company. Repton visited in 1808, Hydrology. There are many ponds within the woodland in the year before it opened. He skilfully adapted three this area, and several minor watercourses flowing north- rectangular brick pits to form two sinuous pools and an eastwards to the river Lea island, and visually combined the two pools by careful Land cover and land use. This area is wooded farmland, planting to give the impression of a wide, meandering river mainly under pasture. Forestry is the dominant land use, through the park with recreational use as a secondary feature. Field pattern. The field pattern is irregular and small to Vegetation and wildlife. This is predominantly a relatively medium in scale, with grazing sheep. Adjacent to Balls flat de-calcified boulder clay plateau, dominated Wood the field size is larger, where fields are subdivided by ecologically by damp acid grasslands, mostly improved but fencing for horse pasture. with important remaining old pastures at Dalmonds and by Transport pattern. Elbow Lane is part of Ermine Street and Balls Wood. Several ancient and old secondary woodland contributes its Roman strictness of line, despite the modern blocks are basically acidic/damp oak/hornbeam, botanically surfacing. Roads in this area are narrow and sinuous, except rich with herb Paris, orchids and a range of sedges. Balls for the A10(T) which curves around the eastern boundary; Wood is partly replanted mixed woodland. The other main verges are variable and not notable. feature of the area is the relic wet heath at The Roundings, Settlements and built form. Hertford Heath is a sizeable now largely scrubbed with oak/birch/aspen, with open village, the only settlement within this area, and linked to areas maintained as a nature reserve. Old acidic ponds here the educational establishment of Haileybury College. There are highly important for invertebrates and amphibians. The are also some isolated farms. other half of the heath (Goldingtons) is largely secondary oak/hornbeam. Wild service trees are a feature of many old OTHER SOURCES OF AREA-SPECIFIC hedges. INFORMATION A Biodiversity Action Plan for Hertfordshire, p.82. English Nature SSSI notification. Pevsner, N. rev. Cherry, B., Hertfordshire, Penguin (2000). HHC data on historic parks and gardens.

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VISUAL AND SENSORY PERCEPTION ACCESSIBILITY There are few views into this area, due to the density of No recreational land uses were noted during hte survey, woodland and the lack of roads. From within views are although there is a limited network of footpaths. Ermine limited by hedgerows and woodland. This is a small to Street forms part of a north-south route but its character medium scale contained landscape, with large woodland has been eroded by transformation to a gravelled/tarmac blocks balanced by small to medium fields. It is in many access road. Equestrian activity is widespread. ways a simple landscape, coherent, ancient and tranquil, save for the constant hum of vehicles on the A10(T). COMMUNITY VIEWS Rarity and distinctiveness. Although the farmland is not This area is regarded as distinctive, largely on account of its unusual, the architecture of the college is notable. Hertford woodlands (D). Heath SSSI is important as a fine example of a threatened habitat in southern England, now rare in the county. LANDSCAPE RELATED DESIGNATIONS Mainly Landscape Development Area; part Landscape VISUAL IMPACT Conservation Area. There appears to have been little land-use change in this SSSI: Hertford Heath. area, possibly minor changes from pasture to arable. The main impact is that of the high embankments of the transport corridor (A10(T)), which is limited to the eastern side of the area. Hertford Heath appears to have accommodated 20th-century housing within its envelope, rather than on its edge, and it has no significant impact on the wider landscape.

CONDITION STRENGTH OF CHARACTER Land cover change: insignificant Impact of landform: apparent Age structure of tree cover: mature Impact of land cover: prominent Extent of semi-natural habitat survival: fragmented Impact of historic pattern: continuous Management of semi-natural habitat: not obvious Visibility from outside: concealed Survival of cultural pattern: intact Sense of enclosure: partial Impact of built development: low Visual unity: coherent Impact of land-use change: low Distinctiveness/rarity: unusual

Strengthen Conserve Safeguard and and and reinforce strengthen manage

Improve Improve Conserve and and and reinforce conserve restore MODERATE

CONDITION Restore Improve condition Reconstruct and to maintain POORrestore GOOD character

WEAK MODERATE STRONG

STRENGTH OF CHARACTER

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STRATEGY AND GUIDELINES FOR MANAGING CHANGE: CONSERVE AND RESTORE • encourage landowners to safeguard existing hedges, increase hedged field boundaries, create permanent grass strips around field margins and prevent spray drift, using financial incentives as available. • encourage the reversion of arable to pasture and management to mazimise biodiversity potential • promote crop diversification and the maintenance of mixed farming in this area • promote the creation of buffer zones between intensive arable production and important semi-natural habitats and the creation of links between semi-natural habitats to form ecological corridors • encourage woodland planting on poor quality agricultural land, where this is in keeping with local landscape character, is on the site of former woodland or can provide an ecological link to other woodlands or habitat. Us only locally indigenous species, of local provenance if possible. • ensure that any proposed woodland planting will contribute to the local landscape rather than impoverishing or destroying an existing and valued habitat or historic artefact, such as a bank or ditch • ensure that proposed improvement to the landscape within Landscape Conservation/Development Areas will reinforce and contribute to the distinctiveness of the local landscape character and that they will not jeopardize any existing area of historic, ecological or landscape significance • resist any development, reclamation or drainage of heathland areas and areas adjacent to them • promote the re-establishment of low-density stock grazing for the management of heathland habitats • resist any development or change of use that might affect or diminish the distinctiveness and integrity of this landscape character area, unless it can be effectively and immediately screened in a manner that would not in itself have a negative impact on local landscape character

• View north from Goldings Wood (HCC Landscape Unit)

pg 81 East Herts District Landscape Character Assessment