Rolling Clay Lowland
Marden Green, Calne Landscape and Visual Appraisal and Landscape Strategy ANNEX B Extracts from Landscape Character Assessments CE/232/06 Final_Planning Issue November 2012 Marden Green, Calne Landscape and Visual Appraisal and Landscape Strategy National Character Area CE/232/06 Final_Planning Issue November 2012 Character Area 117 Avon Vales Key Characteristics ● Undulating clay vale with varied hedgerow pattern and a mixture of arable and pasture. ● Low ridges from which the frequent medium-size towns are viewed. ● Wide river corridor with ancient pattern of flood meadows but much influenced by modern development. ● Attractive, old, stone-built centres to market towns. ● Small woods. ● Large historic parks and mansions. ● Wide views across the area from the higher surrounding chalk downs. JOHN TYLER/COUNTRYSIDE AGENCY JOHN TYLER/COUNTRYSIDE Landscape Character Avon Vales, a characteristic view: near Dauntsey Lock between Swindon and Chippenham. The Avon Vales are a low-lying clay-dominated landscape bounded by the dip slope of the Cotswolds to the west and However, it is the towns that make the area distinctive. by a band of Corallian Limestone and Greensand to the Some, like Malmesbury, are very ancient and most, east, with the Salisbury Plain and West Wiltshire Downs including Calne, Chippenham, Melksham and Trowbridge, beyond. In the south there is a gradual merging with the are dominated by attractive centres built of limestone clay of Blackmore Vale and the Vale of Wardour. ashlar, reflecting their post-medieval prosperity as centres of the wool trade. Many towns contain exceptional In contrast to the strong character of the nearby Downs and collections of buildings closely linked to the rivers and Cotswolds, the distinctiveness of the Vales is less obvious there is an interesting range of stone across the area from and lies as much in the settlement pattern and building styles rough brown Corallian Rag to the smooth splendours of along the Avon as in the countryside.
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