Monktonmead Final Report
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Rivers Report Monktonmead Brook Catchment Area December 2012 Maps and data produced through ArcView GIS analysis and under Contractor Licence from the Isle of Wight Council (© Crown copyright and database rights 2012 Ordnance Survey licence number 1000 19229) Contents Contents .................................................................................................................................................. 2 Summary ................................................................................................................................................. 3 Key management issues .......................................................................................................................... 4 Monktonmead Brook Catchment Area ................................................................................................... 5 The watercourse ..................................................................................................................................... 7 The wider landscape - an overview ........................................................................................................ 7 Landscape change ................................................................................................................................... 8 Estates and manors ................................................................................................................................. 9 Detailed analysis of the HLC database .................................................................................................. 11 Development..................................................................................................................................... 12 Field Patterns .................................................................................................................................... 13 Amalgamated fields ...................................................................................................................... 14 Assarts ........................................................................................................................................... 14 Enclosure ....................................................................................................................................... 15 Re-organised Fields ....................................................................................................................... 16 Sub-divided Fields ......................................................................................................................... 17 Field Patterns by era ..................................................................................................................... 17 Open Land ......................................................................................................................................... 18 Valley Floor ....................................................................................................................................... 18 Parkland and Designed Landscapes .................................................................................................. 19 Woodland .......................................................................................................................................... 19 Tables of data ........................................................................................................................................ 21 Summary The Monktonmead Brook Catchment area extends from Ashey and West Nunwell Downs in the south to the shore at Ryde between Pelhamfields in the west and Appley Park in the east on the north east coastline of the Isle of Wight. Monktonmead Brook rises in Bloodstone Copse at the base of Ashey Down it has a very natural sinuous character along much of its course but it completely piped underground from St Johns to the seashore under the town of Ryde. It flows through woodland, pasture and alongside the Isle of Wight Steam Railway and Island Line railway tracks. For part of its length it defines the boundary of the Medieval Parishes of Newchurch and Brading and Newchurch and St Helens. The underlying geology of the area is clay which has given heavy soils which in locations are overlain by gravel caps creating drier areas. Historically, the area would have been more wooded and would have included extensive areas of heathland and common grazing lands. Its use would have been influenced by the Manors of Whitefield, Ashey, Smallbrook, Ryde and Nunwell and at times by the Abbeys of Wherwell and to some extent Quarr. Significant assarting of woodland took place in the Medieval and Post Medieval periods particularly in areas around Whitefield Wood and Little Upton. Some 53.5% of Ancient Woodland has been lost. Enclosure of common and heath land took place largely in the 19th century, very little remains. The town of Ryde expanded in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. The northern area of the catchment (north of Aldermoor Farm, Rosemary Vineyard and Great Preston Road) is almost completely developed as the town of Ryde and its suburbs. Outside of the urban area field patterns changed significantly in the 19th and 20th centuries with the amalgamation of smaller fields to create larger parcels, re-organisation of fields through the removal of boundaries and in some areas sub-division to create smaller fields. South of Ryde on the urban fringe the area is subjected to pressure from amenity, leisure use and development. Small areas of land have been retained as uncultivated scrub and rough grassland close to the valley floor near to the brook close north of Smallbrook Lane. Key management issues Woodland management – appropriate management of existing woodland for the landscape, historic environment and biodiversity. This will be achieved either through grant funding or through continued attempts to establish viable economic markets for woodland products. Woodland planting – any new woodland planting should be based upon restoration of areas which have some historic basis for woodland cover. Hedgerow management – appropriate management of existing hedgerows and potential restoration of historic hedgerows as effective stock boundaries and an important contributor to the landscape character of the area. Urban pressures – particularly in the areas defined as Landscape Improvement Zones in the Isle of Wight Landscape Character Assessment but also across the pasturelands in smaller field parcels and close to urban edges. In the latter part of the 20th century and into the 21st century there has been considerable pressure on smaller plots for leisure and amenity use such as ‘horsiculture’. Ryde has been identified as an area for the concentration of development in the Core Strategy of the Island Plan and it is likely that the Area Action for Ryde will see an expansion of settlement in areas south of Ryde. Pasture management – extensive versus intensive grazing and management practices to minimise diffuse pollution of the watercourse. Monktonmead Brook Catchment Area The following map shows the catchment area for Monktomead Brook. Some 1114 hectares in size, the area includes a large part of the town of Ryde and its suburbs (Elmfield, Oakfield, Haylands, Swanmore, Weeks and Appley) in the north and a more rural area in the south including parts of Ashey and Upton. The catchment area falls within the modern civil parishes of Ryde, Havenstreet and Ashey, Nettlestone and Seaview and Brading. Its extent reflects the area of landscape that has influence on the watercourse by acting as its watershed ( represents the location from which photographs have been taken). B A A : View from Downs Road looking towards Ryde with Monktonmead Brook in the valley. B: View from Ashey Down towards Ryde and Monktonmead Brook in the valley. The watercourse Monktonmead Brook rises as a spring below Ashey Down in Bloodstone Copse (55 metres AOD) where the geology is a series of clay formations close to the edge of the chalk. The Brook then continues northwards as a sinuous stream through farmland and then parallel to the Isle of Wight Steam Railway. At Smallbrook Junction Station where the Isle of Wight Steam Railway joins Island Line the Monktonmead Brook continues alongside the railway line until it reaches Oakfield close to Ryde St John’s Station. Up until this point the brook is largely natural in its profile flowing a sinuous stream at the bottom of the valley, the only exceptions being where it passes under the railway line and roads (Smallbrook Lane, Green Lane, East Ashey Lane) where it is culverted and bridged. From this point forward, the brook is completely underground through culverts until its outfall onto the beach north of Cornwall Street. The main stream is also fed along its course by a number of smaller tributary watercourses draining the higher ground to the east (Whitefield Wood) and west (Great Upton and Aldermoor). The wider landscape - an overview The Isle of Wight Landscape Character Assessment describes the landscape of the whole of the Isle of Wight and defines eleven distinct Landscape Character Types outside of the settlement areas across the county. Below are listed the Landscape Character Types occurring within the Monktonmead Brook Catchment Area: Chalk Downs – (Ashey Down in the south of the catchment) Landscape Improvement Zones – (Ashey, Upton and Westridge areas) Northern Woodlands – (Whitefield Woods) Traditional Enclosed Pasture – (throughout the catchment south of the