UPPER ASH VALLEY summary assessment evaluation guidelines area147 area 147 Buntingford County Map showing location of LANDSCAPE CHARACTER AREA Stevenage ©Crown copyright .All rights reserved. Puckeridge Hertfordshire County Council /Standon Bishops Stortford 100019606 2004 Watton -at- Stone Ware Sawbridgeworth Hertford LOCATION KEY CHARACTERISTICS Valley of the River Ash from north of Little Hadham • narrow valley landform extending northwards to Brent Pelham. Bordered to the • small to medium scale arable fields on valley slopes east by the Anstey Pelhams Plateau and to the west by the • scattered woodland blocks on upper edges of valley Hormead Wooded Plateau. slopes • River Ash well defined in places by mature streamside LANDSCAPE CHARACTER vegetation Narrow valley, locally very constricted by landform and • occasional pockets of grassland used for sheep grazing woodland. To the north, open arable slopes run down to • extensive views across the valley from adjacent plateaux embryonic watercourse and ancient Violets Lane trackway • similarity of opposing valley slopes which is densely lined with trees and shrubs. To south, valley is more open with the watercourse less defined and DISTINCTIVE FEATURES scattered woodland blocks on the upper edges of the valley • electricity pylons cross the northern end of the valley slopes. The area includes the small, nucleated settlements • electricity transformer station visible to the east of Clapgate and Barleycroft End located close to crossing • Violets Lane - ancient trackway adjacent to River Ash points on the River Ash but little other settlement within • recent housing development in converted brewery at the valley. Mixed native species hedgerows are widespread Barleycroft End especially along lanes. • views to Pelham churches • Ash Valley near Albury (J.Billingsley) East Herts District Landscape Character Assessment pg 231 UPPER ASH VALLEY summary assessment evaluation guidelines area 147 PHYSICAL INFLUENCES over the Ash. They all have medieval origins, but evidence Geology and soils. The valley contains a mix of various of the wider settlement pattern in these later periods is loams, gravels, sands and other Tertiary and peri-glacial fragmentary. At Barleycroft End, the line of the ancient deposits, overlying the chalk, which also appears frequently route northwards to Brent Pelham is preserved by Violets at the surface. This variation also locally rises onto the Lane, and place-name evidence suggests that the site of the adjacent plateau edges e.g. at Patmore Heath (see Area meeting place of the Anglo-Saxon and medieval hundred of 148).The main soil type are the loams (Melford series). Edwinstree may have been on the west side of the lane, Topography. A shallow valley around the River Ash with just north of Barleycroft End. gently sloping sides. The area includes a narrow tributary Field Patterns. Within the valley field sizes are typically valley to the north of Clapgate with slightly steeper sides. small to medium, with some localised areas of larger At the northern end the valley slopes are particularly amalgamation. The area was originally dominated by small shallow and the valley formation is not clearly and medium ‘irregularly’ enclosed fields systems, distinguishable from the adjacent areas. At the southern established before the 18th century, though there were also end, between Gravesend and Little Hadham, the valley some areas of enclosed meadow pasture along the Ash, and sides are steeper and the route twists to create a more of unenclosed common arable, particularly to the south of pronounced and enclosed valley feature. Locally the valley Furneux Pelham village, and at the southern end of the bottom broadens with small areas of floodplain. valley. An exceptionally high proportion of this pre-18th Degree of slope. Typical slopes vary between 1 in 15 and 1 century field pattern has survived, with substantial areas of in 30. Locally, slopes increase to between 1 in 7 and 1 in these irregularly enclosed fields at the head of the valley in 10. Brent Pelham, to the north of Gravesend, and especially Altitude range. The upper valley slopes are typically around Clapgate and Patmore Heath. There is a between 100m and 105m with the valley bottom ranges correspondingly small percentage of 20th century ‘prairie’ between 70m at the southern end to 95 - 100m at the fields throughout the area. This pattern is only significantly northern end. interrupted to the north of Furneux Pelham, where a block Hydrology. The River Ash rises to the north west of Brent of surviving pre-Parliamentary enclosure fields superseded Pelham (north of the area) where it forms a narrow, shallow the earlier pattern, and by small areas of 19th and 20th and seasonal bourne which passes through the centre of century woodland plantations in the centre of the area. the area. The ditches and minor tributaries flow in to the Transport pattern. A local road passes along the length of river and drain the surrounding land. To the north of the valley connecting the settlements of Barleycroft End, Barleycroft End the river bed is an ancient trackway known Gravesend, Clapgate and Little Hadham. Several minor as Violets Lane which is reputed to be the longest ford in roads connect with this, many of which are sunken. The the country. In Bogs Wood on the valley sides, there are a northern end of the valley (north of Barleycroft End) series of spring-fed old stew ponds. contains only narrow minor roads and an ancient trackway Land cover and land use. The valley sides are known as Violets Lane. predominantly open farmland under arable production with Settlements and built form. Settlement is concentrated in some local areas of mixed woodland to the west of the villages of Barleycroft End, Gravesend and Clapgate. Gravesend and the south of Clapgate. A small area of Elsewhere, there are large areas with no farms or houses parkland associated with the estate of the former Albury other than occasional isolated properties on the upper edge Hall is used for sheep grazing. of the valley sides e.g. Whitebarns, Little Mead and Church Vegetation and wildlife. Ancient woodlands in the valley End Farm. Barleycroft End includes a brewery and malt are limited except for Ninno Woods and Upwick Wood house which have recently been converted to a residential which are basically hornbeam on more-or-less acidic soils. development. Violets Spring is a more calcareous woodland, of ash/maple and hornbeam. Old semi-natural grassland is rare. OTHER SOURCES OF AREA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL INFLUENCES There are indications of late Neolithic or early Bronze Age and later activity along the valley, including several undated cropmarks of former field systems and maculae (possibly former quarries), evidence of prehistoric and Roman activity close to Church End, Little Hadham, the deep hollow way running from Patmore Heath to Patmore Hall, and finds such as a Neolithic stone axe and a small Late Bronze Age ‘founders’ hoard of bronze axes and metal from Furneux Pelham. The hamlets of Gravesend, Barleycroft End and Clapgate, are strung along the road from Little Hadham to Brent Pelham, and the latter two are also close to crossing points pg 232 East Herts District Landscape Character Assessment UPPER ASH VALLEY summary assessment evaluation guidelines area 147 VISUAL AND SENSORY PERCEPTION ACCESSIBILITY The area is locally visible from the adjacent plateaux and There is a good network of public footpaths within the area from the open arable areas within the valley. Views of the providing good accessibility for walkers through most of the arable farmland are generally extensive both across and area. Access for equestrians and cyclists is poorer with few along the valley. Flint towers and Hertfordshire spires of bridleways in the area. Two waymarked routes - the the churches in the surrounding area are a characteristic Hertfordshire Way and the Harcamlow Way, cross the feature in distant views. Locally however, some views are southern part of the area. blocked or framed by the woodland and belts of mature vegetation within the valley. Upwick Wood and Ninno COMMUNITY VIEWS Wood on steep valley sides (to the south of Clapgate) This valley is of significant general regard and particularly locally create a narrow, concealed area with few views into valued locally, as evidenced by a community campaign to or out of the area. have the area included within a new AONB [C] Rarity and distinctiveness. The area has a distinctive and Furneux Pelham: "Wide views south over common and relatively unusual character. It incorporates planned features woods...Violets lane, an ancient and mysterious holloway, a such as the parkland around Albury Hall and regular-shaped green tunnel in summer" RM Healey 'Hertfordshire: A Shell arable fields in the valley floor with organic and irregular Guide' 1982 features such as the settlement of Clapgate and irregular field patterns on some of the upper valley slopes. LANDSCAPE RELATED DESIGNATIONS Landscape Conservation Area (part of area) VISUAL IMPACT Other Sites of Ecological, Geological and Geomorphological The area has few detracting features particularly in the Importance or Interest - Ninno Wood, Upwick Wood, southern half. The most significant visual impact is created Violets Lane and Bogs Wood in the north of the area by two high voltage power lines which cross the valley and long distance views of the electricity transformer station at Crabb's Green. A twentieth century housing development on the edge