High Leicestershire
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Landscape Character Area Harborough District Landscape Character Assessment High Leicestershire High Leicestershire Landscape Character Area Key Characteristics Topography Tilton on the Hill • Steep undulating hills The topography of High Leicestershire is its most Scraptoft • High concentration of woodland defining feature. The steeply sloping valleys and Bushby • Parkland areas with narrow gated roads Houghton on the Hill broad ridges were created by fluvio-glacial influences Leicester Thurnby • Rural area with a mix of arable farming on and water courses that flowed across the area. The lowlands and pasture on hillsides central area of High Leicestershire reaches 210m East Norton • Scattering of traditional villages and hamlets AOD beside Tilton on the Hill, and falls to below High Leicestershire through the area 100m AOD along the western edge of Leicester. The • Encroachment of Leicester to the west of the topography generally radiates out and down from this Great Glen area high point adjacent to Tilton on the Hill into the valleys of the adjoining character areas and Leicester city. General Description Geology Fleckney Kibworth The predominantly rural character area comprises Broughton Astley Medbourne undulating fields with a mix of pasture on the higher The main geology grouping of High Leicestershire is sloping land and arable farming on the lower, Jurassic Lower Lias. Foxton flatter land. Fields are divided by well established Upper Soar Welland Valley hedgerows, with occasional mature hedgerow Vegetation Ullesthorpe Lutterworth Lowlands trees. A network of narrow country lanes, tracks and Lubenham Market Harborough footpaths connect across the landscape interspersed The numerous woodlands which stretch across the by small thickets, copses and woodlands. Gated hills and valleys of High Leicestershire contribute to Lutterworth Laughton Hills roads are a particular feature towards the northern the character of the area with larger woodlands and Husbands Bosworth areas around Lowesby, Baggrave and Quenby. scattered copses prominent across many of the Extensive views from the higher ground reveal a ridges. Owston Woods is the largest of a number of pattern of small attractive villages, hamlets and farm areas of Ancient Semi-Natural Woodland (ASNW) to buildings set within an agricultural landscape with the north east and is the largest area of woodland Swinford traditional churches acting as distinctive features of at 141 hectares; it is formed from the remains of the 0 0.5 1 2 3 4 the settlements. Leighfield Forest. Launde Big Wood, Launde Park Approx Scale Kms Wood, Loddington Reddish, Tugby Wood and Tilton Crown copyright. All rights reserved. Harborough District Council: 100023843 Wood, whilst not as large as Owston, are significant Filepath:P:\GBEMB\MandI\Landscape\504 Series Numbers\5043069 Market Harborough\GIS\530_Projects\KeyPlan_Fig1.mxd woodlands in the area. Woodlands comprise predominantly native species with oak and ash tree harborough district council Landscape Character Area High Leicestershire Harborough District Landscape Character Assessment Figure 1.5: - High Leicestershire- Landscape Character Plan Legend Harborough District Boundary Legend Settlements Harboroug•h District Boundary Settlements Woodland Lowesby Woodland Hungarton SSSI SSSI Scheduled Ancient Monuments Keyham Cold Newton Character Areas Local Nature Reserve Flood Zone Flood Zone Tilton on the Hill Urban Fringe Areas Scraptoft Local Nature Reserve Reservoir Green Wedge Reservoir Scheduled Ancient Monuments Bushby Green Wedge Designation Houghton on the Hill A47 Thurnby Billesdon Skeffington Loddington Stoughton Leicester Airport Gaulby Tugby Kings Norton East Norton Little Stretton Illston On The Hill Great Glen Burton Overy Carlton Curlieu Hominghold Newton Harcourt Hallaton Shangton Glooston Eyebrook R Cranoe Tur Langton Slawston 0 0.3 0.6 1.2 1.8 2.4 Kms Church Langton CLIENT HARBOROUGH DISTRICT COUNCIL PROJECT East Langton Thorpe Langton HARBOROUGH CHARACTER ASSESSMENT TITLE Character Areas High Leicestershire 0 0.3 0.6 12 18 24 Approx Scale Kms Saddington Reservoir SCALE DATE DRAWN Crown copyright. All rights reserved. Harborough District Council: 100023843 1:70,000 at A3 14/07/2006 AMG Filepath:P:\GBEMB\MandI\Landscape\504 Series Numbers\5043069 Market Harborough\GIS\530_Projects\Pilot_ChA_LuttherworhLowlands.mxd harborough district council Landscape Character Area Harborough District Landscape Character Assessment High Leicestershire species dominating. There are also some mixed ancient semi-natural woodland in Leicestershire Urban Influence / Settlement Pattern species woodlands and coniferous plantations (approximately 141 ha) and is one of only three sites associated with the 19th century sporting estates, with in Leicestershire that supports purple small-reed (a Throughout High Leicestershire there is a network of earlier manorial origins in the north of the character local Biodiversity Action Plan species). small villages, hamlets and farm buildings connected area around the villages of Lowesby, Baggrave and by narrow country lanes that are enclosed by mature Quenby. Other SSSIs in this area include Eye Brook Reservoir hedgerows. A common feature within villages is which is one of the more important wintering wildfowl the church tower which acts as a landmark on the The mature hedgerows throughout High Leicestershire sites in the East Midlands and the Chater Valley approach to each village. Country lanes tend to run define, enforce and enclose the regular agricultural which supports neutral grassland and spring-fed through the centre of the linear village settlements with field pattern. Midland hawthorn predominates with ash marshes. Tilton Cutting SSSI has been notified due small roads and tracks branching off to either side. and oak as the most common hedgerow species and to its geological interest (exposures of marlstone rock they represent a key characteristic of the area. There bed). However, it also forms part of a disused railway Some of the smaller hamlets and farms are connected are also some ancient hedgerows that are associated line which is an important wildlife corridor through by the narrow gated roads that run through the open with the Parish boundaries. Most of the hedgerows this area and is managed by the Leicestershire and parkland areas to the north of the character area. are well maintained, particularly along side roads. Rutland Wildlife Trust as a nature reserve. Some of the enclosure hedgerows have fallen into Two major roads run through the centre of High Typical gated road of High Leicestershire near Lowesby decline with gaps forming along them whereas others A range of protected and notable flora/ fauna are Leicestershire character area, the A47 east to west contain occasional mature trees within their length. likely to be present within this region such as bats, from Leicester towards Peterborough and the B6047 badgers, water vole, otter, white clawed crayfish, north to south, from Melton Mowbray to Market Other areas of visually significant vegetation follow the amphibians, reptiles and notable bird communities. Harborough. numerous streams and brooks within the valleys. The dismantled railway to the east has created a wildlife Land Use Along the western edge of High Leicestershire the corridor across High Leicestershire from south of urban influence of Leicester city becomes far more Hallaton to beyond Marefield. High Leicestershire is a predominantly rural area that apparent. Larger suburban centres that are more is used for agriculture, with a mix of arable farming readily associated with Leicester city than the rural Ecology in the lowlands and pasture on higher ground. character of High Leicestershire are located in this The undulating topography and Area of Particularly area including Scraptoft, Bushby, Thurnby and Great A large number of Biological SSSIs are present in Attractive Countryside (APAC) designation have Glen. this region, mainly concentrated along its eastern prevented encroachment of development in the past fringe. Of these, Owston Woods, Launde Big Wood, leaving only small settlements scattered throughout Green wedge designations and the proposed Leighfield Forest, Allexton Wood and Eye Brook Valley the area with some more suburban developments to community woodland greenspace project aim to Woods have been notified as they are representative the west of the region, closer to Leicester city. separate Leicester fringes from these villages. of ancient semi-natural woodland that has developed on heavy clay soil. These are dominated by ash- elm and ash-maple communities with an area of ash-hazel-maple coppice present in Allexton Wood. Keyham Church Owston Woods is the largest continuous area of 0 harboroughharborough district district council council Landscape Character Area High Leicestershire Harborough District Landscape Character Assessment the 15th and 16th centuries and this has affected the Capacity: Low to Medium Key Issues nature of the landscape. High Leicestershire is generally an attractive rural • Development may have an adverse impact on There are a number of deserted medieval settlement character area with small settlements, agriculture and topography and landform which are key defining sites as well as earthworks associated with shrinkage woodland as its major features. The area would have features of the landscape character of this of settlements from the 15th century onwards, a low capacity to accept any major developments in area. The landscape is