Part 3: Town Context

Dorset Historic Towns Survey: Christchurch Part 3: Town Context 13 Dorset Historic Towns Survey: Christchurch hill provided a dramatic setting for a Bronze 3.1 The Setting of the Town Age barrow cemetery and now forms an impor- tant recreational space on the edge of the ur- No town exists in isolation. All towns are ban area. Flanking the ridge to the east is the shaped and influenced by their surrounding lower valley of the River Avon. This river has a landscape. Topography and geology have a flood plain, over 1km wide in places, draining profound influence on the way a town devel- south into Christchurch Harbour where its allu- ops; constraining development, shaping com- vial deposits form Stanpit marsh. The river munication routes, and providing raw materials Stour forms the western boundary of Christ- for building and other economic activity, church Borough and the study area. The Stour amongst other things. In order to understand also drains into Christchurch harbour effec- the character of a town, its surrounding land- tively isolating the historic core of the town on a scape and natural context need to be under- low peninsula, the narrow neck of which is cre- stood. This section of the report briefly sets out ated by a meander of the Stour east of St the wider context of the town and the land- Catherine’s Hill. The habitable area of the town scape character of its hinterland. is thus restricted by the flood plains of the Avon and Stour Rivers to the east and west and St Catherine’s Hill to the north. The major expan- 3.2 Topography sion of the town has, of necessity, occurred to Christchurch today sits on the eastern edge of the east, beyond the Avon flood plain and the Poole/ Bournemouth conurbation extending coastal marshes. This occupies a strip of land from the northern and eastern sides of Christ- 3.5km wide between the sands of Christchurch church Harbour (Map 1). The harbour itself is Bay to the south and the railway to the north. a natural ria accessed by a narrow channel This land rises gradually to the east, away from between Hengistbury head and Mudeford the Avon valley, although it is itself deeply cut Quay. This channel, known as ‘The Run’, is not by small streams. Perhaps this is most dra- now suitable for the passage of larger, com- matically illustrated at Chewton Bunny, a nar- mercial, vessels, although the harbour is exten- row gorge cut through the gravels by the River sively used for recreation. The historic town Chew and forming the eastern boundary of the occupies the southern tip of a NNW-SSE Borough and study area. The landscape of aligned gravel ridge where it meets Christ- Christchurch is dominated by NNW-SSE trends church harbour. This ridge reaches a maximum formed through the erosion of extensive pla- height of 45m at St Catherine’s Hill, less than teau and valley gravels by the Rivers Avon, 3km north of the Saxon core of the town. This Bure, Mude, Stour and Moors. These in turn Figure 3: Christchurch’s topographic setting 15 Dorset Historic Towns Survey: Christchurch Figure 4: Geology of the Christchurch Area. run perpendicular to the dominant ENE-WSW particular is considered to be a flood deposit. geological trend of the Hampshire Basin syn- At St Catherine’s Hill these beds comprise cline. These trends have influenced modern Branksome Sand, Parkstone Clay and the field patterns, which may themselves represent Poole Formation; whereas in Highcliffe and the latest phase in the continual use and modi- Walkford they are made up of Boscombe fication of field alignments first laid out in the Sand, Chama Sands and Barton Clay. late prehistoric period. It is the low ridge of pla- Both of the alluvial deposits (plateau gravel teau and valley gravel, upon the southern tip of and Bracklesham beds) have themselves been which is situated the historic town of Christ- cut and redeposited by precursors of the Riv- church, that forms the most visible manifesta- ers Stour and Avon to form the valley gravels, tion of these trends. which are recorded in numerous terraces, 3.3 Geology numbered and dated by Palaeolithic imple- The bedrock and superficial geology of the re- ments found within them. These terraces are gion is depicted on Map 2. It is dominated by thought to represent raised beaches formed glacial alluvial gravels. These are essentially through numerous changes in sea level during fluvial in origin, although the rivers that pro- the Pleistocene epoch. duced them were of vastly greater volume than The latest event in the sequence is the continu- the streams of today. One such river, the River ing deposition of alluvium in the flood plains of Solent, would have drained the region from the Rivers Stour and Avon (Chatwin, 1960, 76- west to east along the Hampshire Basin syn- 85). cline. The gravels deposited by this vast river form the plateau gravels of the region. These survive today as isolated caps to Hengistbury 3.4 Landscape Character Head and St Catherine’s Hill and as more ex- The Christchurch landscape has been the sub- tensive deposits further west in the Bourne- ject of several landscape character assess- mouth region and to the east at Walkford, ments, which help place the town into its larger Highcliffe and The New Forest. These gravels surrounding landscape. overlie the Bracklesham beds comprising sand, brickearth, and pebble beds. The brickearth in In the national assessment of countryside char- 16 Dorset Historic Towns Survey: Christchurch Figure 5: Christchurch in its landscape character setting (Dorset AONB Landscape Characterisation). acter, Christchurch and its surrounding land- arable fields, with contrasts between the more scape is partly within Joint Character Areas intimate features of the Avon Valley, and the 131 New Forest and 135 Dorset Heaths salt-marshes and shingle beaches on the (Countryside Agency 1999). The key qualities southern coastal plain. of these character areas are listed as: New Forest (eastern part of the study area) Dorset Heaths (western part of the study area) ● An extensive and complex mosaic of broad- ● An exposed, open, broad-scale landscape leaved and coniferous woodlands, unenclosed forming a strong contrast with the adjacent wood pasture, heath, grassland, and farmland. character areas. ● A constant presence of numerous grazing ● Undulating lowland heath with tracts of ponies and cattle, both a strong visual element heather, stunted pines and gorse scrub. and a significant impact on the land cover. ● Blocks of conifers forming locally-prominent ● Open and exposed plateaux and small val- landmarks. leys dominated by heath, with heather, gorse ● Mosaics of heathland, farmland, woodland and grassland with scattered birch and pine. and scrub. Bog vegetation in valley bottoms. ● Much is sparsely populated areas with scat- ● Pockets of farmland and widely dispersed tered settlements and a few small villages and settlements with large isolated dwellings, towns but the extensive conurbation of Poole- bounded by high hedges, contained within the Bournemouth forms a major influence in the woodland. south and east. ● Wood-pasture of mature oak woodland, ● Flat-bottomed, open valleys with floodplain patches of bracken interspersed with glades pastures and willows. and heavily grazed ‘lawns’, verges and com- ● An outer edge of low, rolling hills with an ir- mons. regular patchwork of pasture, woodland and ● Large woodlands of mature broadleaves and dense hedges marking the transition to the an understorey of holly and bracken, contrast- chalk. ing with dark blocks of coniferous plantations. ● Fringe areas of farmland with villages. Small The draft Historic Landscape Character map- fields lined by full hedges, opening out to larger ping shows Christchurch sitting within a mosaic 17 Dorset Historic Towns Survey: Christchurch of enclosed fields, coniferous and deciduous Ltd. woodland, common, heath and areas of water- The largest employment sector in the borough meadows along the major river valleys of the is hotels, restaurants and distribution, employ- Stour and Avon (figure 3). ing 29% of the workforce. This probably re- flects the seaside situation of the region. The 3.5 The Present Town public sector, including health and education, is the second largest, employing 21% of the The borough of Christchurch occupies the workforce; Banking/finance employ 15%, south eastern corner of the county of Dorset, manufacturing industries 14% and transport with Bournemouth to the west and The New 11%. Construction industries employ 6% of the Forest district of Hampshire to the east. The workforce and Agriculture less than 1% (Dorset borough covers an area of 50 sq. km. encom- County Council, 2007). passing the wards of Burton & Winkton Grange, Highcliffe, Jumpers, Mudeford & Friars Cliff, North Highcliffe & Walkford, Portfield, Purewell & Stanpit, St Catherine’s & Hurn, Town Centre, and West Highcliffe. The EUS study area, however, is restricted to the modern conurbation as depicted on the Ordnance Survey MasterMap. Modern Christchurch is located on the eastern edge of the Bournemouth conurbation. The town remained largely within its medieval lim- its, however, until the 19 th century from which time extensive residential suburbs have devel- oped, initially in the Portfield (figure 4) and Jumpers Common areas to the north of the town. The modern suburban area has grown, in parallel with Bournemouth, throughout the 20 th century to encompass many previously isolated villages including Mudeford, Highcliffe, Stanpit, Purewell, Bure, Hoburne and Walk- ford. The latest population figure (2005 mid year estimate) for the town is 45,074. The borough also has a large thriving business base with over 1,300 companies. These factors have led to an increased development pressure. Between 1994 and 2006, 14.94 hectares of industrial land had been de- veloped in Christchurch.

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