Portsdown Hill Open Downs

8I: PORTSDOWN HILL OPEN DOWNS Portdown scarp from Port Solent – Portsmouth; Development has crept up the foothills on the south side – defence related sites on the skyline. Approaching Fort Widley – downland Commanding view over Portsmouth Upper parts of the scarp overlooking and scrub on scarp side © Geograph harbour. Drayton – the area is criss crossed by informal paths. Open views were maintained to the .The area west of the Wallington Fort Nelson – one of the iconic north of the forts on the dip – known stream is also of Open Downs Palmerston forts- looking along the as ‘the killing fields’ – Forest of Bere character – Knowle just visible to the ridge © Palmerston Forts society. beyond. right. Hampshire County 1 Status: FINAL May 2012 Integrated Character Assessment Portsdown Hill Open Downs Hampshire County 2 Status: FINAL May 2012 Integrated Character Assessment Portsdown Hill Open Downs 1.0 Location and Boundaries 1.1 The extent reflects the area of chalk geology and cuts across townscape areas which are on this geology. 1.2 Component County Landscape Types: Open Downs, Chalk Scarp, Settlement, Lowland Mosaic Medium Scale (small). 1.3 Composition of Borough/District LCAs: Fareham BC Winchester CC Havant BC North Fareham Downs Portsdown Hill Portsdown Hill Portsdown Purbrook This character area also partly falls within Portsmouth CC land. The County assessment includes the lower lying western foothills (west of the Wallington river – North Fareham Downs). Although the distinct escarpment tails out to the west the chalk geology and soils is a unifying feature. 1.4 Associations with NCA and Natural Areas: NCA 126: South Coast Plain NA 75: South Coast Plain and Hampshire Lowlands 1.5 Townscape assessment areas: Fareham (extreme north west) Cowplain, Purbrook, Waterlooville and Horndean (extreme south) 2.0 Key Characteristics • An outlying chalk escarpment set in a predominantly low lying clay and coastal landscape giving the landscape added prominence. • Large predominantly arable fields with straight boundaries set between drove lanes, with more irregular fields around the Wallington stream and some fringe areas. • Generally low hedges or no hedges, and occasional banks to field boundaries associated with drove routes. • Very small copses including 19th century plantations – otherwise a distinct lack of trees and woodland. Chalk scrub on southern scarp side. • Elevated exposed east-west ridge line gives rise to long panoramic views over the Forest of Bere to the north and Portsmouth, the harbours, the Solent and the hilly profile of the Isle of Wight. • Victorian Palmerston forts which form a series of historic landmarks on the hill top with grassy moats and banks or glacii. • A popular green lung with easy access from settlements to the south – with significant areas of open access on the steeper south facing slopes. Hampshire County 3 Status: FINAL May 2012 Integrated Character Assessment Portsdown Hill Open Downs • Other than the military dominance there is little settlement. Occasional farms are located on the springline on the northern boundary. They are associated with Wallington and the fringes of contracted medieval villages. • 20th century housing development spreading up the southern and eastern slopes 3.0 Physical Characteristics and Land Use 3.1 A very prominent chalk anticline escarpment forms a ridge between the coastal plain and the Forest of Bere to the north. The southern facing scarp slope rises steeply to around 120m AOD. The scarp face reveals several Upper Chalk formations, in horizontal bands which are made visible in the cut face north of Porchester. This includes distinctive bands of flint. Sands and gravels associated with periglacial deposits are confined mainly to the Wallington river valley at the western foothills, and small patches in small short dry valleys on the dip slope. The geology and topography give rise to freely draining calcareous soils often very thin on higher and steeper slopes. On the northern edge and to the west the soils have greater clay content. 3.2 Arable land use is very dominant with large fields with regular straight boundary patterns. The average field size is medium to large, 12 to 25 ha, with smaller fields to the east. Fields are frequently not bounded by hedgerows, and those that exist tend to be low and gappy without mature trees. There is more permanent pasture in the Wallington valley. Fringe areas to the south and east have had encroachment from 20th century development. There is very little woodland cover. There are active chalk pits and landfill operations on the ridge, but the topography often renders them almost invisible in the landscape. Other land use is defence-related in very prominent ridge top locations. 3.3 The course of the Wallington stream is deflected in a westerly direction through a low point in the Portsdown foothills and into Fareham. Otherwise there are no streams or waterbodies in this landscape. 4.0 Experiential/Perceptual Characteristics 4.1 The elevated exposed ridge line and upper parts of the escarpment give long panoramic views over the Forest of Bere to the north, and spectacular views south over Portsmouth, the harbours and eastern Solent to the hilly backdrop of the Isle of Wight. Consequently it is an outward looking landscape. Within the character area the limited woodland, hedgerow and smooth topography there is a strong sense of space, prominence and intervisibility. 4.2 This a popular and, importantly, a very local greenspace which provides a contrast to the dense urban development to the south. There are several footpaths, with open access land and small common on the south facing scarp. Fort Nelson and Fort Purbrook are important visitor attractions. 4.3 The commanding views over the rural hinterland to the north and the harbours to the south, combined with the semi natural habitats on the scarp are very influential on raising the perception of the area’s tranquillity. In addition there is a powerful contrast between the exposed ridge top (which provides wide open space, a sense of prospect and relief) and the adjoining urban environment to the south. However, Hampshire County 4 Status: FINAL May 2012 Integrated Character Assessment Portsdown Hill Open Downs the relative tranquillity of the area is tempered by unsightly elements in the form of masts, traffic, the M27 and the exposed scarp face (resulting from quarrying activities). 5.0 Biodiversity Character 5.1 This is an arable farming landscape. There are a few large patches of improved grassland throughout the area. In the south east, abutting urban development in the adjacent area, there is a long strip of habitats along Ports Down, comprising a mosaic of mainly calcareous grassland with dense scrub, semi-improved calcareous grassland, amenity grassland and (at each end of the strip), small patches of unimproved neutral grassland. Woodland is very limited in this area although there are very small patches of woodland scattered throughout and varying in type. Much is broadleaved woodland but there are also strips of mixed woodland, patches of parkland and a coniferous plantation. In the north east of the site there is a very small area of base rich fen surrounded by broadleaved woodland and unimproved neutral grassland. 5.2 The area contains two SSSIs. Portsdown SSSI is an isolated east-west chalk anticline with a long south-facing escarpment which remains un-reclaimed. On the lower south-facing slopes raised beaches mark former sea levels and it is postulated that former wave erosion has removed the Tertiary deposits and some of the chalk, leaving very steep slopes. Despite the absence of grazing, and extensive disturbance, these slopes still support a rich chalk grassland flora and a rich and diverse insect fauna. At Downend Chalkpit SSSI, quarrying has exposed a complex of contemporaneously folded and disturbed beds. Well exposed chalk of this age (early to mid Campanian) is rare in Britain and there are no other exposures of this age with a comparable density of hard grounds which yield rich and important fauna. There are several rare fossils, including heteromorph ammonites previously unknown in Britain. 5.3 Portsdown Hill BOA covers the SSSI sites and extends to include other relict fragments of species rich chalk grassland (designated SINCs) and areas of high suitability for restoration to chalk grassland. There are over 20 SINCs in this landscape character area, although none exist in the west. Most are designated for the unimproved chalk grasslands which they support, although a small few are designated for their ancient and semi-natural woodland resource. 6.0 Historic Character 6.1 Archaeology 6.1.1 There is Mesolithic evidence on Portsdown Hill as part of a wider distribution along the coastal plain and then extending northward towards the Greensand and heathland. 6.1.2 Portsdown hill is a prominent crest of chalk overlooking the coast and harbours, and as such is a distinctive location to view and from which to view. The evidence suggests that this is a landscape that was valued in different ways through time, as both a practical and a ritual landscape. There are two Neolithic long barrows perched on the hill above the coastal plain, and a string of Bronze Age burial mounds along the hill as well as cremation urns and other Bronze Age sites. There are Iron Age settlements and enclosures, Roman buildings, Roman burials and Saxon Hampshire County 5 Status: FINAL May 2012 Integrated Character Assessment Portsdown Hill Open Downs cemeteries. This is a landscape that is rich in archaeology, including unusual archaeology, and as such it seems reasonable to link its extraordinary topographic location with a value to past communities that is beyond settlement and agriculture and reflects monuments and burial. Evidence of late prehistoric and medieval agricultural fields systems have also been noted. 6.1.3 More recently, this prominence has been utilised by the military forts and other establishments, and the northern landscape was significantly altered by woodland clearance to create the ‘fields of fire’ for the forts.

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