Part One: Landscape Character Descriptions 7. Trent Valley Washlands Landscape Character Types • Lowland Village Farmlands ..... 7.4 • Riverside Meadows ................... 7.13 • Wet Pasture Meadows ............ 7.9 Trent Valley Washlands Character Area 69 Part 1 - 7.1 Trent Valley Washlands CHARACTER AREA 69 An agricultural landscape set within broad, open river valleys with many urban features. Landscape Character Types • Lowland Village Farmlands • Wet Pasture Meadows • Riverside Meadows "We therefore continue our course along the arched causeway glancing on either side at the fertile meadows which receive old Trent's annual bounty, in the shape of fattening floods, and which amply return the favour by supporting herds of splendid cattle upon his water-worn banks..." p248 Hicklin; Wallis ‘Bemrose’s Guide to Derbyshire' Introduction and tightly trimmed and hedgerow Physical Influences trees are few. Woodlands are few The Trent Valley Washlands throughout the area although The area is defined by an constitute a distinct, broad, linear occasionally the full growth of underlying geology of Mercia band which follows the middle riparian trees and shrubs give the Mudstones overlain with a variety reaches of the slow flowing River impression of woodland cover. of fluvioglacial, periglacial and river Trent, forming a crescent from deposits of mostly sand and gravel, Burton on Trent in the west to Long Large power stations once to form terraces flanking the rivers. Eaton in the east. It also includes dominated the scene with their the lower reaches of the rivers Dove massive cooling towers. Most of The gravel terraces of the Lowland and Derwent. these have become Village Farmlands form coarse, decommissioned and will soon be sandy loam, whilst the Riverside To the north the valley rises up to demolished. Meadows are predominantly a the South Derbyshire Claylands and heavy clay loam. Locally distinct to the Derbyshire Coalfield, whilst the Sand and gravel extraction and the Midlands and occurring only in south is bounded by the Melbourne subsequent restoration has created a few areas south of Derby, at Parklands and Mease/Sence localised areas of open water. Major Stenson Fields and Sinfin Moor, the Lowlands. roads like the A50, south of Derby, Wet Pasture Meadows are and the A52, from Derby to characterised by grey, calcareous This is a somewhat fragmented Nottingham, further dissect the clays affected by ground water and landscape of pastoral and arable area. occasional flooding. land, intermixed with urban development, transport routes and localised mineral extraction. The rivers regularly flood over the adjacent land creating a temporary but very different scene. The broad, meandering rivers are unobtrusive and often only revealed by lines of willows and poplars. In the Riverside Meadows, permanent pasture is occasionally defined by small, hedged fields with scattered hedgerow trees, but more frequently by medium to large hedged fields with sparsely scattered trees. On the raised river terraces of the Lowland Village Farmlands, pasture gives way to mixed farming with larger more regular sized fields. Within these arable areas, hedgerows are low Trent Valley Washlands Character Area 69 Part 1 - 7.2 These variations in soils and levels Human Influences With the developing use of water have determined the nature of power, mills were constructed on agricultural practices and settlement The Trent Valley has been a focus the more accessible tributaries in patterns. Mixed farming and the of human activity since early the flood plain. However, the risk of villages of the Lowland Village prehistory. The gravel terraces with flooding restricted settlement on Farmlands are located on the their light soils attracted settlement the Riverside Meadows. When slightly higher levels which are freer from the Neolithic period onwards water power was replaced by coal, draining and less prone to flooding, and, from as early as the Iron Age, the proximity of the Derbyshire whilst the unsettled pastoral areas there is evidence for the Coalfield and an improving form the Riverside Meadows of the establishment of boundaries within transport network in the 18th and flood plain. The open flood plains the landscape. 19th centuries, led to the growth of play a vital role in coping with the textile and engineering increased volumes of water in the The evidence for these settlements industries. Trent system during times of flood. and field systems is now generally only visible on aerial photographs, In the 20th century, plentiful Natural Influences although some upstanding supplies of nearby coal, as well as monuments do survive, such as the easy access by rail, led to the Agriculture remains the predominant prehistoric barrows at Swarkestone construction of large coal-fired land-use with improved pasture and Lowes and Round Hill in Twyford power stations. The Trent Valley arable on the slightly higher river and Stenson Parish. continues to accommodate terraces of the Lowland Village important transport routes with Farmlands. Pasture is the main As is often the case, the pattern of road, rail and canals threading land-use adjacent to the river on the settlement and enclosure visible through its length. Modern roads Riverside Meadows. today was established in the Anglo- like the A50 and A52 have a major Saxon Period, as place names such impact on the landscape as they Areas of traditional semi-natural as Aston and Weston-on-Trent or cross the area from east to west, habitats, such as wet grasslands Swarkestone indicate. Enclosure of often dissecting historic lanes and marsh, small fields with the medieval open fields and across the flood plain. species-rich grasslands, ponds and commons by parliamentary ditches, and wet woodlands, have enclosure and private agreement The underlying mineral deposits all been marginalised or isolated by had begun by the 18th century. The have resulted in extensive gravel modern farming practice and the enclosures are generally quite large extraction in the lower Dove and deepening and canalisation of the and regular, and many have been Trent flood plains. The restoration River Trent, which has drained enlarged in recent decades. Some of gravel pits is changing from adjacent land. In some areas there areas of ridge and furrow survive agricultural after-uses to open has been considerable loss of but much has been lost due to water, resulting from the lack of hedgerows through removal to intensive arable farming. suitable fill material. In some enlarge fields for arable crops or sections of the Trent, active gravel through neglect. The villages of the Lowland Village extraction and open water strongly Farmlands are compact and influences the landscape character. The rivers themselves and their nucleated although settlements, tributaries are recognised as such as Hilton, Breaston and Other Considerations valuable wildlife corridors both for Draycott, have expanded rapidly in terrestrial animals and migratory the 20th century to sprawl across • The Lowland Derbyshire BAP birds. Mineral extraction has created the valley. The traditional building • On Trent Initiative additional open water areas, materials of the historic settlements • Trent Valley Supplementary marshes and wet woodland, some are red brick with Staffordshire blue Planning Guidance of which have become important clay tile roofs. High status buildings • Trent Valley Vision wildlife habitats. are constructed from imported * For more information on the Trent sandstones. Valley Vision see the Introduction. Swarkestone Bridge and Causeway Trent Valley Washlands Character Area 69 Part 1 - 7.3 Trent Valley Washlands LANDSCAPE TYPE: LOWLAND VILLAGE FARMLANDS This is a large scale, open, gently rolling lowland landscape associated with the lower slopes and terraces of broad flood plains. A mixed farming landscape defined by medium to large regular fields with thorn hedges, punctuated by villages. villages. The presence of Key Characteristics fluvioglacial and river gravels has led to localised quarrying. • Gently rolling, almost flat, lowland with river terraces • Low slopes and summits give a sense of elevation over a broad Ecology flood plain • Mixed farming with arable cropping and improved pasture With a long tradition of mixed • Thinly scattered hedgerow trees including some willow pollards farming with intensive cropping, • Scattered, locally dense, watercourse trees this landscape is ecologically poor. • Medium to large regular fields with thorn hedgerows Terrestrial corridors, in the form of • Discrete red brick villages with farms and cottages hedgerows, streams and ditches • Large red brick outlying farms persist but these are becoming poorer owing to neglect, drainage schemes and further agricultural Geology and Landform types are slowly permeable and intensification. seasonally waterlogged comprising The underlying geology comprises of reddish, fine loamy clays and alternating bands of Permo-Triassic other clay soils derived from Mudstones and Siltstones. Within Permo-Triassic Mudstone and the Trent Valley, the bedrock has alluvium. These support winter been overlain with a variety of cereals, short-term grassland, dairy fluvioglacial drifts, river terrace and stock rearing. Fields respond Developing habitat at Willington deposits and alluvium. well to under-drainage but the less Canals and standing open water permeable soils can suffer from provide additional habitat Soils and Land-Use cattle poaching and a limited opportunities for wetland flora and autumn season