9E: CHILLING COASTAL PLAIN & LOCKS HEATH COMMON Market gardening now largely replaced by arable use, low hedges, occasional poplar shelter belts – farm buildings and vertical features like pylons, very visible in the flat coastal landscape. Low cliffs at Chilling, muds, sands and .Open Coastal Plain near Abshot Market gardening – near Titchfield shingle beach – not well used as Common © H Venables.- Geograph seaside destination. Land rises up from Hookgate- with Fields backing onto modern housing – Hook village green –© Colin Babb - prominent pylon line. © Margaret near Abshot © Hugh Venables - Geograph Sutton -Geograph Geograph Hampshire County 1 Status: FINAL DRAFT Autumn 2010 Integrated Character Assessment Chilling Brownwich and Locks Heath Coastal Plain Hampshire County 2 Status: FINAL DRAFT Autumn 2010 Integrated Character Assessment Chilling Brownwich and Locks Heath Coastal Plain 1.0 Location and Boundaries 1.1 This character area is located between the Itchen and Meon valleys and rises to about 50m inland before the land falls away to the M27 and the different more clayey geology of the adjoining character area to the north. The northern boundary cuts through the urban area of Swanwick and Locks Heath. 1.2 Component County Landscape Types Coastal Plain Open, Coastal Plain Enclosed. 1.3 Composition of Borough/District LCAs: Fareham BC. Fareham BC. Rural related: Urban and settlement related: The Hook Valley Locks Heath Chilling and Brownwich Coastal Plain Small parts of Sarisbury Titchfield Corridor The boundaries of the Borough assessment are comparable with this character area. The extent of the enclosed coastal plain landscape type is similar to that of the Hook Valley, but the Brownwich valley is not so extensively wooded and has not been picked out from the open coastal plain. The northern extent of the character area is slightly further south than the Borough assessment and cuts through the northern section of Locks Heath/Swanwick and corresponds with the extent of the river terrace gravels and former commons of Titchfield and Locks Heath, rather than the northern edge of the present day settlement. 1.3 Associations with NCAs and Natural areas: NCA 126: South Coast Plain NA 75: South Coast Plain and Hampshire Lowlands 1.4 Townscape assessment areas: Locks Heath, Sarisbury and Warsash Swanwick and Whiteley 2.0 Key Characteristics • Flat or gently undulating landform with a gentle slope to the coastline ending in a low cliff above a narrow shingle beach. • An undeveloped coastal margin with steep low cliffs of national geological significance, and with a windswept generally open character inland. • Extremely fertile agricultural soils on the open coastal plain. • Areas of low level sand and gravel restoration. Hampshire County 3 Status: FINAL DRAFT Autumn 2010 Integrated Character Assessment Chilling Brownwich and Locks Heath Coastal Plain • A landscape of large scale mainly arable fields with low hedges, wooded stream valleys. This mostly supersedes the market gardening which occupied much of the central area, south of Locks Heath and to the west towards the Hamble valleys • In the south there is evidence of a well developed medieval field pattern, now largely overwritten by modern fields. • Historically, a very sparsely settled area pre 1850 which is dominated by modern low density estate development in the north. • A relatively non tourist/commercial coast line but with numerous permissive tracks which supplement the rights of way network over the County Council owned land. 3.0 Physical Characteristics and Landuse 3.1 An expansive gently undulating, predominantly open coastal plain landscape which gently rises from low cliffs to around 50m AOD in the urban area of Locks Heath and Swanwick. This incorporates the silty sandy clay geology of the Bracklesham beds which are in turn overlain by the Pleistocene river terrace sand and gravels associated with the terraces of the Solent river. The range in geology is more limited than coastal plain landscapes to the east. The low cliffs of about 7m are of national geological significance with shingle turning to sand and muds, the Pleistocene gravels being fossil rich with molluscs and bivalves. Large trapezoid stones or Sarsen erratics of cemented quartz’ can be found here. 3.2 The sandy gravelly river deposits give rise to very fertile light sandy silty loam with a high water table, which are termed Aeolian silty drift. There are large former sand and gravel sites south and east of Hook Park Road, which have had low level restoration and comprise far less fertile soils than pre-extraction. Northwards, as the land rises are sandier more acidic soils, although much of this area is now developed. 3.3 This landscape character area comprises urban and agricultural land uses. The land use in the northern half of the character area is predominantly 20th century suburban residential with a mosaic of broadleaved woodland, improved grassland and amenity grassland. There are also small, discreet patches of amenity grassland, broadleaved woodland and parkland within the urban area. Immediately south there are areas of market gardening and glass houses and straight edge fields of variable size. These have been much reduced over recent years. Field boundaries are mixed in character, but poplar shelter belts are a common feature. Further south the landscape is very open with large scale predominantly arable fields with weak hedgerow structure with patches of improved grassland, agricultural buildings and strips of broadleaved woodland. Tree canopies are shaped by the predominant south westerly winds and contrast with the stream valleys of the Hook and Brownwich which are more sheltered and well wooded and have associated standing water, small lakes and ponds. The coastal margin is undeveloped apart from small sections at Sea Breezes and Cliff Road. 3.4 There are relatively few field drainage ditches because of the sandy/gravelly soils. The Hook and Brownwich streams are short watercourses which have spring origins in the north of the character area. Hampshire County 4 Status: FINAL DRAFT Autumn 2010 Integrated Character Assessment Chilling Brownwich and Locks Heath Coastal Plain 3.5 The littoral processes are relatively weak on this stretch of coast. But locally generated wave action in the Solent is sufficiently strong to cause cliff erosion. The net drift direction is from northwest to southeast parallel with the shore. There is more cliff exposure from erosion in the northwest section, whilst to the southeast the foot of the cliffs has more vegetation. There are no groynes to affect littoral drift although there are gabion defences at Solent Breezes. 4.0 Experiential/Perceptual Characteristics 4.1 The flat coastal landscape imparts a strong sense of exposure and big skies particularly in the southern half of the character area. The horizons vary from the natural high rolling profile of the Isle of Wight to the developed skyline of Locks Heath and Swanwick to the north. The wooded valleys of the Meon and Hamble to the east and west provide visual containment. The views are typically expansive with big skies created by the open nature of the coastal plain and waters of the Solent. 4.2. There are numerous footpaths connecting settlement in the northern part of the character area with the Solent Way coast and cliff path. However access to the beach is limited due to the cliffs. There are few bridleways which is typical of the coastal plain landscapes and there is a perceived fragmentation of the rights of way network. Numerous permissive routes, which include horse riding routes, exist across the county owned land in the south e.g. the Chilling estate. 4.3 There is a strong contrast in tranquillity across this landscape, low in the urban areas to the north with a surprising sense of remoteness and lack of traffic to the south. This section of the Solent coastline is much less developed than elsewhere east of Southampton water and the coast path and beach are usually very quiet. 5.0 Biodiversity Character 5.1 The Solent and Southampton water SPA is in the intertidal area of this character area and contiguous with the southern boundary. Lee-on-the-Solent to Itchen SSSI is predominantly coterminous with the international designation which extends along the eastern shore of Southampton Water from Lee-on-the-Solent to the mid-Itchen estuary. The SPA/SSSI supports an outstanding assemblage of nationally scarce coastal plants. In addition, the cliffs at Brownwich and the foreshore at Lee-on-the- Solent are of national geological importance. 5.2 The Solent BOA exists on the south coast of this character area. It comprises part of Southampton Waters and is internationally important for over wintering bird species, it also supports an outstanding assemblage of nationally scarce coastal plants. 5.3 There are a few SINCs in this landscape, designated mainly for the ancient and semi- natural woodland which they support. Hook with Warash LNR exists in this landscape character area. 6.0 Historic Character 6.1 Archaeology 6.1.1 There are quite a number of reports of Mesolithic artefacts that have been found in the area, and taken with wider distributions, it is clear that the coastal plain was Hampshire County 5 Status: FINAL DRAFT Autumn 2010 Integrated Character Assessment Chilling Brownwich and Locks Heath Coastal Plain utilised, but that in the early part of the period this would have been an inland rather than a coastal zone. 6.1.2 Although there is no immediate evidence of Neolithic settlement, the long barrows on Portsdown Hill to the east suggest that the plain was in some way settled or farmed and there are plenty of Neolithic artefacts found in this area. There is evidence of some Bronze Age settlement on the plain, but it is limited and there is no evidence of field systems with burial mounds being located on the higher ground behind the coastal plain.