Character Area Mease/Sence 72 Lowlands Key Characteristics hedgerows have been diminished and sometimes removed. In the many areas of arable cultivation the hedgerow trees, which ● Gently-rolling landform of low rounded hills and comprise mainly ash and oak, are patchily distributed. The valleys. greatest extent of treecover comes from the large parklands at Gopsall Park, Market Bosworth, Thorpe Constantine and ● Flat land along river valleys. Shenton which often contain imposing mansions. ● Extensive, very open areas of arable cultivation. ● Strongly rectilinear hedge pattern of late enclosure, often dominating an open landscape. ● Tree cover confined to copses, spinneys, intermittent hedgerow trees and parks. ● Scattered large parks with imposing mansions. ● Small red-brick villages, often on hilltop sites and with prominent church spires. ● Ridge and furrow and deserted settlements. ● Isolated 19th century farmsteads. Landscape Character This area comprises the land hugging the western and southern flanks of the Leicestershire and South Derbyshire OB COUSINS/COUNTRYSIDE AGENCY OB COUSINS/COUNTRYSIDE Coalfield. The Trent valley forms its western boundary R between Burton upon Trent and Tamworth. From there Gently rolling clay ridges and shallow river valleys are framed by a eastwards it has a boundary with the Arden. On its south strongly rectilinear hedge pattern containing extensive areas of arable cultivation. eastern boundary this area merges with the Leicestershire Vales. Small villages, generally on the crests of the low ridges, are the most prominent features in the landscape other than The claylands surrounding the Mease and Sence fall unfortunately-sited pylons. Red brick cottages and houses southwards towards the valleys of the rivers Anker and with slate or pantile roofs cluster around spired churches Trent and are characterised by extensive areas of arable and, occasionally, timber framed buildings are to be seen in cultivation with low, sparse hedges and few hedgerow trees. the remoter areas. Only towards the edge of the area, such The Lowlands are very gently rolling clay ridges and shallow as near Burton upon Trent, have the villages acquired a valleys becoming virtually flat around the Sence and Mease. significant amount of post-war development. The largely They remained in open field cultivation until the 18th and remote and rural character is emphasised by the red brick 19th centuries and the strongly rectilinear hedge pattern which farmhouses isolated within the rectangular fields, with their was then imposed is still readily apparent. This is names like Waterloo Farm demonstrating their origin. In complemented by copses and spinneys on the ridges and such an open landscape, the Ashby Canal is a conspicuous occasional groups of trees on the streamsides. The landscape feature and the tourist attraction of Bosworth Battlefield is predominantly an open agricultural one in which the brings visual variety. 114 Physical Influences the first substantial present day evidence of human influence comes from the Anglo-Saxon period. The many tons, few The area is dominated by the Triassic Mercia Mudstones woodland names and occasional heath names indicate that which give rise to productive, reddish clay soils but are the landscape was substantially, if sparsely, settled at an partially overlaid by glacial till in the east. Outcrops of early date, but there was still room for Scandinavian Triassic sandstone extend across the area southwards and settlements not least at Ingleby where an important Danish westwards from the edge of the coalfield, supporting well- pagan burial site has been found. drained sandy soils. The rivers Sence, Anker and Mease By the time of the Domesday Book settlement was drain the South Derbyshire coalfield westwards into the widespread, if rather sparse. The landscape was one of fairly rivers Tame and Soar. Smaller streams drain towards the evenly-dispersed nucleated villages, usually on the slightly north west directly into the Trent and have carved out higher ground overlooking their open fields with only a few more undulating landforms. larger centres like Market Bosworth. One of area’s claims to national fame is as the location for the Battle of Bosworth Historical and Cultural Influences Field in the 15th century. In the 16th century, the There is scattered evidence of Neolithic and Bronze Age dissolution of the monasteries and the developing land occupation from finds and sites which appears to relate to market led to the formation of large estates and, ultimately, activity spreading out from the Trent and Tame valleys. to the landscape parks and country houses and estates which While there was certainly occupation and clearance of the form an important landscape component. In the case of areas throughout the Iron Age and Roman periods, and Market Bosworth Hall and Gopsall incomers were able to heathlands had become established over the glacial hill soils, buy up land to create new estates, parks and mansions. Character Area 72 BURTON UPON TRENT Mease/Sence Lowlands A50 70 East Staffordshire District Area 72 boundary 2 71 South A444 Adjacent Area 69 Derbyshire District Motorway River Trent Caldwell DERBYSHIRE A Road Coton in the Elms 71 B Road Lullington A444 Railway and Station Edingale A42 North West River Mease Leicestershire District County boundary Clifton Appleby Lichfield Harlaston Campville Magna 1 District Snarestone District boundary Thorpe Constantine Appleby Parva Newton Burgoland A513 Newton Regis AshbyCanal Norton-Juxta- Wigginton M42 Twycross Austrey STAFFORDSHIRE LEICESTERSHIRE Shuttington Tamworth Orton-on-the-Hill District Polesworth River River Sence Anker Sheepy Magna 2 Sibson SK 0 Ratcliffe Culey SP 400-600' North A444 Hinckley and 200-400' Warwickshire Coventry CanalAtherstone Bosworth 0-200' District District height above sea- A5 94 level in feet 97 3 A47 WARWICKSHIRE NUNEATON 9 M69 Nuneaton and 10km Bedworth 0 District 4 115 The most prominent features in the landscape are the small villages containing red brick cottages and houses, with slate or pantile roofs, often clustered around spired churches. OB COUSINS/COUNTRYSIDE AGENCY OB COUSINS/COUNTRYSIDE R However, across the area as a whole, most of the land Trent valley have been enlarged in recent times. T h e remained in open fields and was unenclosed until the country houses are often imposing. Market Bosworth and 18th and 19th centuries when the rectilinear pattern, Gopsall (now demolished) were described by Hoskins as which still dominates the landscape today, was created. ‘the grandest houses in West Leicestershire’. At that time farms were built in the newly enclosed fields Although the Lowlands are quite remote and the only major and are still obvious from their names like Moscow, roads that cross them are the M42 and A42, in the north Trafalgar and Crimea. Industrial development largely the M1 and particularly the new A42 are conspicuous. passed the area by apart from the conspicuous Ashby Canal. In the 20th century the main impacts have been Land Cover the construction of reservoirs and the imposition of prominent power stations on this very open landscape. Most of the land is in agricultural use. There are extensive Agricultural change has included the removal and areas of arable within low hedges and few hedgerow trees. frequent cutting of hedges in the more intensively farmed On the steeper ground and heavier clays the land is less areas and the loss of hedgerow trees. intensively farmed and arable and pasture are mixed. Here hedgerows are more substantial, hedgerow trees are more Buildings and Settlement frequent and there is some permanent pasture. The principal material of the older buildings in the villages Woodlands are small and intermittent, although the is brick with pantile roofs although timber framing still spinneys, copses and game coverts have often been planted survives in a few areas. The remoter areas tend to have on ridges, giving a well-treed character to some areas. quite attractive, mellow brick but, where villages were Many of the parks were formerly more extensive and easily accessible from the valleys or where they expanded parkland trees, often in a poor condition, can be seen rapidly in the 19th and early 20th centuries, a harsher red within arable or short-term leys. Along the minor streams brick and imported slate have been used. The rather friable there are often willows and alders, but the main river sandstone, of which many of the churches are constructed, courses are very open. weathers badly and they have often been substantially renewed in 19th century restorations. Some of the churches The Changing Countryside and most of the manor houses and country houses are ● constructed of imported stone. Most of the villages are very Part of the area lies within the National Forest and will rural in character and are connected by straight enclosure benefit from landscape and nature-conservation roads but, towards the edge of the area, those near the improvements. 116 ● Increasing intensification of arable cultivation, field enlargement and tree loss through Dutch Elm disease have created a very open landscape in many areas. ● Not all the parks are well-managed and, where parkland has been taken out of permanent pasture, cultivation has damaged the parkland trees. ● Villages at the edge of the area are likely to come under increasing pressure for commuter development. Village Design Statements may well be appropriate. ● Past management of watercourses has tended to remove