HISTORIC LANDSCAPE CHARACTER ASSESSMENT CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 03 Appointment and Brief 03 The Northamptonshire Environmental Characterisation Process 03 Characterisation in Practice 04 The Northamptonshire Historic Landscape Character Assessment 04 Parallel Projects and Surveys 04 Structure of the Report 05 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE HISTORIC RESOURCE 06 Introduction 06 Palaeolithic (C. 500,000 – 8,000 BC) 06 Mesolithic (c. 8,000 – 4,500 BC) 07 Neolithic (4,500 – 2,200BC) 08 Bronze Age (2200BC – 1000BC) 09 Iron Age (1000BC – 43AD) 10 Roman (43 AD – 410AD) 11 Early Anglo Saxon (410 AD – 650AD) 13 Middle Saxon (650AD – 950AD) 14 Late Saxon And Medieval (950AD – 1500AD) 15 Post-Medieval (1500AD – 1750AD) 17 Early Modern (1750AD-1945AD) 17 Modern (1945AD-2000AD) 19 THE HISTORIC CHARACTER OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 20 Introduction 21 The English Heritage Historic Landscape Characterisation Project 21 The Sites and Monuments Record 21 Historic Character Type and Area Boundary Determination 21 1. Pre – 19th Century Non Parliamentary Enclosure 25 2. 19th Century Non Parliamentary Enclosure 37 3. Fragmented Non Parliamentary Enclosure 46 4. Earlier Parliamentary Enclosure 49 5. 19th Century Parliamentary Enclosure 60 6. Fragmented Parliamentary Enclosure 81 7. Large Modern Fields 97 8. Reinstated Mineral Extraction 112 9. Flooded Mineral Extraction 120 10. Modern Fields 123 11. Fragmented Modern Fields 129 Queen Eleanor’s Cross, Geddington 12. Woodland 136 GLOSSARY 146 BIBLIOGRAPHY 150 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 152 HISTORIC LANDSCAPE CHARACTER ASSESSMENT 2 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 APPOINTMENT AND BRIEF Northamptonshire County Council, Built and Natural Environment Service, together with consultants LDA Design Consulting LLP have prepared a landscape character assessment model for Northamptonshire. The overall model comprises three parallel assessments, Current Landscape Character Assessment (Current LCA), Biodiversity Character Assessment (Biodiversity CA), Historic Landscape Character Assessment (Historic LCA) which, informed by the Physiographic and Land Use assessments, have been integrated to form one overarching Environmental Character Assessment (Environmental CA), as well as being capable of standing individually. Ridge and Furrow by the Jurassic Way Northamptonshire Archaeology undertook the preparation of the historic model on behalf of the Landscape Character Assessment Team of Northamptonshire County Council. The work was begun in April 2003. This report has been significantly amended following an extensive peer review process, and has been edited to this final stage by the River Nene Regional Park Team for Northamptonshire County Council. 1.2 The Northamptonshire ENvironmental Characterisation Process The Historic Landscape Character Assessment forms part of a wider project that seeks to deliver an integrated, robust and transparent Environmental Characterisation of Northamptonshire: the Northamptonshire Environmental Characterisation Process (ECP) through the integration of three parallel studies, the Historic, Biodiversity and Current Landscape Character Assessments, to produce the county’s Environmental Character Assessment (ECA). The principal objective of the overall project is to: • Develop key environmental baseline datasets that inform, develop and enhance the sustainable planning and management of the landscape. Building on this principal objective, the ECA will: • Enable the development of environmental planning guidance and joint environmental strategies, in conjunction with partners and stakeholders; • replace Special Landscape Area local designations with a more objective character based assessment; • inform the assessment of development proposals; • guide the best use and targeting of initiatives and resources in respect of management, conservation and enhancement of the landscape; and • demonstrate the value of a fully accessible GIS database to classify, analyse and model change. Delivery will conform to the standards set out in the e-Government Metadata Framework (e-GMF, 2001) and data will be incorporated into a national internet metadata database, based on National Geospatial Digital Framework (NGDF) Discovery Metadata. The ECA and its component assessments will be reviewed on a five year cycle to ensure that they incorporate the most up to date information, such as the results of wildlife site surveys, habitat creation or the effects of development. All three elements base their assessment on a single physiographic model, which acts as a reference for and link between each component of the Environmental Characterisation Process. A current land use dataset has also been prepared which, together with the physiographic model, provides the primary common baseline data for the three parallel assessments. The three separate assessments, which will also be published individually, have been brought together to form a single integrated Environmental Character Area Assessment and Map of the county. HISTORIC LANDSCAPE CHARACTER ASSESSMENT 3 1. INTRODUCTION 1.3 Characterisation in Practice Characterisation is the process by which areas of distinctive character are classified, mapped and described, through the identification of Character Types and Character Areas. Character Types are distinct types of landscape that are relatively homogeneous in character. They are generic in nature in that they may occur in several parts of the county but, wherever they occur they share broadly similar combinations of key characteristics and, in this report, historical land use. By comparison, Character Areas are unique and geographically discrete, sharing characteristics of the generic Character Type to which they conform. An important feature of the character assessment process is that it is objective, with no judgment being made of a particular area’s value or quality. However, attention is given to identifying characteristics that are distinctive, rare or special as well as the more commonplace. 1.4 The Northamptonshire Historic Landscape Character AssEssment The Northamptonshire Historic Landscape Character Assessment is in itself one of two complementary Historic Landscape Characterisation projects, carried out in partnership in the County. Brief details of the English Heritage funded, detailed HLC can be found in section 3.1 of this report, and the findings of this study will be published separately. The Northamptonshire HLCA seeks to analyse the general surviving historic character of the County and group areas of broadly similar character into Character Types, and then to sub-divide these into geographically distinct Character Areas. 1.5 ParallEl Projects and SuRvEys The Northamptonshire Historic Landscape Character Assessment has drawn on the findings of, and is complementary to, several relevant studies. 1.5.1 Northamptonshire Physiographic Model The Northamptonshire Physiographic Model, produced by Northamptonshire Archaeology on behalf of the Northamptonshire County Council Built and Natural Environment Section, was undertaken to provide a common primary baseline data set onto which the three primary environmental aspects of the Northamptonshire Environmental Characterisation Process could be based. The model provides the reference for and link between the three separate strands of the model. 1.5.2 Northamptonshire Land Use Data Model The Northamptonshire Land Use Data Model, produced by Northamptonshire County Council Built and Natural Environment Section, provides the second of the common primary baseline data sets for the wider Northamptonshire Environmental Characterisation Process. The desk-based data is sourced down to individual field components and provides a comprehensive record of the current land use distribution and field patterns across the county. 1.5.3 Northamptonshire Biodiversity Character Assessment The Northamptonshire Biodiversity Character Assessment is the first study of its kind to be carried out in the county. It builds on the Natural Areas approach developed by English Nature, which was developed to offer a more efficient framework for the planning and achievement of nature conservation objectives in England. It sub- divided the country into a number of Natural Areas based on the distribution of habitats, species and natural features as well as the land use patterns and human history. Braybrooke Medieval Fishponds HISTORIC LANDSCAPE CHARACTER ASSESSMENT 4 1. INTRODUCTION 1.5.4 Northamptonshire Current Landscape Characterisation The current landscape of the county is also subject to a separate parallel study: The Current Landscape Character Assessment provides a detailed record and analysis of the Northamptonshire landscape as it is today and a detailed understanding of the physical and cultural patterns that have influenced its development. As with the Historic Landscape Character Assessment, the findings of the Current Landscape Character Assessment have been integrated with both the Biodiversity Character Assessment and other datasets to formulate the final integrated county Environmental Character Area map. View of Lilford Park from Pilton 1.6 Structure of the Report The Historic Landscape of Northamptonshire has evolved over many thousands of years, and is the result of the interaction of human influences (physical, economic, and political) on the physical landscape. Section 2 discusses the latest hypothesis for the chronological evolution of the Historic Landscape of Northamptonshire and the methodological approach to the HLCA project. Section 3 presents a classification of the 12 Historic Character Types,