Key characteristics
- Broad ridges and shallow valley heads.
- Gently rounded topography of drift free, thinly bedded sandstones, mudstones, shales and coals.
- Occasional steep bluffs and incised denes.
- Heavy, seasonally waterlogged clay soils with pockets of peat soils supporting heathland vegetation.
- Pastoral land use of improved or semi-improved pasture with some arable cropping on drier ridges.
- Regular grids of parliamentary enclosures bounded by dry stone walls or overgrown hawthorn hedges. Occasional older field systems.
- Few trees - scattered hedgerow oak, ash, rowan or birch.
- Sparsely wooded - scattered conifer plantations and shelterbelts.
- Isolated farms connected by straight enclosure roads.
- Telecommunications masts and wind turbines prominent on high ground to the east.
- A visually open landscape with commanding views across the settled coalfield to the east and the rising moors of the North Pennines to the west.
- A remote and sparsely settled rural landscape.
Description
An upland fringe landscape made up of the broad ridges and shallow valley heads of the edges of the Coalfield Pennine Fringe National Character Area (NCA 16) which lies largely outside of the National Landscape. The soft and thinly bedded sandstones, shales and coals of the coal measures are generally free of drift or masked by boulder clays giving rise to gently rounded convex slopes. Small becks and burns drain the upper valleys, occasionally incised in narrow denes. Soils are heavy and seasonally waterlogged. On poorly drained ground peaty gleys and deeper peats have formed, supporting heathland vegetation of heather, bilberry and acid grassland. Areas of heathland have been lost in recent decades to agricultural improvement.
A predominantly pastoral landscape of improved and semi-improved pastures with occasional rougher grazing and wet rushy pasture. There is some limited arable cropping on drier ground. Field boundaries are a mixture of dry-stone walls and hedgerows. Walls are made of thinly bedded, locally quarried sandstones. Hedges are dominated by hawthorn and are often tall, leggy, and supplemented by wire fences. Field systems are medium to large scale and regular and geometric in pattern, dating from the enclosure of moorland wastes in the C18th under private Acts of Parliament.
Tree and woodland cover are low. The landscape is generally open with sparsely scattered hedgerow oak and ash. Thin tree lines follow watercourses. Road verges are often colonised by rowan, birch and willow scrub. Small plantations and shelterbelts of pine and larch are scattered across the ridges and valley heads, with local concentrations creating a more heavily wooded character.
Historically a sparsely settled landscape of isolated livestock farms and large tracts of open fell associated with small agricultural villages in the adjacent valleys. Scattered farms, most dating from the period of enclosure, are connected by straight and uniform enclosure roads.
Coal mining and the production of coke and steel have heavily influenced the wider coalfield landscape but areas lying within the National Landscape have been little affected by it. Some land has been opencast for shallow coal and restored to farmland similar to its original character. There is an abandoned ganister quarry at Salter’s Gate which has largely revegetated to wetland and heath.
The landscape is visually open and broad in scale with commanding views across the settled coalfield to the east and the rising moors of the North Pennines to the west. Telecommunications masts and wind turbines are prominent features in views to the east. Areas within the National Landscape have a remote and strongly rural character.
Measures: land management
Natural features
See Nature Recovery section, outcomes NR1,NR3, NR4 and NR5, for main measures relating to peatland and heathland, trees and woodland, rivers and streams and grasslands. Additional measures are listed below.
- Conserve roadside trees and scrub – and particularly along enclosure roads.
Cultural features
- Protect archaeological features by avoiding overstocking or supplementary feeding on sensitive sites.
- Conserve and maintain traditional farm buildings.
Field boundaries
- Protect, restore and maintain existing dry-stone walls and hedgerows. Renovate overgrown and gappy hedges by laying or coppicing and gapping up.
- Reinstate hedges and walls where they have been replaced by fences.
Measures: development
Agricultural buildings
- Site new farm buildings close to existing buildings where possible, and reflect their scale, character and materials.
- Reduce the impact of larger modern buildings by careful selection of colour, breaking up mass and planting screening belts of native species.
Energy, telecommunications & infrastructure
- Site telecommunications masts or close to existing buildings, tree groups or woodland edges. Avoid prominent skylines.
- Take account of visual impacts on adjacent landscapes – particularly the moorland landscapes to the west.
Minerals & waste
- Manage abandoned quarries to maximise their biodiversity, fostering the regeneration of native woodland, heathland, acid and neutral grassland, wetland, and bare rock habitats.
Tourism & recreation
- Tourism and recreational development should be undertaken in such a way as to avoid any urbanising influence on the landscape.
- Facilities like chalets and caravan parks should only be developed where there is a high degree of year-round visual containment – either from the topography or robust woodland cover – so that they do not erode the rural character of the area.
- Equestrian facilities should be sited close to existing farm buildings where possible, and reflect their scale, character and materials. The impact of larger buildings should be reduced by careful selection of colour, breaking up mass, and planting screening belts of native woodland.