Landscape Character Menu
List of Figures
List of Photographs
1 Introduction
1.1 The Scope and Context for this Study
1.2 Purpose of the Landscape Character Assessment
1.3 Approach and Methodology
1.4 Structure of the Report
2 The Evolution of Lancashire
2.1 Physical Influences
2.2 Human Influences
3 Lancashire's Landscape Character
3.1 Moorland Plateaux
3.2 Moorland Hills
3.3 Enclosed Uplands
3.4 Moorland Fringe
3.5 Undulating Lowland Farmland
3.6 Industrial Foothills and Valleys
3.7 Farmed Ridges
3.8 Settled Valleys
3.9 Reservoir Valleys
3.10 Wooded Rural Valleys
3.11 Valley Floodplains
3.12 Low Coastal Drumlins
3.13 Drumlin Field
3.14 Rolling Upland Farmland
3.15 Coastal Plain
3.16 Mosslands
3.17 Enclosed Coastal Marsh
3.18 Open Coastal Marsh
3.19 Coastal Dunes
3.20 Wooded Limestone Hills and Pavements
3.21 Limestone Fells
4 Lancashire's Urban Landscape Types
4.1 Historic Core (1100-1800)
4.2 Industrial Age (1800-1930)
4.3 Suburban (1930 onwards)
A Landscape Strategy for Lancashire - Landscape Character Assessment
Moorland Plateaux
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Moorland Plateaux 1a South Pennine Moors |
Landscape Character
The high, Moorland Plateaux are the most remote and exposed landscape
types in Lancashire. They are generally characterised by a level or gently rolling
landform although they may include steep high level escarpments, and are found
at elevations between 300 and 600 metres. Landcover is predominantly blanket
bog, and trees are generally absent. Rock outcrops occur in some areas and some
moorland summits are strewn with gritstone boulders. Soils are poor and a vegetation
cover of dwarf shrub heath, purple moor grass and/or cottongrass is typical
of these acid moorlands. Localised erosion of the soils has exposed the underlying
rocks and gravels giving rise to crags and peat hags. The plateaux have a sense
of elevation and openness, with uninterrupted views across vast areas of surrounding
countryside. The open landscape also creates a sense of wilderness, remoteness
and space, which is further strengthened by the enormity and dominance of sky
in these large scale landscapes. Colours tend to be muted, although in autumn
heather moorland provides vivid expanses of colour.
Typical view: Photo 14
Worsthorne Moor
Physical Influences
The underlying geology has created terraces or plateaux and escarpments. The high stream-dissected Moorland Plateaux occur at approximately 300-600m AOD and are composed of layers of sandstone and shales of the Millstone Grit series. Harder layers of gritstone outcrop to form distinctive features of the rugged moorland scenery. Soils are thin at such elevations - thin podsols and gleyed clays are common although large areas of peat formed during prehistoric times and now dominate the Moorland Plateaux.
Gritstone crags are also a feature of the landscape; they outcrop along the hill sides where the softer shales have been eroded. The crags are of geological interest, as well as supporting a number of interesting plants. The South Pennine Moors SSSI and Bowland Fells SSSI are designated for their extensive areas of unenclosed heather moorland which support blanket bogs with species rich acidic flushes and mires. Birds of prey including hen harrier, merlin and peregrine are particularly important in some areas, as are other birds such as skylark, curlew and golden plover. Some heather moorland has been lost to grass moor due to management changes.
Human Influences
Evidence of settlement on the plateaux is rare, although mesolithic hunter-gatherers who migrated seasonally with the herds utilised the landscape. The discovery of flint and chert implements over most of these plateaux has been taken to indicate the presence of their summer hunting camps. Neolithic forest clearance and agricultural intensification in the Bronze Age on the fragile upland soils, coupled with climatic deterioration to cooler wetter conditions, is thought to have encouraged peat formation across much of these areas. There was abandonment of unproductive land and much has remained uninhabited, although considerable remains of later prehistoric and Romano British activity in the south Pennines showed it was still utilised.
Extensive areas are dominated by rough grazing. The peat (which developed from 5,000 BC) is a valuable resource as it contains a wealth of environmental and archaeological data.
Despite a general sense of the landscape being devoid of human impacts, there are occasional boundary fences. Evidence of recent settlement and economic activity is largely restricted to the South Pennine Moors and most particularly in Rossendale. This includes occasional isolated ruined farmsteads and field barns in areas which were later left to revert to moorland. Quarries and reservoirs are evidence of Victorian and post Victorian exploitation of the Rossendale plateaux to meet the demands of the rapidly expanding industrial settlements in the lowlands. Modern exploitation includes shooting and out-grazing although traces of these activities do little to reduce to sense of isolation and remoteness.
CHARACTER AREAS - MOORLAND PLATEAUX
The Moorland Plateaux landscape type may be subdivided into two local landscape character areas comprising the Forest of Bowland in the centre of the county and the South Pennine Moors on the south-eastern border of the County. Local |
Character Areas |
Description |
| 1a | South Pennine Moors | The South Pennine Moors in the south of the study form a long high plateau, most of which lies outside the study area boundary. However, the Moorland Plateaux landscape type occurs as the fragmented moors at Scout Moor and Heald Moor as well as the vast expanse of high uninhabited moorland around Worsthorne Moor and Boulsworth Hill in the north. This large scale sweeping exposed landscape contrasts dramatically with the surrounding urban areas and intersecting industrial valleys which lie close below. Boulsworth Hill is characterised by a steep high level scarp slope. The proximity of the urban areas has affected the landscape of this character area and resource exploitation is visible in the form of electricity pylons, wind turbines, reservoirs and mineral extraction sites which appear as quarry scars on the edges of the plateaux. Disused quarries are a feature of this area and are important for specialised plant communities and species such as bats and peregrines. Britannia Quarries are a good example of stone extraction by mining. The strong skyline ridges and expansive views instil a sense of remoteness and isolation which has been a source of inspiration for writers such as the Bronte sisters. The concentration of later prehistoric and Romano British remains are important evidence of exploitation and settlement of these areas. This is a landscape which, although low in species diversity, supports nationally and internationally important populations of bird species including twite and golden plover; as a result it is particularly sensitive to change. |
| 1b | High Bowland Plateaux | The Moorland Plateaux of the Forest of Bowland occur as a series of wide flat-topped ridges scattered with gritstone boulders. These are Tarnbrook Fell, reaching 561m AOD at Wards Stone, Baxton Fell at 469m and the ridge linking Holdron Moss, Bleasdale Moors and Brown Berry Plain which lies above 400m. These large scale flat ridge tops coincide with deposits of peat which support extensive areas of blanket bog managed as rough sheep pasture. Peat hags have developed in eroded areas, particularly along the edges of the blanket bog. These plateaux may contain important archaeological material, which as yet has largely remained undiscovered due to its low visibility and the remoteness of the landscape. The remoteness of the Bowland Moorland Plateaux and different patterns of land tenure mean they have not been severely affected by the drainage, heavy grazing, burning and pollution associated with the moorland plateaux of the South Pennine Moors. Heather moorland and blanket bog in the Forest of Bowland are recognised for their nationally important plant communities and internationally important breeding raptors and other upland birds. |