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
Mosslands
 |
Mosslands Character Areas 16a North Fylde Mossess 16b South Fylde Mossess 16c Martin Mere and South West Mosses 16d Skelmersdale Mosses 16e Tarleton Mosses 16f Heysham Moss 16g Hoole and Farington Mosses |
Landscape Character
The Mosslands are an extremely flat, low lying landscape comprised of peat deposits which were formerly an extensive series of lowland raised mires. These are now largely reclaimed and managed for particularly intensive crop production, including market gardening and to a lesser extent, dairying. Fields are typically large in size and geometric in shape, defined by straight drainage ditches and post and wire fences. Hawthorn hedgerows are restricted to the straight, narrow roads which cross the mosslands and shelter belts, often of poplar or Scots pine, are visible on the horizon. There are extremely long views across this open landscape and vertical elements, such as electricity pylons, are particularly visible. Older buildings and small, loose-knit linear villages are sited on low sand and gravel or boulder clay ridges on the edges of the peat. The lack of lighting and kerbs maintains a rural character, although a variety of modern building styles and materials are evident.
Typical view photo 31:
Downholland Moss
Physical Influences
The Mosslands are underlain by soft Triassic mudstones and sandstones, but the solid geology is deeply buried by glacial and other drift deposits. Small scale glacial features are evident, for example Marton Mere SSSI (Blackpool), was formed by water filling a glacial kettle hole formed over 14,000 years ago. Low lying peat mosses have formed over large areas of the low lying surface till which, until drained, combined with large open areas of water (principally Martin Mere, West Lancashire) to create an incredibly rich ecological resource.
The intensive drainage and farming of the mosslands means there is little semi-natural habitat left except for fragmented small areas of remnant carr woodland, natural water courses and some of the semi-improved grassland. The network of drainage ditches and channels are also of great value to wildlife. Winmarleigh Moss and Heysham Moss are designated as SSSIs and are the best examples of the few remaining uncultivated peat mosslands. Habitats here include dry heath over deep peat, mires over active sphagnum moss, birch scrub and woodland. Together they support rare insect species including the large heath butterfly and bush cricket. Martin Mere is a (Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust) reserve developed on part of the site of the original drained mere. It is now a wildfowl reserve of international value.
Farmland too is of wildlife importance as geese, swans and waders roost and feed on arable fields and pastures during the winter months.
Human Influences
The landscape is almost entirely a result of drainage from the medieval period however it is likely that incursions by all societies from the Mesolithic onwards, hunted and gathered food from the rich habitats of the Mosslands. Evidence of such activity awaits discovery in the peats of the drained mosses.
Drainage of the mosses and coastal marshes became an important feature of estate management from the early 17th century, aided by the use of windmills for pumping. New watercourses were dug, fields were drained and small settlements and isolated brick built farms housed the largely agricultural communities. The most spectacular project was the draining of Martin Mere, begun in earnest in 1694, and completed in the 1850s, when steam pumps were available to facilitate the process. The landscape around Tarleton Moss retains much of the original network of small rectangular fields, bounded by drainage ditches.
Later drainage and agricultural use of the moss is evident in the larger, more geometric arrangement of fields, roads and farms east of Southport. Settlements on the sand and gravel or boulder clay ridges, such as Sollom and Becconsall, are potentially very important archaeologically as they represent the areas which were historically more congenial for land use and settlement on the fringes of the mossland.
Photo 32.
Glasshouses near Banks
CHARACTER AREAS - MOSSLANDS
The Mosslands landscape type occurs throughout the lowlands, in the west of the study area, and coincides with the distribution of lowland peat.
Local
|
Character Areas |
Description |
| 16a |
North Fylde Mosses |
This landscape character area, located within the Fylde, includes Pilling, Cockerham, Winmarleigh, Rawcliffe and Stalmine Mosses. Winmarleigh Moss is the largest surviving area of uncultivated peat mossland in the county. The reclaimed mosses are devoid of development, but the low islands surrounding the mosses support a network of minor lanes and modern houses. Dead end raised tracks run from the farmsteads into the mosses, where the dominant land use is improved pasture for dairy herds. The principal building material is red brick and modern styles and materials are common. The fields are large and some shelter belts of Scots pine and beech together with occasional birch copses on dried out peat, give a sense of a well wooded horizon. Raised roads are hedged and bordered by ditches. Vertical elements such as telegraph poles and pylons are prominent in this landscape and there are distant views to Blackpool Tower, the Pleasure Beach rides and industrial development on the outskirts of Blackpool. Geese and over-wintering birds use pastures for winter feeding. |
| 16b |
South Fylde Mosses |
Lytham Moss, on the eastern edges of Lytham St Annes and Blackpool, is influenced by the proximity of these urban areas. It is typical of a mossland landscape in its underlying geology, landform, drainage and land use. The rows pylons which run from east to west across the landscape to Blackpool dominate the horizon however trees in small copses and shelterbelts are more pleasing vertical elements and help provide a backdrop and sense of scale in the landscape. Just north of Lytham, Lytham Hall is an important and established landscape feature as the 18th century landscaped grounds contain many trees. The proximity of Blackpool and Lytham is influential and the presence of golf courses, camp sites, new built development and industry erode the rural and tranquil character usually associated with this landscape type. Marton Mere, located two miles to the east of Blackpool, is a SSSI which provides an attractive habitat for water birds and 35 species are known to use the mere as a breeding site. |
| 16c |
Martin Mere and South West Mosses |
This landscape character area occurs in pockets on the West Lancashire Plain, consistent with the deposits of peat. It is a relatively new landscape, being more recently drained than the Tarleton Mosses to the north. The area is confined by the urban form of Southport to the west and to the east and south by the Coastal Plain of Ormskirk and Chorley. It is an arable landscape of large geometric fields, geometric woodlands and small villages. Although there is much modern built development, there is important evidence of pre-drainage occupation. This occupation, along with the windmill and pumping sites, are important archaeological and historical sites. The dominant built material is red brick. There are several wetlands and meres which are of great importance ecologically; Martin Mere is a popular visitor attraction for bird watching and the area is an important winter feeding ground for over-wintering birds. |
| 16d |
Skelmersdale Mosses |
The reclaimed mosslands south of Skelmersdale occur between 30 and 70m AOD. They have been largely reclaimed for farming and have become an intensively farmed arable landscape interspersed with a number of small geometric woodlands. Although some sites of historic interest remain, the area has been overlain by recent enclosure and heavily influenced by new built development and also electricity pylons. Simonswood Hall and the medieval deer park represent historic settlement of the boulder clay mossland periphery. Small scale peat extraction continues in this character area today |
| 16e |
Tarleton Mosses |
This distinctive area of reclaimed moss, located to the north-east of Southport, is distinguished by its dense settlement and abundance of glass houses. It is defined to the north by the more recently enclosed Ribble estuary coastal plain and to the south by the A565(T). It is a highly productive area of market gardening; green houses indicate intensive market gardening and exploitation of the rich peat deposits. Built development is dominated by modern bungalows which have extended along banked roads between the older settlements of Tarleton, Banks and Becconsall. These older settlements are located on low ridges and contain evidence of a long settled history. Further from the smallholdings and green houses are arable fields separated by ditches and fences. Shelter belts are important to local wildlife, as are the roadside hedges, which contain views from the narrow roads into the flat surrounding landscape. |
| 16f |
Heysham Moss |
Located between the built up areas of Lancaster to the east and Heysham to the west only a small part of Heysham Moss is now uncultivated. It is largely a pastoral landscape where fields are drained by straight ditches and divided by post and wire fencing, resulting an open and expansive landscape. Electricity pylons, associated with the nearby Heysham Power Station, are particularly noticeable as they cross the moss. The A683 between Lancaster and Heysham also crosses the moss, bringing traffic movement into the open landscape. The proximity of the city of Lancaster influences the character of the mossland in the north of the character area where trading estates, residential estates and caravan parks spill out onto the mosslands, obscuring the landscape pattern and eroding the rural nature of the landscape. |
| 16g |
Hoole and Farington Mosses |
This small area of mossland is almost entirely fringed by settlements lying on the higher ground above the moss. The town of Leyland lies to the east, whilst to the north are a series of expanded villages running from Farington in the east to Much Hoole in the west. The small village of Bretherton lies on a ridge of higher ground to the south west. The moss is largely cultivated and is drained into the Carr and Wynott Brooks which feed into the River Douglas. However there is a pocket of moss with remnant bog vegetation at Much Hoole Moss, which is a Biological Heritage Site. The Liverpool to Preston railway crosses the moss and straight lanes penetrate into it from the edges, with associated farms and modern brick houses. A number of footpaths associated with boundary ditches link these lanes and properties. |