©Crown Copyright. All rights reserved. Hertfordshire County Council, LA 076678, 2001
| Landscape Character Assessment | HertsDirect | Environment | |||
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©Crown
Copyright. All rights reserved. Hertfordshire County Council, LA 076678, 2001
This area is located between Bushey, west Watford and the M1.
©Crown
Copyright. All rights reserved. Hertfordshire County Council, LA 076678, 2001
A swathe of land strongly influenced by the surrounding urban settlements, with minimal natural or historic features retained. Land use is dominated by schools, playing fields, recreational and typical urban-fringe uses, including a golf course and cemetery. The M1 and A41 lie to the east with a mix of hotels, kennels and poorly-managed land uses.
Disused school playing field (J.
Billingsley)
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Geology and soils. The geology of this area is Tertiary clay, overlaid by the Windsor series of slowly permeable and seasonally waterlogged soils with some brown subsoils.
Topography. A gently undulating area of ground, generally falling slowly from the south-east to the north-west into the Colne Valley.
Degree of slope. Typically modest, between 1 in 30 and 1 in 80. Locally up to 1 in 10, e.g. Scotts Wood within Bushey Hall.
Altitude range. 60m to 80m.
Hydrology. There are few watercourses of note, in part due to the urbanized character of the land.
Land cover and land use. The dominant land cover is recreational grassland for golf courses and playing fields. A number of the playing fields, e.g. Park Avenue, are currently disused. There are private sports facilities, including Bushey Hall golf club, David Lloyd racket club and the Metropolitian Police sports fields. The area would seem vulnerable to further development pressure, particularly from recreation. The Bushey Leisure Centre is under construction on the B464 and within the Lincolnsfield Centre there is a range of more low-key occupiers, including 'Animal World', 'Animal Encounter' and 'Activity World'. The Jewish cemetery occupies an extensive and densely utilised site by the A41. The major roads and associated infrastructure, including hotels, are a major feature to the east. Much of the land in this sector is derelict, vacant or marginal agricultural land.
Vegetation and wildlife. The dominant vegetation of this area is close-mown grassland for recreation. There are smaller areas of rough grassland and scrub, e.g. Fishers Field Nature Reserve, and on areas of vacant land near the main roads. The limited woodland cover is mainly associated with Bushey Hall golf course, where oak is the principal species. There are significant numbers of perimeter tree belts to the edges of school playing fields, within the golf course, along old lanes or as younger planting along the M1. Species are mixed and include oak, beech and hornbeam with some evergreens and ornamentals, which add to the urban character. Avenue planting of lime, chestnut and maple in the verges is a prominent feature, together with remnant parkland trees around Lincolnsfield. Few native original hedges remain. These are often poorly managed and comprise dying elm and hawthorn. Ornamental clipped hedges are common fronting playing fields and the cemetery.
A large part of the central area, including most of the schools and Bushey Hall, was informal parkland in 1820. The ornamental specimens and some of the woods survive from this period.
Field pattern. The historic field pattern has largely been removed, with most of the small remnant fields to the east being of 20th-century enclosure.
Transport pattern. The area is strongly influenced by local and major roads. The B462 runs from the A41 into Watford and is urban in character, with many of the schools and recreational facilities accessed off the road. The straight A41 and the M1 run to the east. The combination of the two major roads and the associated development mark the limit of greater Watford.
Settlements and built form. Although defined as outside the built-up area, there are a number of institutional buildings of significant size and visual importance. The most striking is the brick-built former Royal Masonic School (1902) on The Avenue, with its prominent Gothic-style tower. Other schools include Bushey Hall School (1926-29) and the Purcell School. There are a number of modern state schools and recreational establishments of limited visual merit. At Lincolnsfield there is a motley collection of buildings that are probably of WWII vintage. On the perimeter of the area, particularly on Park Road and The Avenue, there are a number of distinctive early 20th-century large detached houses overlooking the former playing fields. Other residential areas are less distinguished, but are also often softened by perimeter vegetation.
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This area is only locally visible from outside due to the encircling residential areas and combination of small woods and perimeter belts. The woods at Bushey Hall are relatively prominent from the Colne valley to the west. Within each of the playing fields and particularly within the golf course there is a contained sense of enclosure. Defensive fencing, buildings and vegetation all combine to limit and frame views within the area. The scale of the area is generally small to medium but appears larger in the urban context from some of the more open sterile playing fields. The 'schools' landscape is fairly coherent, while towards the A41 and M1 there is a more disjointed and incoherent feel. Much of the area feels private and protected, which in combination with a fairly noisy environment seems relatively hostile.
Rarity and distinctiveness. The large number of schools is unusual. The Edwardian schools and houses are the most distinctive features.
There is a widespread influence from built development. This is particularly from a number of the late 20th-century recreational and school buildings. The A41 and M1 are only locally visible, being screened by vegetation and earthworks. However many of the associated land uses, including a caravan park and semi-derelict farms, create a locally low-quality environment. The extensive areas of built development on the margins are locally apparent and of moderate impact, with generally the better examples being visible. A major series of pylons are visually harmful to the north of the area. The Jewish cemetery is well maintained yet the high density of white gravestones stands out from a few viewpoints
A feature of the area is the small number of public rights of way and publicly accessible land, despite the extent of open land and the proximity to residential areas. This has led to trespassing in a number of cases. One area of locally accessible land is at Fishers Field, however this is poorly signed. There is one footpath to the west of the golf course and a further one through the police playing fields and cemetery.
There is little current evidence that this area is valued as distinctive (E).
Re. View from Bushey Heath to St.Albans: 'all the spaces between and further beyond, it looked indeed like a garden ... a grand parterre, the thick planted hedgerows like a wilderness or labyrinth, divided in espaliers' (Daniel Defoe, 1724).
| CONDITION | |
|---|---|
| Land cover change: | widespread |
| Age structure of tree cover: | mature or young |
| Extent of semi-natural habitat survival: | relic |
| Management of semi-natural habitat: | poor |
| Survival of cultural pattern: | declining |
| Impact of built development: | high |
| Impact of land-use change: | high |
| ROBUSTNESS | |
| Impact of landform: | apparent |
| Impact of land cover: | prominent |
| Impact of historic pattern: | relic |
| Visibility from outside: | locally visible |
| Sense of enclosure: | contained |
| Visual unity: | coherent |
| Distinctiveness/rarity: | frequent |
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Jewish Cemetery (J. Billingsley)
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