summary

 
©Crown Copyright. All rights reserved. Hertfordshire County Council, LA 076678, 2001

LOCATION

Arable upland between the western edge of Bishop's Stortford and the upper Ash valley, bounded by the western Stort valley to the east and smaller-scale settled areas to the west and south. It divides into two sub-areas: the plateau farmland (A) and the sloping farmland (B).

 
©Crown Copyright. All rights reserved. Hertfordshire County Council, LA 076678, 2001

LANDSCAPE CHARACTER

The western half of this area is an extensive area of monotonous flat arable farmland, lacking vertical elements except for infrequent large blocks of woodland, young roadside trees and the occasional large barn. Very large fields with no hedges are locally characteristic, while isolated farms with associated groups of farm buildings add incident and a sense of productivity. Cattle in meadows around the farms add occasional movement to what is otherwise a static landscape. The eastern half of this area consists of sloping arable farmland around a tributary stream on the west bank of the river Stort. It too is arable land, with some pasture and isolated farms with the occasional group of three or four cottages. The area is remote but lacks tranquillity, due to the aircraft overhead coming and going from Stansted.

KEY CHARACTERISTICS

• almost flat upland plateau and east-facing slope
• extremely open, with no hedges but infrequent large blocks of woodland
• young hedgerow trees planted in threes are a local feature
• roadsides have wide mown verges with ditches
• few settlements or buildings
• distinctive isolated farms, often with very large historic barns
• mainly arable production, with pasture for pedigree cattle around farms
• very rural, almost isolated, with negligible impact from southern edge of Bishop's Stortford
• constant noise of aircraft from Stansted airport, plus visual impact

DISTINCTIVE FEATURES

• outstanding medieval aisled barn with crown-post roof at Shingle Hall
• river valley is screened by linear development and vegetation, so little awareness of topographical change
• farm buildings; fenced paddocks
• Matham's Wood has a significant local impact

View east over Stort valley (P. Shears)

assessment

PHYSICAL INFLUENCES

Geology and soils. Slowly permeable calcareous clayey soils over chalky till (glacial drift) (Hanslope series).

Topography. Flat to gently undulating uplands, with minor valley of Spell Brook in east.

Degree of slope. 1 in 75.

Altitude range. 60m to 95m.

Hydrology. Several springs feed into Spell Brook off the high land, and there are many ditches and ponds throughout the area.

Land cover and land use. This area is dominated and has been simplified by intensive arable production and has very little woodland and few hedges. Locally there is limited pasture for horse and cattle grazing (pedigree Limousin herd) near farmhouses. There is a 20th-century industrial edge to the village of Spellbrook.

Vegetation and wildlife. There is one large (24ha) wood within this area, and a few scattered woodland fragments. There are very few hedges - this is one of the distinctive features of the area - but some young planting of hedgerow trees, occasionally in groups of three across a ditch. There is no grassland of any ecological importance. Matham's Wood is ancient woodland, wet boulder-clay woodland dominated by ash/maple/hazel, diversified by wartime disturbance and with some young plantations within. The sloping farmland to the east is species-poor, with relic woodlands of the ash/maple/hazel type and virtually no old grassland.

HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL INFLUENCES

The historic pattern of this area is masked by current land use and agricultural intensification. Shingle Hall is the site of a medieval park, of which perhaps only the curving footpath around Matham's Wood and the moat and other earthworks within it are relics. The earliest record of a deer park at Shingle Hall/Matham's Park is 1477; it is shown on many of the historic maps of the county, with a certain lack of precision in its location. It is now a planned landscape of huge regular and irregular fields without hedges and very dispersed settlement. The remains of a WWII airfield are still apparent around Matham's Wood.

Field pattern. Although the field pattern varies between regular and semi-regular, this is not apparent, due to the large scale and lack of hedges.

Transport pattern. There is a curiously regular pattern of lanes through the middle of this area which, with the footpaths, creates a geometric network linking the valleys of the Ash and Stort. Although the lanes themselves are often sinuous, they create an angular pattern. They are unhedged, usually with a medium to wide verge and ditch.

Settlements and built form. 

• Spellbrook is a small settlement on the edge of the Stort, intermediate between Bishop's Stortford and Sawbridgeworth and characteristic of neither river valley nor upland
• Thorley is now subsumed into the edge of Bishop's Stortford
• Thorley Hall is an 18th-century modernisation around a 14th-century aisled hall, just outside the ring road. Its associated village shifted to Thorley Street, þ mile east, which is now a prelude to Bishop's Stortford
• Houses and farms are long-established, infrequent and isolated, often with an associated cluster of farm buildings. Large barns are a local feature, with an oustanding medivel aisled barn with crown-post roof at Shingle Hall
• Bishop's Stortford itself is screened by new development and extensive planting along the A1184 ring road, including a new vernacular housing development at Brook Farm, complete with country park

OTHER SOURCES OF AREA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION

Pevsner, N., rev. Cherry, B., Hertfordshire, Penguin (2000).

evaluation

VISUAL AND SENSORY PERCEPTION

Views of the area from outside are very limited. It is visible from the A120, but otherwise screened by topography and vegetation within adjoining areas. Views within the area are extensive, with views from the eastern edge and Trims Green into the shallow wooded middle Stort valley, out to the notable treed edge to the west and, to the north, the wooded edge of Bishop's Stortford. The scale of landscape elements varies between large and vast but it is unified. There is no sense of enclosure. This would be a tranquil area, with little road noise, were it not for the constant noise from Stansted air traffic.

Rarity and distinctiveness. This is a most unusual area, elemental and simple and of a scale undreamed of in the cluttered south west of the county. No doubt it is also bleak in the winter.

VISUAL IMPACT

There is a minor impact of new built development (St Michael's Mead) on the urban edge of Bishop's Stortford, which is mainly screened by vegetation. Some farms have prominent large tin roofs. Pylons cross the area and there is a development of a sports field complex on the B1004 north of Exnalls Farm.

ACCESSIBILITY

Frequency/density of waymarked routes - localised; Herts Way along western edge.

Condition: not known. Well signed but frequently narrow track through arable crop. Near Matham's Wood is a wide former concrete/tarmac track. There is a link route between Perry Green/Spellbrook but few north/south routes

COMMUNITY VIEWS

This area includes some distinctive and valued elements, e.g. around Trims Green (D).

 

CONDITION
Land cover change:	insignificant
Age structure of tree cover:	mixed
Extent of semi-natural habitat survival:	relic
Management of semi-natural habitat:	not obvious
Survival of cultural pattern:	interrupted
Impact of built development:	low
Impact of land-use change:	low
ROBUSTNESS
Impact of landform:	prominent
Impact of land cover:	insignificant
Impact of historic pattern:	interrupted
Visibility from outside:	concealed
Sense of enclosure:	open
Visual unity:	unified
Distinctiveness/rarity:	unusual

guidelines

STRATEGY AND GUIDELINES FOR MANAGING CHANGE: IMPROVE AND CONSERVE

• encourage landowners to create permanent grass strips around field margins and on verges to increase nature conservation interest
• where the loss of ponds and ditches is unavoidable, ensure that they are replaced by new features of at least equivalent nature conservation potential
• encourage the planting of individual trees along ditches and roadsides
• any woodland planting in this area should be of an appropriate scale, i.e. large, and should focus on or link to existing woodlands. All planting should be of locally indigenous species, using stock of local provenance if possible
• encourage the management of woodlands and plantation to achieve good age diversity and a species-rich ground flora, with an emphasis on locally indigenous species
• resist development proposals that would permanently damage the character of this area by altering its scale and landscape pattern
• encourage more planting of hedgerow trees
• promote recognition of roadside/field ditches as potential ecological corridors; discourage use of herbicides, fertiliser run-off, over-zealous management
• encourage woodland planting, but not new hedges, as this would not reflect local landscape character
• encourage the retention of mixed farming, with pasture around farms and hamlets
• resist conversion of pasture to arable and encourage management of grassland to increase biodiversity

Historic barns at Shingle Hall (P. Shears)