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Dacorum Landscape Character Assessment 85pg

LOCATIONLocated to the west of the town of Tring, incorporating themedieval village of Aldbury and contained by the Chilternsscarp slopes of Aldbury Nowers and Ashridge. (NB thenorthern part of the area lies within Buckinghamshire).

LANDSCAPE CHARACTERThis relatively small area nestles under the shelter of theChiltern escarpment which provides a strong sense ofcontainment and identity. The area also possesses a rare,near medieval landscape character with narrow hedgedlanes and fragments of broadleaf semi natural woodland.The current route of the Icknield Way runs through themedieval village of Aldbury, which has a range of goodvernacular Tudor houses surrounding the village green andpond. The village is a popular destination for visitors andthere are also a variety of recreational activities including;equestrian uses and a golf course and country club atStocks.

KEY CHARACTERISTICS• strong visual enclosure by the Chilterns scarp slope• mixed open farmland• equestrian uses near settlement• streams and ditches draining heavy clay soils• focus for recreational visits and activities• Aldbury Village - vernacular architecture and village pond • medieval field system

DISTINCTIVE FEATURES• Stocks - Georgian stucco country house and parkland• Aldbury Church • Bridgewater Monument - visible on escarpment

District Map showing location of LANDSCAPE CHARACTER AREA

©Crown copyright .All rights reserved

Dacorum Borough Council

100018935 2004

Tring

BerkhamstedHemel

Hempstead

Aldbury village pond(J.Billingsley)

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Dacorum Landscape Character Assessment

PHYSICAL INFLUENCESGeology and soils. The underlying rock is Middle Chalk,which is overlain by calcareous flinty, gravels and sands tovarying depths, derived from the Pleistocene ice, except onsteeper slopes towards the south west where the soils areshallow, (Charity 2 association).Topography. This broad bowl shaped coombe feature isderived from glacial erosion of the chalk. It is essentially agently undulating re-entrant from the Bulbourne valley andlargely contained by the steep scarp slopes of AldburyNowers and the escarpment slopes below Ashridge.Degree of slope. Slopes typically vary between 1 in 40 and1 in 60 with some steeper at the foot of the escarpment.Altitude range. Levels range from 185 m to 140m.Hydrology. There is no natural surface water in the areaapart from small ponds at Barley End.Land cover and land use. There is a mixed land usepattern. Around Aldbury village equestrian pasture iscommon. There are gallops and rails south west of thevillage. Stocks golf course to the west and the smallparkland around the country club are distinctive. Furtherfrom the village there are more open and extensive areas ofarable. This is reflected in some of the local place namese.g. Barley End.Vegetation and wildlife. Habitats of note consist ofneutral and calcareous grasslands and remnant semi-naturalwoodland. Almost all the neutral grasslands in the areawhich have not been ploughed have been improved foragriculture, or are recently re-sown secondary grasslands.Unimproved chalk/calcareous grassland survives in smallareas below the Ashridge scarp at Aldbury village, withvestiges in Stocks golf course near Aldbury Nowers, atAldbury churchyard and by some roadsides.Some semi-natural former coppice woodland occurs atGolding's Spring and near Stocks, and is dominated by ash,oak, hazel and elm. There is also a network remaining insome areas of old hedgerows, dominated by hazel,blackthorn etc.The most important plant species are of chalk grasslandbelow Ashridge, especially Juniper, Chiltern Gentian andChalk Eyebright, although these are threatened by scrubgrowth. Walk Wood and neighbouring woodlands arenoted for colonies of Toothwort.The area is an important feeding area for birds andmammals from the adjoining Ashridge and Aldbury Nowerswoodlands, such as Fallow Deer and various bat species.Dormouse is also present in the area.

HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL INFLUENCESThe estate and parkland of Stocks, the Georgian stuccomansion are also influential in the cultural character of thearea. The house was once the home of the writer Mrs.Humphrey Ward (1851-1920) and visited by GeorgeBernard Shaw. The picturesque qualities of the village hasled to its use as a location for films and television includingepisodes of 'The Avengers', 'The Saint' and'Inspector Morse'.Field Patterns. As no Enclosure Acts were passed forAldbury parish the area is noteworthy in that it has largelyretained its pre 18th century organic enclosure pattern,although some of this is now relic. Field sizes are medium tolarge but are enclosed by a good network of mixed hedges.Transport pattern. The roads in the area are minor,infrequent and generally sinuous in character. The road thatruns north from the village takes the name of the IcknieldWay but does not follow the ancient alignment. Roads arenarrow in character with hedges and narrow verges.Settlements and built form. The only real area ofsettlement is Aldbury, a small picturesque village centredaround a traditional green with duck pond, stocks and ahalf timbered manor house. St John the Baptist is built inTotternhoe stone in the early english and decorated stylewith an embattled west tower. There are several goodexamples of vernacular building, with interesting brickbonds, whitewash and some thatch. Subsequentdevelopment has been controlled and low key, althoughthere are some inappropriate mid to late 20th centuryhouses at the fringe of the settlement. With the exceptionof Stocks and the ' Walled Garden', most other houses, ofwhich there are few, are isolated traditional buildings e.g.Duncombe Farm.

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VISUAL AND SENSORY PERCEPTIONThe area has a strong sense of containment created by thefolding and extended finger of the scarp slope to themajority of the perimeter. From these elevated slopes thearea appears sheltered and protected. The village ofAldbury has a fine setting matched by the wide range ofvernacular buildings within the village core. Even thoughthere are some more open field units within the area thereis always a sense of containment by the encircling chalkscarp.Rarity and distinctiveness. This is a rare landscape withinthe county, mainly due to the setting provided by theenclosing Aldbury Scarp Slopes.

VISUAL IMPACTThere are few visual detractors, however to the fringes ofAldbury there is some poor 20th century housing on thevillage outskirts which spoils the setting from the west.Within the village the central car park detracts from theappearance of the historic village core.

ACCESSIBILITYThere is a tight network of local footpaths close to thevillage of Aldbury. There are also a number of links up thescarp slopes in many directions. The waymarked IcknieldWay passes through the village from south to north. Thereare a few bridleways but not many links apart from via theminor roads, which is unfortunate due to the considerableamount of equestrian pasture and stables in the locality.

COMMUNITY VIEWSData on community views of this area is limited, howeverthe Aldbury village scene is a valued feature in this area (C);“the beautiful village of Aldbury” (2051).

“nestled in a beautiful valley close to Ashridge Park…as avillage of the Old English type Aldbury has perhaps noequal in the county.” HW Tompkins p.48 “Hertfordshire”Methuen 1903."Film-set village..... A cheerful old inn, a bakehouse with astriking chimney, thatched and timber-framed cottagesalong the Stocks road make for a harmony of brick andwhitwash and gleaming paintwork....[The mansion] ishandsomely screened by trees....Tudor cottages and its longbarn of gridiron timbers make a picturesque group." RMHealey, Shell Guide to Hertfordshire 1982.

LANDSCAPE RELATED DESIGNATIONSAONBAldbury Conservation AreaArea of Archaeological Significance: Albury

CONDITIONLand cover change: Age structure of tree cover: Extent of semi-natural habitat survival: Management of semi-natural habitat: Survival of cultural pattern: Impact of built development: Impact of land-use change:

localisedmaturescatterednot obviousintactlowmoderate

STRENGTH OF CHARACTERImpact of landform: Impact of land cover: Impact of historic pattern: Visibility from outside:Sense of enclosure: Visual unity: Distinctiveness/rarity:

apparentapparentapparentlocally visiblecontainedcoherentrare

Strengthenand

reinforce

Conserveand

strengthen

Safeguardand

manage

Improveand

reinforce

Improveand

conserve

Conserveand

restore

ReconstructImprove

andrestore

Restorecondition

to maintaincharacter

POO

RG

OO

D

CO

ND

ITIO

N

WEAK MODERATE STRONG

STRENGTH OFCHARACTER

MO

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Dacorum Landscape Character Assessment

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88pg Dacorum Landscape Character Assessment

STRATEGY AND GUIDELINES FOR MANAGINGCHANGE: IMPROVE AND CONSERVE• support a strategy to limit built development within the

area or the impact of development that may affect thearea from outside

• develop a strategy for enhancing the setting of Aldburyvillage and the screening of unsightly development to thefringes. Ensure that development both in the area oradjacent to it are integrated through the use of nativetree and shrub species and the creation of hedgingand/or planting to the perimeter

• encourage the retention of the existing historic patternof hedges and to create new features, along the line oflost field boundaries to further enhance landscape andecological links between woodlands. To include thepromotion of hedgerows to provide more permanentboundaries within equestrian pasture

• promote the appropriate management of woodland inorder to conserve and where absent to re-establish a richground flora and the distinction between differentmanagement systems, such as high forest and coppicewith standards. To encourage replanting plantations withindigenous mixed broadleaves

• promote the creation of buffer zones between intensivearable production and important semi-natural habitatsand the creation of links between semi-natural habitats

• conserve unimproved and semi-improved chalk grasslandwherever possible avoiding agricultural improvements inorder to maintain their nature conservation value.Encourage traditional management by grazing

• explore options to enhance the setting of the Aldburyvillage core by providing reasonable alternatives forvisitor parking

• promote crop diversification and the restoration of mixedlivestock/arable farming where possible

• promote the implementation of a management plan forStocks golf course to restore the historic landscapestructure of the grounds/fields and develop the wildlifepotential through habitat creation

• promote the retention of the character of local minorroads by the management of hedgerows and verges.Where part of a hedge has been damaged or removed itshould be replanted with a mix of indigenous species

• conserve and enhance the distinctive character ofsettlements and individual buildings by promoting theconservation of important buildings and high standards ofnew building or alterations to existing properties, all withthe consistent use of locally traditional materials anddesigned to reflect the traditional character of the area

Towards Pitstone Hill(J.Billingsley)

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