Glossary  
   
Acid grassland Vegetation dominated by grasses and herbs on lime-deficient soils derived from acidic bedrock or from sands and gravels.
Ancient woodland Areas that have had continuous woodland cover since at least AD1600 and have only been cleared sporadically for scrub and timber production.
Anglo-Saxon period The period traditionally dated to AD410-1066 when, following the decline of Roman power, England was settled by several Germanic peoples.
Annual A plant that grows, flowers, produces seed and then dies within one year or growing season.
AONB Area of Outstanding National Beauty - a statutory national landscape designation.
Aquatic plants Plants that grow whilst being entirely covered by water. Some plants can be both aquatic and emergent.
Assart An enclosure or field formed by the clearance of woodland.
Bedwork A bedwork water meadow is a series of earthworks designed to irrigate a meadow using a system of drains and channels to transport water to and from a river channel or other watercourse. Usually found in •Uê shaped valleys.
Berm Shelf at the base of a river or stream bank.
Braided A network of small, shallow, interlaced streams derived from a single river; formed after the original stream had deposited sediment, dividing and forming new channels.
Broadleaved woodland Woodland that is dominated by deciduous trees with broad flat leaves, such as oak, ash or beech.
Bourne An intermittent stream that mainly flows during the winter months.
Bronze age A period characterised by the first use of copper and bronze. Generally speaking this period dates in England from 2,300BC - 700BC.
Brown earths Brown or greyish brown naturally fertile soils of well mixed organic and mineral material developed under deciduous forests.
Brown rendzinas Thin upper black or dark brown granular soil over limestone with fragments of limestone,often very fertile but dry.
Calcareous grassland Vegetation dominated by grasses and herbs on shallow, well-drained soils which are rich in lime formed by weathering of chalk.
Carr Woodland dominated by tree species tolerant of high water tables such as alder, willow and birch, often associated with wetland shrubs, fern, mosses and liverworts.
Catchwork Similar to a bedwork water meadow but with a series of earthworks designed to irrigate a meadow using a gravity fed supply of water. Usually found in smaller and narrower valleys.
Colonisation The successful occupation of a new habitat by a species not previously found in that area.
Combe Valley on the flank of a hill.
Communities Groups of plants or animals living together under characteristic, recognisable conditions.
Coppice An area of woodland, often hazel or sweet chestnut, which has been or is managed for wood production by cutting stems close to the base on a regular cycle, generally 5-10 years.
Common Piece of land on which certain individuals have commoning rights such as grazing for cattle and ponies, foraging for pigs. Often open to the general public for quiet rural activities.
Covert Woodland and understorey shelter for game birds.
Dark skies Night time skies which are largely undisturbed by artificial manmade lighting.
Deer park First recorded during the medieval period these were areas where settlement was restricted as were grazing rights and the ability to clear ground for fuel. These areas were principally managed for their hunting and were surrounded by a bank and ditch surmounted by a fence (known as a park pale).
Downland Upland area, mainly found in the south of England, found on chalk soils, usually with wide open views. Traditional vegetation cover is unimproved calcareous grassland but arable farming is a common modern land use.
Diffuse pollution Pollution caused to water bodies caused by fertiliser, silt and pollutant run off from fields, roads and hard surfacing.
Earthwork One or more archaeological features, such as a bank, wall, mound or setting of some kind, that appears in topographical relief in the ground surface, usually as a rise, projection or series of •humps and bumpsê. An earthwork is not necessarily made of soil; it may comprise stones and other materials too.
Extensification The term is used here to describe a change in farming practice to lower livestock densities, or to an outdoor farming method such as for pig rearing.
Floodplain The low relief area of a valley floor adjacent to a river that could be periodically inundated by flood waters.
Heath/ Heathland A mosaic of mire, acid grassland and area dominated by heathers.
Historic landscape The physical manifestation in the landscape of peopleês interaction with their natural and cultural environment, through time.
Historic Landscape Characterisation The process by which historic components of the present day landscape are identified, described, categorised and evaluated both temporally and spatially in order to determine historic landscape character.
Inlier A mass of older stratified rocks forming an island showing through the surrounding newer strata.
Intimate A sense of enclosure combined with a varied landscape of small-scale features such as narrow valleys, small fields and copses, narrow winding watercourses and tracks or paths.
Iron age The Iron Age in England dates from 700BC to AD43. It is characterised by the use of iron and the construction of large hill forts.
Landscape character A distinct, recognisable and consistent pattern of elements in the landscape that makes one landscape different from another, rather than better or worse.
Landscape Character Area Geographically identifiable areas of landscape that have their own indiviual sense of place.
Landscape Character Type Landscapes sharing broadly similar combinations of geology, topography, drainage patterns, vegetation, historical land use and settlement pattern, which may be found in different parts of the country.
Landscape elements Individual components that make up the landscape such as walls, trees, hedges.
Landscape feature A particular prominent or eye catching element such as a hillock, church tower, line of pylons.
Ladder fields Fields formed by short cross boundaries with long, parallel wavy boundaries which extend across the landscape.
Linear settlement Settlement in a linear pattern, usually along a linear feature such as a road or watercourse.
Medieval period This period usually dates from AD1066 up to AD1650.
Medium-scale landscape Refers to areas with larger fields where hedgerows are still a significant features of the landscape. Woodlands will be larger but less numerous
Mesotrophic grasslands Neutral grasslands (neither acid nor calcareous) generally found on a loam soil and used for grazing or hay.
Middle Chalk This is the oldest solid formation within the Borough, formed during the Cretaceous period; it is a hard white chalk with few flints.
Mire Area of wet peatland; includes bog (acid) and fen (alkaline).
Natural Neither the work of, nor shaped by people.
Nucleated settlement Settlement arranged in a clustered pattern, particularly around a focal feature such as a village green, square or church.
Osier bed An area of willow planting (Salix viminalis) traditionally grown for basket weaving but often referring to any wet willow shrub planting.
Parliamentary fields Fields created following an act of parliament. Often occurring during the later 18th and 19th Century they are characteristically larger, more regular and have clearly surveyed, straight edges.
Pollard A tree managed by cutting the trunk at head height to produce a rounded crown of new growth.
Post medieval period Dating from AD1650 up until the present day.
Prairie field The enclosures have been formed by loss of 19th Century field boundaries by the expansion of field sizes during the 20th Century.
Rank species Plant species grow vigorously and profusely, out-competing other species.
Remoteness A sense of removal well away from urban and other developed areas into a rural landscape of little habitation
River terraces Deposits of often gravely sediment between a river floodplain and the valley sides.
Riparian Relating to the bank of a river or stream.
Roman-British period The period from AD43, when Britain was invaded the armies of Rome. Extended up to the early 5th century AD when direct links with the continental Roman empire were severed.
Scrub Woody vegetation usually less than 5m high consisting mainly of shrubs, with some trees.
Seclusion A sense of separation from but not necessarily far from urban and other developed areas, protected by screening such as topography or woodland.
Set aside Agricultural land taken out of production, usually for a fixed period of time, in return for subsidies on the main crop, as defined by Council Regulation (EC) 1251/99.
Skyline Visible horizon
Small-scale landscape Refers to areas with smaller size of fields, more numerous hedgerows and small copses
Stagnogley soils Slowly permable, seasonally waterlogged soils (usually clay).
Street furniture Man made structures such as seats, signs, cycle racks etc designed to serve users of the road or street.
Time depth The visible evidence in the landscape for change and continuity over periods of time.
Tranquillity A sense of a lack of disturbance from either visual or noise intrusion.
Upper Formed during the cretaceous period; this is a soft white chalk with many flint nodules. Clay with flints: Laid down during the Quaternary period, this is reddish brown clay with unbraided flints; it rests on the chalk.
Vernacular Local domestic architecture and building materials.
Water meadow A meadow or piece of low-lying land which has been irrigated to improve fertility via a series of earthworks which transport water to the field, across the surface of the field and back to the river.
Wavy field Boundary to a field which displays a wavy as opposed to a straight alignment suggesting an un-surveyed nature.
Wetland Areas of bog, fen, peatland or water whether natural or artificial.
Winterbourne An intermittent stream that mainly flows during the winter months.

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