ROADS AND DEVELOPMENT SUB-COMMITTEE                        ITEM 18
 
29TH APRIL 1991
 
THE FOREST OF FREEMANTLE COUNTRYSIDE HERITAGE AREA
 
REPORT OF THE COUNTY PLANNING OFFICER
 
 
1.      Under the County  Council's Countryside  Heritage Policy  ten
Countryside Heritage Areas have been defined to date.  I now  propose
that the Forest of Freemantle be added to the list.
 
2.      Countryside Heritage Areas are areas which are important  for
their   combination    of    distinctive    landscape,    ecological,
archaeological and  historic  features.    Each  area  has  a  strong
individual  physical  identity,   derived  from  its   geomorphology,
vegetation and historic land use.
 
3.      The Medieval Forest of  Freemantle originally lay across  the
north of the  County with the  Royal residence of  Kingsclere at  its
centre.  Although  it crossed  over onto the  chalk downland  further
south much of it lay  on the sands, gravels  and clays to the  north.
It is this  distinctive northern area  which is being  proposed as  a
Countryside Heritage Area.  The  suggested boundaries are defined  by
the River Enbourne and County boundary in the north and west, and  by
the abrupt change in geology from chalk  to clay in the south.   This
southern boundary also denotes the northern edge of the North  Wessex
Downs AONB  between  Wolverton and  Burghclere.   The  whole  of  the
proposed  Heritage  Area  encompasses  the  watershed  of  the  River
Enbourne on its Hampshire side with the western boundary defining its
limit.
 
4.      It is  a distinctive,  gently  rolling and  wooded  landscape
containing an intricate series of ancient commons, ancient  woodlands
and areas  of damp  species-rich grassland  intersected by  the  many
tributaries of the River Enbourne  which arise where the chalk  meets
the clays along the southern edge.
 
5.      The area includes the  historic remains of  a number of  deer
parks at Burghclere, Highclere,  Wolverton, Frobury and  Ecchinswell.
The park pale at Frobury Park  is still largely intact and forms  the
western boundary to  Frobury Park Copse,  now a Countryside  Heritage
Site.
 
6.      Many of  the  ancient  commons would  have  been  covered  by
heathland and  acid grassland  communities with  a scatter  of  small
woodland.   The  unproductive nature  of  the soils  has  meant  that
several survive today - including Newtown Common and Earlstone Common
Countryside Heritage Sites, Sydmonton  Common (now partly planted  up
with conifers) and  Wolverton Common.   Other fragments of  heathland
also remain, including an interesting area at Ashford Hill Churchyard
Countryside Heritage Site.
 
 
 
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7.      A large  number  of  fairly  intact  ancient  woodlands  also
survive, of  which  many  are  still largely  unsurveyed.    Two  are
Countryside Heritage Sites and I  will be proposing several more  for
recording in  the near  future.   There  are some  particularly  fine
woodlands around Ashford Hill, especially the component woods of  the
Ashford Hill  Woods and  Meadows SSSI  and National  Nature  Reserve.
Some of the best oaks in the  County are known to grow on these  rich
clay soils.
 
8.      Many remnants  of  species-rich neutral-acid  grassland  also
exist within the proposed Heritage  Area, including an important  set
of meadows at Ashford  Hill NNR.  Others  occur within the  Baughurst
valley and at Wootton Hill of which several are Countryside  Heritage
Sites.
 
9.      A total  of  eleven  Countryside  Heritage  Sites  have  been
recorded within the proposed Heritage Area and the County Council has
negotiated a Section 39 Management  Agreement to protect 12  hectares
of species-rich grassland within the Baughurst valley.  The Hampshire
and Isle  of  Wight Naturalists'  Trust  maintains a  nature  reserve
called The Chase which is leased to it by the National Trust.  It  is
situated just  north of  Highclere Park  and comprises  conifers  and
alder carr.
 
10.     Over 70 known archaeological sites occur within the  proposed
Heritage  Area  dating   from  paleolithic  times   through  to   the
post-medieval period.   Remnants  of late  pre-historic and  medieval
times are particularly widespread.   In addition  to the Manor  House
and Palace of the  Bishops of Winchester and  the Royal Residence  at
Kingsclere, there are also at least four deserted medieval  villages,
fish ponds and traces of ridge and furrow cultivation present.
 
RECOMMENDATION
 
11.     I recommend that the area  of the Forest of Freemantle  shown
on plan 11 displayed  at the meeting be  identified as the Forest  of
Freemantle Countryside Heritage Area.
 
 
0691/NC
 
 
 
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