2.3.2 Wooded Chalk Escarpment

Key characteristic features

• Mixed woodland almost entirely clothes the steep, north-facing escarpment slopes.
• Occasional patches of open grassland or scrub form highly distinctive landmarks in views from lowlands to the north.
• Dense woodland tends to mask variations in relief and emphasises the linear continuity of the ridge as a whole.
• Rounded summits are generally open grassland or arable fields but woodland typically extends to the skyline in lowland views to the scarp.

Landform and context

The wooded chalk escarpment predominates along the northern edge of the AONB chalklands to the west of the Arun valley. In addition, there are wooded sections of the escarpment further east. The largest is on the west fringes of Eastbourne, but there are also examples at New Timber Hill, the north-east slopes of Chanctonbury Hill and the escarpment slopes near Storrington. The wooded chalk escarpment is similar in geological structure, elevation and profile to the open chalk escarpment described on page 55. The highest summits are Beacon Hill (242m), Linch Down (248m) and Burton Down (245m).

The escarpment landform becomes more complex, and visually less dominant, to the west of Harting Down, The steep, north-facing slope here is lower and there are views beyond it to the higher, rounded summits of West Harting Down to the south. The complexity of the escarpment relief in this area is heightened further by Torberry Hill, the only prominent outlying summit along the western escarpment. The hill is connected to the escarpment by a ridge, forming a deep, secluded bay in the escarpment to the west of the village of South Harting.

The western part of the escarpment ridge remains unbroken by wind gaps, although the relatively low points at Cocking and Duncton are given emphasis by their use as communication routes. The ridge follows a relatively straight east-west alignment which makes it seem particularly consistent.

Land use and landscape pattern

The woodlands on the steep, north-facing escarpment slopes are a rich mosaic of beech, yew, field maple, ash and sometimes holly. There are almost pure stands of beech on more stable soils and beech-yew associations on steeper, drier slopes. Many are ancient semi-natural woodlands. Hawthorn dominated scrub predominates where there are gaps in the woodland cover. Some of the woodlands on the steep north-facing slopes are mixed, but there are no pure stands of conifers. The ancient beech and yew hangers on some of the most precipitous slopes are of particular visual, historic and ecological interest. The finest examples are between Duncton Down and Bignor Hill.

Areas of open grassland are rare, but where they do occur, they tend to be highly visible landmarks, particularly if they are bounded by straight-edged woodlands e.g.. Heyshott Down. The wooded slopes generally have a soft, irregular texture but strong, geometric edges often occur on the lower slopes where there is an abrupt transition to the arable farmland landscape at the foot of the scarp. To the south of the escarpment the extensive mixed woodlands and commercial plantations of the large scale enclosed west chalk uplands tend to have hard edges and strong, block-like forms which often do not seem visually integrated with the rounded slope profiles of the escarpment summits.

The ridgeline is predominantly open - either grazed grassland or arable fields. However, the woodland on the steep northern slopes extends right up to the skyline in views from the lowlands to the north, so the open ridgetop landscape is often hidden from view. These exposed arable fields are particularly visible where the ridge undulates steeply at Cocking Down and Manorfarm Down. The South Downs Way is a prominent feature along the crest of the ridgeline and often acts as a straight-edged division between the large fields.

The short sections of open chalk escarpment landscape which occur at Treyford Hill and Harting Down form a strong contrast to the surrounding wooded slopes.

There are long views along the open crest of the ridgeline and panoramic views from the escarpment summits. The dense tree cover limits the scope for views out from the lower down on the northern slopes. To the south, there are long views across the entire chalk dip slope to Chichester Harbour and the coastal plain. However, variations in landform on the dip slope tend to be masked by the diverse mosaic of woodland and farmland and the deep coombes to the south of the escarpment are therefore less visible than those within the more open chalklands to the east.

The wooded western escarpment has no wind gaps to provide easy access for communications and several important roads are therefore forced to climb the steep scarp. There are also deeply sunken, wooded tracks and lanes which zig-zag tortuously up the slopes.

As in the open chalk escarpment landscape, transmission masts and quarries are prominent landmarks. Examples are the masts on the summit of Burton Down and the quarry on Manorfarm Down. However, the dense woodland cover gives this escarpment landscape more visual continuity than that to the east, so smaller, individual features and details have less visual impact.

Settlement

There are no settlements on the escarpment itself; only the occasional, isolated farm which is usually found on the dip slope.

The farms and villages along the springline at the foot of the scarp are generally within the scarp footslopes landscape.

Subjective response

Viewed from the lowlands to the north, the escarpment resembles a dark, solid, wooded wall. The woodland cover tends to diminish the height of the landform but at the same time increases the impression of continuity and solidity. The scale of the undulating ridgetop relief is best appreciated from the South Downs Way.

The woodland tends to mask individual features in longer views so there are many hidden surprises such as the group of ancient tumuli known as The Devil's Jumps on Treyford Hill. The long climb up through dense woodland builds a sense of anticipation for the views from the open summits.

Sensitivity to change

The north-facing slopes of the wooded chalk escarpment form a solid, consistent backdrop to views from the north and even relatively small clearings in the canopy are highly visible landmarks. It follows that this landscape is extremely sensitive to change and that any form of built development would have a widespread influence.

The impact of felling is an important consideration and felling coupes should be carefully phased so as to maintain consistent overall woodland cover and to avoid hard, distracting edges.

The skyline is particularly vulnerable to any change which would disrupt the consistent, undulating edge and the characteristic bold relationship between the scarp slope woodlands and the farmland on the lower slopes is also distinctive, prominent and highly sensitive to inappropriate landscape change.

Key issues for landscape management

Trees and woodlands

• Maintain overall woodland cover on the steep escarpment slopes. Woodland management to enhance species and structural diversity: thinning, coppicing and replanting as necessary. Some replanting of beech, yew and other important chalk escarpment trees may be required in areas where such species are not being replaced by natural regeneration and where sycamore and ash may otherwise predominate. Control sycamore regeneration.
• Avoid small felling coupes on steep scarp slopes, unless these are carried out following a detailed visual assessment and are carefully designed to enhance the landform and integrate with other open areas nearby.
• Avoid straight, hard woodland edges, especially directly up and down or across the grain of the slope. The strongly shaped woodland edges on the lower scarp slopes are often bold, distinctive landscape features. However the shapes can sometimes be out of proportion with the landform and in some situations there is scope to create a softer, more graded transition between the steep, densely wooded escarpment slopes and the smaller scale farmland of the scarp footslopes. Oddly-shaped, small blocks of trees may be confusing or distracting and hard edges, which cross deeply indented slopes without a change in elevation, are also jarring. The scarp woodlands should have boldly indented edges, either curving or straight, which are in scale with the sequence of bluffs and coombes along the escarpment and which give visual emphasis to the landform. Such woodland forms should always be at a larger scale than the adjacent farmland to the north, with indentations in the woodland enclosing groups of fields at a time.
• The character of the woodland edge along the lower margins of the steep scarp slopes is particularly vulnerable to erosion by piecemeal changes in land use and damage caused by farm machinery and impaction. This important interface between the landscape of the wooded chalk escarpment and that of the scarp footslopes should be protected and conserved. There may be a need to establish broad marginal buffer zones in some areas and to carry out new peripheral planting to improve and strengthen the woodland edge where it has become degraded.
• The west wooded chalk escarpment generally follows a straight alignment so the few occasions when it turns to the north or south are visually significant. The composition of the landscape pattern on prominent slopes, such as those of Hemner Hill and Barlavington Down, is therefore particularly sensitive and these areas should be considered as a priority for visual assessment and, if appropriate, landscape enhancement.
• The extensive blocks of woodland and plantations on the dip slope to the south of the escarpment often have distracting hard edges which are not visually well-integrated with the gentle, rolling profiles of the chalkland relief. Trees should be planted or felled on the periphery of such forests to soften the edge structure and improve its visual relationship with the open escarpment summits. These edges should be irregular and in proportion to the large-scale of the surrounding landscape. Areas of clear fell should be carefully planned in a similar way.
• Special management programmes are necessary to retain important woodland stands such as beech hangers and yew woodlands.
• Conserve and prevent fragmentation of the wooded skyline. Replanting may be necessary in exposed areas following storm damage.
• Remove any conifer planting which is visible on the crest of the escarpment ridge.
• Give priority to the continued protection and management of areas of ancient semi-natural woodland.

Open areas (ref. also open east chalk uplands landscape guidelines)

• Encourage the conversion of arable land to grazed pastures as a priority on escarpment summits to improve the visual continuity and unity of the rounded chalkland relief and to extend ecologically important chalk grassland habitats wherever necessary.
• Conserve and manage chalk grassland habitats; extend and link adjacent sites wherever possible to create unified swathes of open grazed grassland; scrub clearance (in irregular patches) and appropriate grazing regimes as necessary. Archaeological sites should be a priority for grassland restoration schemes.
• Wherever established scrub is to be retained for wildlife or visual purposes, it should be managed by a combination of coppicing and removal to provide scrub of mixed age and species structure. Scrub clearance or thinning should be carried out in irregularly shaped patches to avoid hard edges and to maintain the visual character of the random, patchy scrub/grassland mosaic on prominent slopes. Areas of relatively stable, uninvasive scrub such as gorse, should be selectively retained for their visual and nature conservation value, subject to archaeological considerations.
• The visual structure of the escarpment landscapes should be assessed from the surrounding lowlands to ensure that the relationships between the escarpment and its adjacent landscapes are well balanced.
• Identify any distracting, oddly-shaped landscape elements and remove them, or seek to improve their form and visual impact.
• Encourage the development of chalk grassland on the south-facing dip slope side of escarpment ridges to enhance their ecological value and also to reduce the visual impact of harsh edged, geometric arable fields on the rounded slope profiles of the escarpment ridge.

Tracks and lanes

• Conserve chalkland tracks and manage their associated verges, banks and hedgerows to avoid erosion and encourage wildflower interest.
• Avoid fenced-in tracks wherever possible.
• Conserve steep, wooded banks along scarp lanes; in particular protect from vehicular erosion.

Quarries

• Specialist studies, which take full account of geological, nature conservation and aesthetic issues are required to determine the best approach to quarry restoration. In some cases restoration might include the chamfering and stepping back of sheer faces; elsewhere it might be preferable to retain quarry faces intact to preserve their geological or nature conservation interest and to limit the extent of any further changes to the landform.

Priorities for action

• Maintain deciduous native woodland cover, particularly on skylines
• Modify edges of plantations to improve the integration of commercial forestry with the open slopes to the south of the escarpment ridge.
• Keep edges of woodland in proportion to variations in landform; avoid small open areas with distracting shapes.
• Encourage conversion of arable fields to grazed grasslands on the dip slope side of the escarpment ridges.
• Management programmes to retain beech hangers

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