4.1 Brooks Pastures

Key characteristic features

• Flat, extensive alluvial floodplain landscape.
• Fairly small, rough pastures, edged by straight, reed- filled drainage ditches. Many are seasonally flooded water meadows.
• Relatively open landscape with few hedgerows.
• Patches of woodland, isolated clumps of trees and single trees occur sporadically.
• Predominantly dairy farming, with horse grazing in some urban fringe areas.
• Deciduous woodlands and dense, well-treed hedgerows on outer margins of floodplain form strong visual edges.
• No settlements. Occasional raised straight tracks lead from villages on margins of floodplain to established river crossing points.

Landform and context

The brooks pastures are found in the valleys of the river Arun, near Amberley, and the River Ouse, near Lewes. In both instances, a particularly extensive floodplain landscape has developed because the river has been unrestricted by the surrounding landform and has been able to meander in broader loops across a wider area.

The Amberley Wild Brooks landscape has developed where the River Arun has broadened its floodplain to the north of the chalklands, beyond the immediate confines of the chalk escarpment. In the past the river has carved deep into the Upper Greensand bench at the foot of the escarpment to form a very steep minor cliff along the side of the valley at Amberley. Further north the valley broadens within the relatively low-lying Gault clay vale and the surrounding landform has less visual influence.

The Lewes Brooks landscape occurs to the west of the River Ouse and to the south of Lewes. Here the convergence of two principal chalk valley systems, those of the longitudinal Falmer-Glynde valley and the Ouse river valley, has created a wide, lowland bowl within the chalklands. In the past the River Ouse has meandered freely across this broader part of the valley, creating a particularly wide floodplain. The valley side slopes surrounding the Lewes Brooks are particularly steep as the River Ouse, and its tributary the Glynde, have carved through the chalk escarpment on either side of Mount Caburn. Further south, the ridge to the west of Kingston also has a dramatic cliff-like landform. Remnants of the eroded chalk uplands, the two smooth low rounded hills of the Upper and Lower Rises, remain within the floodplain.

The brooks pastures are formed on the fine, silty alluvial clays deposited on the river floodplain. These are heavy, poorly drained soils, suitable only as pasture land. An outcrop of peaty soils within the Amberley Wild Brooks occurs where the underlying rocks are derived from the Folkestone Beds, a formation closely associated with the acidic soils of the heathland mosaic landscape.

Land use and landscape pattern

The brooks pastures are a patchwork of small pastures drained by a geometric grid of narrow drainage channels. Much of the area is subject to seasonal flooding. The ditch systems and some wet grasslands have a particularly rich flora and attract nationally important populations of wintering birds.

Hedgerows are sparse, but provide a partial network in places. They are unmanaged and patchy, with many gaps and supplementary wire fencing. Isolated, stunted hawthorn trees and bushes are scattered throughout the pastures and there are occasional oak and ash trees, together with groups of scrubby willows and alders. The small, isolated woodlands within the Amberley Wild Brooks landscape make this area seem slightly more enclosed and intimate than that of the Lewes Brooks. One of these patches of woodland, at Amberley Swamp, has a very special, mysterious atmosphere. An eroded embankment encircles an area of hummocky marsh with twisted, partially fallen willows and scattered hawthorn scrub to the side of the river embankment. Amberley Swamp seems a forgotten corner of the landscape and its irregular form contrasts with the strict, ordered geometry of the surrounding drained pastures.

The landscape of the Amberley Wild Brooks is entirely devoted to pasture, mostly for cattle, and there are no arable fields. The Lewes Brooks have some arable fields on the gravelly river terraces which border the alluvial floodplain and the low hills of the Upper and Lower Rises are a patchwork of arable fields edged with hedgerows.

The drainage ditches form unenclosed, usually reed-filled channels between the fields. Those within the Lewes Brooks appear rather overgrown but the sound of running water, a sure sign that the drainage system is intact, is familiar in the Amberley Wild Brooks area. The reeds in the ditches provide a striking contrast in texture at the edges of the fields but do not disrupt the open, flat character of the floodplain landscape.

Settlement

Farms and villages are often sited on the very edge of the floodplain and there is a farm on the Upper Rise in the middle of the Lewes Brooks. Villages on the edges of the floodplain are important in local views and Amberley Castle, in particular, is a striking landmark.

An ancient track, Wey South Path crosses the Amberley Wild Brooks in a direct straight line, linking the village of Amberley with Greatham Bridge, although the track currently fades out in the centre of the floodplain. A similar, slightly raised, straight track links the village of Rodmell, on the western side of the Lewes Brooks, with the footpaths running alongside the River Ouse. These tracks are fairly wide and are partially enclosed by hedgerows, with groups of hedgerow trees.

Subjective response

The brooks pastures have a domestic, tranquil, expansive atmosphere. The Amberley Wild Brooks is deeply rural and seems particularly remote, wild and secretive. There are no visual intrusions and the inaccessibility of much of the area adds to the sense of tranquillity. The Amberley Swamp is a particularly special, mysterious wild place, with a fairy-tale quality.

By contrast the Lewes Brooks pastures are surrounded by the more open landscape of the chalklands and the visual influence of chalk quarrying and urban development. While many of the pastures are used for dairy farming, the predominant use is probably horse pastures, a reflection of urban fringe pressures. As a result many of the pastures have the unkempt, rather untidy appearance of paddocks. Rough sheds, water troughs and other paraphernalia are commonplace.

Sensitivity to change

The relatively open character, small-scale field pattern and tranquil, pastoral qualities of these extensive floodplain landscapes mean that any changes in the landscape are likely to be widely visible. In addition, both the Lewes Brooks and the Amberley Wild Brooks are overlooked by adjacent steep escarpment ridges, from which the entire landscape pattern is clearly revealed.

Extensive built development is unlikely to be a possibility on these floodplains, but engineering works related to the river channels and drainage ditches, transmission lines, roads, railways and changing land use patterns are all potential forces for change. Large-scale developments, such as transmission lines, represent the most significant threat to landscape character as they usually dominate the landscape and distract from its small-scale, rectilinear pattern. On a smaller scale, the geometry of the drainage ditches provides the overall visual landscape structure and it is important that this network remains intact. Other special features, such as Amberley Swamp and the straight, hedge-lined tracks across the floodplain should be a priority for conservation.

The domestic, pastoral qualities of the landscape would be disrupted by an increase in horse keeping or arable farming, particularly on the edges of the floodplain, where the pressures for such land use changes are likely to be greatest, but where they would also be most visible.

Key issues for landscape management

Farmland mosaic

• Conserve existing pattern of small, geometric pastures.
• Encourage conversion of arable fields to permanent pasture towards outer margins of floodplain to reinforce the pastoral quality of the landscape.
• Encourage traditional management of wet meadows wherever possible, taking into consideration flooding implications of any loss of floodplain storage.
• Investigate ecological value of rough, unimproved pastures and give priority to conservation of areas with important floristic diversity e.g., the damp unimproved meadows on clays and peaty soils and areas recognised for their importance for birds.
• Control and reduce visual impact of horse paddocks to improve visual and environmental quality.

Trees and woodlands

• Conserve and manage existing woodlands; thinning, coppicing and replanting as necessary.
• No large-scale woodland planting; new planting should be restricted to occasional freestanding trees and hedgerow oak or ash trees: There may be scope to plant small, irregular groups of woodland trees (including a high proportion of wetland species such as alder and willow) particularly where there is a need to screen visually intrusive landscape elements. The relatively open, expansive character of the landscape should be maintained. Respect views to valley side landmarks such as Amberley Castle.

Hedgerows

• Conserve, manage and gap up existing hedgerows. Only consider replanting or introducing new hedgerows alongside important tracks or towards the edges of the floodplain. There is likely to be more scope for new hedgerow planting in the Lewes Brooks area than in the Amberley Wild Brooks.

Wetland and drainage ditches

• Conserve and manage all the drainage ditches between pastures. Specialist studies will be necessary to ensure the best approach to maximise visual, ecological and drainage requirements.
• Conserve ‘left-over’ areas of marshy land, such as Amberley Swamp, from degradation by drainage or excessive erosion as a result of cattle trampling.
• Examine the potential for local water table management to create more extensive areas of wetland, with both visual and nature conservation value.
• Create wide, uncultivated buffer margins alongside drainage ditches wherever they abut arable fields.
• Protect drainage ditches from contamination and create buffer zones as necessary.

Tracks

• Give priority to the conservation and enhancement of the trackside ditches, verges, hedgerows and trees.

Priorities for action

• Conservation and management of drainage ditches and water levels.
• Encourage traditional management as wet meadows; restoration and rehabilitation of these features as appropriate.
• Reduce impact of urban fringe; both visually and in terms of land uses, pollution, etc.

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