This chapter refers to the National Character Area context for Cherwell District Council, to county-level assessments, to the current district landscape character assessments (that it will replace), to neighbouring authorities character assessments, and to any other studies that are used to inform our analysis.

Landscape Character Assessment can be undertaken at a variety of scales and levels of detail. This Landscape Character Assessment is part of a hierarchy of landscape character assessment information cascading down from the national to the local level.

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National Level

National Character Areas

At a national level, England is divided into 159 distinct National Character Areas (NCAs). Each is defined by a unique combination of landscape, biodiversity, geodiversity, history, and cultural and economic activity. There are descriptive profiles available for each NCA setting out information on landscape character, changes in the landscape and an assessment of ecosystem services delivered (Natural England, 2014).

The study area lies within the NCAs described below and illustrated on the figure below.

• 88 – Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire Claylands includes a small area of land in the east of the district. The NCA is summarised as follows:

“The Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire Claylands National Character Area (NCA) is a broad, gently undulating, lowland plateau dissected by shallow river valleys that gradually widen as they approach The Fens NCA in the east. Within it, but distinct from it, is the Bedfordshire Greensand Ridge, a contrasting narrow and elevated outcrop of Greensand, with its associated habitats on acidic soils such as grassland, heathland and woodland. Views of the Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire Claylands NCA and its large-scale arable farmland can be seen in most directions, from the elevated ground of the Yardley Whittlewood Ridge, Bedfordshire Greensand Ridge, East Anglian Chalk and Chilterns NCAs.”

• 95 – Northamptonshire Uplands extends north-east from the Cotswolds NCA south of Banbury to border the Northamptonshire Vales NCA and Leicestershire Vales NCA around Market Harborough at its northern extent. It covers the northern part of the study area. The NCA is summarised as follows:

“The Northamptonshire Uplands National Character Area (NCA) is an area of gently rolling, limestone hills and valleys capped by ironstone-bearing sandstone and clay Lias, with many long, low ridgelines. Rivers flow out from the NCA in all directions, including several major rivers – the Cherwell, Avon, Welland, Tove, Ouse, Nene and Ise. While there are areas of differing character, there are strong unifying landscape features across the Northamptonshire Uplands, most importantly the extensive areas of open field systems with ridge and furrow and the earthworks of deserted and shrunken settlements which occur throughout. Other features include the strong, mostly Parliamentary enclosure pattern with high, wide, A-shaped hedgerows bounding the largely rectilinear fields with their frequent mature ash and oak trees; the many country houses and their associated extensive areas of historic and nationally important designed parkland landscapes; the distinctive ironstone, cob and brick nucleated settlements with their large stone churches, often with prominent steeples; the narrow lanes with very wide grassy verges; and the small, scattered but prominent broadleaved woods and coverts. There are also wide, long-distance views from the edges and across the ridgetops throughout the area.”

• 107 – Cotswolds covers a large area of the centre of the study area. Areas encompassed or mostly covered by the NCA include Ironstone Hills and Valleys, Cherwell Valley, Upper Heyford Plateau, and Oxfordshire estate farmlands. The NCA is summarised as follows:

“The Cotswolds form the best-known section of the predominantly oolitic Jurassic Limestone belt that stretches from the Dorset coast to Lincolnshire. The dominant pattern of the Cotswold landscape is of a steep scarp crowned by a high, open wold; the beginning of a long and rolling dip slope cut by a series of increasingly wooded valleys. The scarp provides a backdrop to the major settlements of Cheltenham, Gloucester, Stroud and Bath and provides expansive views across the Severn and Avon Vales to the west. Smaller towns and villages nestle at the scarp foot, in the valley bottoms and on the gentler valley sides at springlines. Scattered hamlets and isolated farmsteads are found on the higher ground. The limestone creates a strong sense of place and unity which carries through to the buildings and walls which have been built using local limestone for centuries. The distinctive character of the area is reflected in its designation as the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, with sixty five percent of the NCA being covered by this designation.”

• 108 – Upper Thames Clay Vales include much of the southern part of Cherwell district. The NCA is summarised as follows:

“The Upper Thames Clay Vales National Character Area (NCA) is a broad belt of open, gently undulating lowland farmland on predominantly Jurassic and Cretaceous clays. Blenheim Palace World Heritage Site falls within the NCA, along with around 5,000 ha of the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and smaller areas of the Chilterns AONB and the Cotswolds AONB. Two of its Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) are designated for their lowland meadow vegetation communities, while Little Wittenham SAC has one of the most studied great crested newt populations in the UK. There are contrasting landscapes, including enclosed pastures of the claylands with wet valleys, mixed farming, hedges, hedge trees and field trees and more settled, open, arable lands. Mature field oaks give a parkland feel in many places.”.

• 109 – Midvale Ridge includes small areas on the southern edge of the district. The NCA is summarised as follows:

The Midvale Ridge National Character Area (NCA) is a band of low-lying limestone hills stretching east-west from the Vale of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire to Swindon. It is surrounded by the flat lands of the Oxfordshire clay vales, giving extensive views across the surrounding countryside. It is a predominantly agricultural area with a mixed arable/pastoral farming landscape, cereals being the most important arable crop. The main towns are Swindon, at the western end, and Oxford, which lies across the centre of the area, but otherwise the settlement pattern is characterised by small, nucleated villages along the top of the ridge and along the springline. The soils types are a mix of heavy rendzinas, stagnogleys and lighter sandy brown earths with small patches of sandy soils.”

National Character Areas - View the map full screen in a new tab

Cotswolds National Landscape

A small area on the western fringe of the district lies within the north-eastern part of the Cotswolds National Landscape (formerly Area of Natural Beauty, or AONB) – shown on the map above. The Cotswolds National Landscapes Management Plan 2023-2025 describes the area as being “a rich mosaic of historical, social, economic, cultural, geological, geomorphological and ecological features” that was “designated by reason of its ‘special qualities’. These include the flora, fauna, historical and cultural associations as well as landscape and scenic views”.

The Cotswolds AONB Landscape Character Assessment (LDA, 2002) identifies most of the National Landscape within Cherwell, centred on the village of Epwell, as lying within the Ironstone Hills and Valleys LCT (more specifically the Whichford Hills and Valleys LCA). Key characteristics of this LCT are identified as:

• Complex topography of steeply sided convoluted valleys and rolling rounded ridgelines and hills.
• intermittent isolated rounded hills.
• mainly fertile iron-rich red-brown loams interspersed with occasional bands of calcareous soils derived from intermittent outcrops of limestone bedrock.
• distinctive local vernacular with buildings constructed in the ‘warm’ brown ‘Hornton Stone’ derived from the iron bearing Marlstone Rock Formation.
• settlement pattern of intermittent nucleated hamlets, isolated farmsteads, and individual buildings.
• area principally under arable cultivation, together with some improved and permanent pasture, mainly on the valley slopes and bottoms.
• medium to large scale regular rectilinear fields, mainly enclosed with hedgerows, with frequent hedgerow trees.
• limited woodland cover with exception of occasional larger stands of ancient woodland.
• linear network of local roads following ridgelines and dropping down into valleys to connect rural settlements; and
• evidence of long period of occupation of the area.

Very small areas are classified within two other LCTs: the Escarpment (Edge Hill LCA) and the High Wold (Edge Hill Ironstone Plateau LCA).

That part of the Escarpment falling within Cherwell is a steep, west-facing slope to the south of Tysoe Hill, and the Ironstone Plateau is limited to the summit of Old Lodge Hill (just north of Tysoe Hill).

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Regional level

Oxfordshire Wildlife and Landscape Study

At a county level the Oxfordshire Wildlife and Landscape Study (Oxfordshire County Council, 2004) is the current landscape character assessment for Oxfordshire. This divides the county into twenty-four separate landscape types, made up of individual landscape description units with a similar pattern of geology, topography, land use and settlements. Their names reflect their landform and their land cover or use. The following landscape types (LTs), also illustrated on the map below, are identified within Cherwell:

• Alluvial Lowlands
• Clay Vale
• Estate Farmlands
• Farmland Hills
• Farmland Plateau
• Farmland Slopes & Valley Sides
• Lowland Village Farmlands
• Pasture Hills
• Rolling Clayland
• Rolling Farmland
• River Meadowlands
• Rolling Village Pastures
• Settled Ancient Pastures
• Terrace Farmland
• Upstanding Village Farmlands
• Vale Farmland
• Wooded Estatelands
• Wooded Estate Slopes & Valleys Slides
• Wooded Farmland
• Wooded Hills
• Wooded Pasture Valleys & Slopes.

The Oxfordshire Wildlife and Landscape Study provides brief, bullet-point key characteristics for each LT, supporting text on ‘geology and landform’, ‘land use and vegetation’, and ‘cultural pattern’, and a sentence or two on more localised variations (‘local character areas’). It also provides an analysis and ratings for biodiversity.

Oxfordshire Wildlife and Landscape Study Landscape Types - View the map full screen in a new tab

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Local level

Cherwell District

This update replaces the previous landscape study, the Cherwell District Landscape Assessment (Cobham Resource Consultants,1995). The 1995 assessment divides the district into eight Landscape Character Areas (LCAs) and presented an analysis for each.

The Countrywide Design Summary (CDC Development and Property Services, 1998), which was adopted as a Supplementary Planning Document (SPD), replicates much of the information in the 1995 study. It merges the eight LCAs into four larger areas, for which it also provides design guidance.

The 1995 Cherwell study identifies landscape types (LTs) as a smaller assessment unit than LCAs, with the same LT often occurring in various locations across different LCAs. Each LT has a brief description, and the LTs are referenced in LCA descriptions.

Neighbouring Authorities

Landscape does not stop at administrative boundaries but continues seamlessly into surrounding districts/boroughs. This assessment therefore sits alongside Landscape Character Assessments for adjacent authorities. The continuation of Landscape Character Types and Areas has been considered across the administrative boundaries:

• West Northamptonshire Unitary Authority: The South Northamptonshire 2020 study identifies the following Landscape Character Types bordering Cherwell:
  • Limestone Plateau.
  • Undulating Hills and Valleys.
  • Low Pastoral Hills.
  • River Valley Floodplain.
  • Broad Unwooded Vale.
• Stratford-on-Avon: The 1993 Warwickshire Landscape Character Assessment identifies the following Landscape Character Areas on the boundary with Cherwell District:
  • Ironstone Fringes.
  • Plateau Redlands and Edge Hills.
  • The Wold.
  • The High Wold.
• West Oxfordshire: The 1998 Landscape Character Assessment identifies the following Landscape Character Areas on the boundary with Cherwell District:
  • Ironstone Valleys and Ridges.
  • Eastern Parks and Valleys.
  • Eynsham Vale.
  • Lower Windrush Valley and Eastern Thames Fringes.
• Vale of White Horse: The 2024 Landscape Character Assessment identifies the River Valley Landscape Character Type adjacent to the Cherwell District boundary.
• Oxford – Oxford City does not have a Landscape Character Assessment.
• South Oxfordshire: The 2024 Landscape Character Assessment identifies the Middle Vale and Ridge Hilltops Landscape Character Types adjacent to the Cherwell District boundary.
• Buckinghamshire (Aylesbury Vale): The 2008 Landscape Character Assessment identifies the following Landscape Character Types adjacent to the Cherwell District boundary:
  • Incised Valleys.
  • Undulating Clay Plateau.
  • Shallow Valleys.
  • Wooded Rolling Lowlands.
  • Low Hills and Ridges.