CONSERVATION AREA STATEMENT - Stroud District Council

Geology
Between 140 and 200 million years ago, in the Lower Jurassic period, the site of Frampton on Severn was submerged
in a warm, shallow, muddy sea, home to millions of small creatures and micro- organisms. Slowly, over generations,
the tiny shells and micro-skeletons of dead sea creatures fell to the bottom of the sea bed, piling up in layers among
accumulated silt.
As time went on, the climate changed and the sea receded. The layers, or strata, of shells and silt dried out, compacted
and hardened, forming blue lias limestone.
Prey to the strong tides of the Severn, and the changing courses of its tributary rivers, the newly exposed land was
prone to successive, frequent flooding. With time, the stone was overlaid by clays and gravel shelves created from
material swept downstream from the hills. It is these deposits that have had the most influence on the topography
and, later, the settlement patterns of the Vale.
Topography and landscape
CONSERVATION AREA STATEMENT - Conservation Area No7: FRAMPTON ON SEVERN
Frampton on Severn sits adjacent to a great looping bend of the River Severn. The relatively impermeable clay
underlying the Severn Vale keeps groundwater on the surface and has not allowed the river’s tributaries to cut deep
beds. As a result, the Vale has remained broad and shallow. The land immediately around the Frampton on Severn
is largely flat and low-lying, dominated by the sky.
Originally, Frampton would have been surrounded by extensive areas of marsh and scrubby woodland, however, the
building of networks of drainage ditches, now edged with willow, elder bushes and alder trees, has made the flood
prone land suitable for the grazing of cattle and sheep, and the raising of crops. It remains overwhelmingly rural.
Stroud District Council
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