- THE STUDY AREA IN ITS SETTING - The landscape and geology ...
- THE STUDY AREA IN ITS SETTING - The landscape and geology ... - THE STUDY AREA IN ITS SETTING - The landscape and geology ...
CONSERVATION AREA STATEMENT – INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE CONSERVATION AREA: AN OVERVIEWTHE STUDY AREA IN ITS SETTING4.1 The landscape and geology of the Stroudarea has impacted on the character of thesettlements which populate the Study Areain a number of ways, from the types ofbuilding materials most easily sourced, tothe types of industries that developed. Thesurrounding landscape greatly influences thefirst impressions gained on approach toStroud and many of the IHCA’s othersettlements. The local topography forms asignificant component of views and vistasinto and out of the Study Area.4.2 An abundance of natural watercourses madethe Stroud Valleys ideal as the base formanufacturing and industry, as the flowingwater provided power for the mills. A goodclean water supply was also necessary forwashing the wool used in cloth production.Industrial development naturally occurredalong the valley bottoms, notably the FromeValley, where mills could also be close toprogressively improving transport links.4.3 Today, Stroud is at the centre of an extensivenetwork of road and rail links andwaterways. Many of the earliest roads thatserved the settlement ran along the tops ofthe hills, and their extreme steepness andmuddiness was a deterrent to much traffic.This certainly inhibited transport and tradelinks and rather isolated the early settlement.However, the 18 th and particularly the 19 thcenturies saw transport improvements,including the construction of two majorcanals, crucially linking the Severn estuarywith the navigable river Thames, plus anumber of major new turnpike roads whichran along the valley bottoms, many of whichreplaced existing hilltop routes.4.4 Many of the improvements to transportinfrastructure led to the intensification ofdevelopment along the valley bottoms.Often this was in quite distinct phases, as forexample with the masses of new 19 th centuryhousing which began lining the brand newmain roads. The arrival of the canal and,later, the railways, introduced easy access toa wider range of building materials, meaningthat the products of the local geologybecame subtly less evident in the buildingswhich sprang up.Left:An outcrop ofoolitic limestonein the AveningValley. Therubblestone andfreestone layerscan be clearlyseen.Analysis: the Conservation Area in its setting page 27
CONSERVATION AREA STATEMENT – INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE CONSERVATION AREA: AN OVERVIEWGEOLOGY4.5 Between about 185 and 140 million yearsago, during the Jurassic period, a vastlimestone belt was created, stretchingbetween Lincolnshire and the Dorset coast.The Cotswolds, a region of ambiguousboundaries, is usually held to constitute thehighest part of this belt, a plateau which risesfrom the east in Oxfordshire and descends ina dramatic escarpment to the west, withinsight of Stroud.4.6 During the Jurassic period, a shallow seacovered the area, in which a sequence ofsediments settled into alternating layers or‘strata’ of clay, sand and limestone. Althoughthe beds of sediment were each laid downon a virtually horizontal level, subsequentprocesses have resulted in shifts in theterrain, so that, in places, strata of quitediverse ages and substance have ended upnext to each other. The whole Cotswoldplateau has been tilted, so that the west hasrisen up, while the east has sunk. Erosionand climatic changes have also played theirpart in shaping the landscape.4.7 In the past, the whole Cotswold formationwas known as The Oolite, due to theprevalence of this form of limestonethroughout the region. Limestone, and inparticular oolitic limestone, is extremelypermeable, and where it meets beds ofimpervious clay, water is driven out in theform of springs. Hence the Cotswolds areriddled with streams and brooks as well asrivers. These have been highly active in theformation of the topography, carving deepand complex valleys into the ‘Oolite’plateau, a process which continues andmeans that the landscape is ever changing.4.8 Due to its porous nature, oolitic limestone is‘soft’ when it is newly extracted and may beeasily worked. The mass of oolite is in twobasic layers, separated by a narrow bed ofFullers Earth: the older, deeper layers beingknown as the ‘Inferior Oolite’ and the upperlayers as ‘Great Oolite’.4.9 The tilt of the Cotswolds means that thelower layers, the ‘Inferior Oolite’, areexposed along the western escarpment,where they are more easily accessible thanin the eastern Cotswolds. The hills encirclingStroud were particularly rich in good qualityLower Inferior Oolite stones, known bymasons as ‘Freestones’, due to the ease withwhich they can be cut and dressed. Amongthese is Lower Freestone, of which the finePainswick Stone is a variety, and LowerLimestone, the eldest of the strata, of whichthere is a large outcrop at Frocester Hill.Upper Freestone is of poorer quality, mostlyused for burning, to create lime mortars andplasters. At Stroud, though, it was sufficientlygood to be used for many of the town’s‘rock-faced’ rusticated buildings.4.10 The Severn Vale has been subject to verydifferent geological processes. Though alsoformed in the Jurassic period, later ages haveseen the geology of the Vale stronglyinfluenced by the River Severn and itssmaller tributaries, including the river Frome.4.11 The Vale is essentially a large flood plain.Successive floods and changes in the courseof the rivers have left the older, Lower Lias,rocks covered with alluvial silts, pebbles andclays, the residue of the materials found onthe riverbeds.4.12 Clay is predominant in the Severn Valebelow Stroud. Its impermeable intractablenature has meant that the river Frome hasnot formed deep narrow incisions into thelandscape, but has instead created a broadand shallow river valley.4.13 The clay has proved useful in lining thefloors of millponds and canals in the area. Itis also ideal for brick making, providing abuilding material in an area lacking anabundant supply of stone.Analysis: the Conservation Area in its setting page 28
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CONSERVATION <strong>AREA</strong> STATEMENT – <strong>IN</strong>DUSTRIAL HERITAGE CONSERVATION <strong>AREA</strong>: AN OVERVIEW<strong>THE</strong> <strong>STUDY</strong> <strong>AREA</strong> <strong>IN</strong> <strong>ITS</strong> SETT<strong>IN</strong>G4.1 <strong>The</strong> <strong>l<strong>and</strong>scape</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>geology</strong> of the Stroudarea has impacted on the character of thesettlements which populate the Study Areain a number of ways, from the types ofbuilding materials most easily sourced, tothe types of industries that developed. <strong>The</strong>surrounding <strong>l<strong>and</strong>scape</strong> greatly influences thefirst impressions gained on approach toStroud <strong>and</strong> many of the IHCA’s othersettlements. <strong>The</strong> local topography forms asignificant component of views <strong>and</strong> vistasinto <strong>and</strong> out of the Study Area.4.2 An abundance of natural watercourses madethe Stroud Valleys ideal as the base formanufacturing <strong>and</strong> industry, as the flowingwater provided power for the mills. A goodclean water supply was also necessary forwashing the wool used in cloth production.Industrial development naturally occurredalong the valley bottoms, notably the FromeValley, where mills could also be close toprogressively improving transport links.4.3 Today, Stroud is at the centre of an extensivenetwork of road <strong>and</strong> rail links <strong>and</strong>waterways. Many of the earliest roads thatserved the settlement ran along the tops ofthe hills, <strong>and</strong> their extreme steepness <strong>and</strong>muddiness was a deterrent to much traffic.This certainly inhibited transport <strong>and</strong> tradelinks <strong>and</strong> rather isolated the early settlement.However, the 18 th <strong>and</strong> particularly the 19 thcenturies saw transport improvements,including the construction of two majorcanals, crucially linking the Severn estuarywith the navigable river Thames, plus anumber of major new turnpike roads whichran along the valley bottoms, many of whichreplaced existing hilltop routes.4.4 Many of the improvements to transportinfrastructure led to the intensification ofdevelopment along the valley bottoms.Often this was in quite distinct phases, as forexample with the masses of new 19 th centuryhousing which began lining the br<strong>and</strong> newmain roads. <strong>The</strong> arrival of the canal <strong>and</strong>,later, the railways, introduced easy access toa wider range of building materials, meaningthat the products of the local <strong>geology</strong>became subtly less evident in the buildingswhich sprang up.Left:An outcrop ofoolitic limestonein the AveningValley. <strong>The</strong>rubblestone <strong>and</strong>freestone layerscan be clearlyseen.Analysis: the Conservation Area in its setting page 27
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