- THE STUDY AREA IN ITS SETTING - The landscape and geology ...

CONSERVATION AREA STATEMENT – INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE CONSERVATION AREA: AN OVERVIEW4.34 The narrow Stroud valley floors have dictatedthe positioning of the transport links. This isparticularly obvious in the Chalford valleywhere the river, canal, road and railway runparallel with each other and are visuallyconnected for much of the length of theIHCA.4.35 This provides a perfect snapshot of thetransport system’s evolution in the valleysover hundreds of years. In contrast, theToadsmoor and Avening valleys give anindication of a less industrialised age, theirmills being largely untouched by theinfluence of the canal and railway.4.37 Towards the heads of the valleys, thetransport links begin to diverge: the mainroads wind uphill towards the escarpmentplateau and, in the Chalford valley, therailway line disappears into the Sappertontunnel. Only the canal and river remainparallel by the time the IHCA reaches its endpoint at Sapperton.4.38 The juxtaposition of the narrow winding riverwith the straight line of the Thames andSevern canal provides a clear insight into thereasoning behind the first improvement oftransport communications in the Stroudvalleys.4.36 As the valleys thread away from the stretchesof industrial development between Stroudand Brimscombe, and Rodborough andNailsworth, they become steeper andnarrower. The landscape becomespredominately rural and more denselywooded. Settlements are small and scatteredand the remnants of mill sites retain theirhistoric isolation.Analysis: the Conservation Area in its setting page 33