Joint Character Area 130: Hampshire Downs
Summary
The Hampshire Downs form part of the broad belt of chalk linking the Dorset Downs and Salisbury Plain in the west with the South Downs in the east, and the Berkshire and Marlborough Downs in the north. 80% of the Character Area is cultivated, with 6% defined as urban. 25% lies within the East Hampshire and North Wessex Downs AONBs, and 11% within the proposed South Downs National Park boundary (primarily the East Hampshire AONB).
Key characteristics, shared with other downland landscapes of southern England, are:
- A low density of farmsteads in the landscape, due to a large holding size by national standards and the concentration of farmsteads in villages and hamlets;
- Large courtyard farms, geared to large-scale arable production, are the dominant farmstead type. These include some of the earliest of this type (dating from the 18th century and earlier) in the country. Complete examples with one or more threshing barns, stabling, cartshed and a granary are very rare.
- Courtyard plans present blank exteriors to surrounding settlements and landscapes, openings being concentrated on the elevations facing into the yards.
- The aisled barn is an iconic feature of the downland landscape, their integrity being on their degree of structural completeness and the dominance of the expanse of the roof.
- Long straw style thatch roofing, which is rare in a regional context.
- Boundary walls are dominant and critical to the setting, particularly of village-based farmsteads.