JCA 01 North Northumberland Coastal Plain.
FGU Summary: The North Northumberland Coastal Plain fringes the North Sea between BerwickUpon-Tweed and Amble, including Holy Island and the Farne Islands. An open, windswept
landscape, it is characterised by dramatic rocky cliffs, sandy beaches and intertidal habitats, with
farmland and intimate river valleys inland. 4% is urban area and only 3% woodland. 24% of the land
falls within the Northumberland Coast AONB, almost all of which lies within this Character Area.
2 sub-units: coastal fringe and inland landscapes.
1. Settlement and Development
The coastal plain was extensively cleared and settled in the Bronze Age and Iron Age. The pattern of
small nucleated settlements within irregular field systems or larger 2-3 open fields developed mostly
through systematic planning in the 12/13th centuries and remained substantially unchanged to the 17th
century.
Large number of planned settlements with 2 regular rows of house plots, tofts or garths, facing each
other across roads or greens.
Rural settlement pattern was radically reorganised in the late 17th to mid 19th century. These new large
farmsteads (some of the largest in England) and farm hamlets still predominate - sometimes set
within the earthwork remains of more extensive villages.
Major coastal towns and villages developed around fishing and trade in agricultural produce, lime and
coal.
Extensive rebuilding of rural building stock from 18th century. Grey sandstone, with red pantiles or
grey slate (Scottish and later Welsh) are the predominant building materials. Single-storey houses a
characteristic feature.
Cross border conflict has provided a legacy of fortified buildings and strategically-located coastal
castles, some forming the basis for later great houses with extensive parklands and gardens
(especially along the Coquet Valley). Large estates have been a major influence on the landscape.
20th century defences have left their mark on the coast and inland. The major defences of Berwick
date from the 16th century.
Mining and quarrying, principally for coal and whinstone, has a long history and its remains are
commonplace, especially to the south west of Berwick.
2. Agriculture
Extensive reorganisation of the medieval landscape driven by large estates from the 16th century
resulted in intensive grain cultivation, cattle rearing and fattening, dairying for local and distant
markets and much more wide scale sheep farming.
Very low survival of pre-1750 farmstead buildings. Widespread rotational farming in late 18th/19th
century took place within patterns of broad and regular enclosed fields, each centred on a large farm
or farming hamlet, typically with large rectangular courtyard farms in which corn was processed and
cattle housed.
Further engrossment, field enlargement and boundary loss is typical of later 20 th century arable
intensification.
3. Fields and boundary patterns
Areas of pre-18th century irregular fields do survive, but the dominant patterns are those developed in
the late 16th to 19th centuries - planned large scale enclosed fields separated by thorn hedgerows and
sandstone rubble walls. This enclosure affected the town fields around settlements and the formerly
extensive areas of common pasture.
4. Trees and woodland (woodland less than 3%)
18th and 19th century hedgerows were planted with trees but survivals/replacements are infrequent.
Woodland clearance was extensive in the medieval period and survival of ancient woodland is sparse
- largely restricted to river valleys.
Later mixed plantations are to be found in the estates and grounds of the larger houses and some
semi-natural woodland in the immediate vicinity of farmsteads and other settlements.
Coniferous shelterbelts are a feature of the 19th century farming landscape.
5. Semi-natural environments
Important coastal grassland habitats overlie palimpsests of quarrying and defensive landscapes.
6. River and coastal features.
Historically the coast provided the rationale for the larger settlements in the area - and these retain
evidence for the key functions of trade, transport and fishing.
The coastal railway line opened new markets and supplies of materials (e.g. Welsh slate) in the
1840s, and stimulated the development of ports and seaside resorts.