JCA 14 Tyne and Wear Lowlands.
FGU Summary: Centred on the lower valleys of the Tyne and Wear, the lowlands are a gently undulating landscape with widespread urban and industrial development and a long history of coal mining. 45% of the land is urban area, and there is 6% woodland cover.
2 sub-units: valley terraces and incised valley landscapes
1. Settlement and Development
Long history of settlement, beginning with Bronze Age clearances and becoming highly structured in the Roman period has left few obvious traces in the landscape.
Medieval settlement was re-written after the 'Harrying of the North' in the late 11th century. Scattered planned villages, some centred on greens, developed within Palatinate of Durham, provide the origins of much of the present settlement patterns. Regular rows of facing house plots, tofts or garths are common.
The ecclesiastical monuments of Monkwearmoth, Jarrow and Durham remind of the power and influence of the church during the medieval period. The ecclesiastical rule of Durham provided a conservative influence on settlement change - limiting the early engrossment of farm holdings here.
The development of the coal industry from its Roman and medieval origins transformed the settled landscape after the 16th century and particularly during the 19th century as new pithead villages were established, industrial infrastructure developed and the great urban centres expanded.
Most of the building stock dates from the mid 18th century, sandstone being the traditional building material . Numerous mining and industrial terraces of Victorian brick and slate.
Farming was reorganised to match the demands and markets provided by the urban expansion, leading to larger farm units, operating on semi-industrialised basis.
Industrial prosperity is reflected in the large number of 18th and 19th century country houses, set within parkland in the vicinity of major settlements.
Newcastle, located on the site of Pons Aelli, the eastern terminal of Hadrian's Wall, expanded from within its town walls in the 19th century and together with Gateshead developed as a major trading, engineering and shipbuilding centre for the region.
2. Agriculture
Arable production has been a feature of the plain since at least the medieval period. Linear farmsteads dating from late 17th century, otherwise very low survival of pre-1750 farmstead buildings.
Corn processed and cattle housed in large regular courtyard farmsteads of 19th century date..
3. Fields and boundary patterns
Enclosure of the arable fields was complete by the close of the 18th century and the remaining commons and open pastures enclosed from the later 18th century. The large regular fields reflect the ease with which open fields of the medieval townships could be re-ordered in the 17th-18th centuries as production was reorganised around larger centralised farming units, many linked to coal-enriched country estates.
4. Trees and woodland
Hedgerow trees are generally few.
Semi-native broadleaved woodland was encouraged on estate lands and in parklands of the great houses.
Formal parkland and gardens contain exotic specimen trees and plantations.
Semi-natural broadleaved woodland (oak, oak-ash and alder) is confined to the incised river valleys
5. Semi-natural environments
6. River and coastal features.