Classic English Hill Towns: Ways of Looking at the External Appearance of Settlements

Abstract

Developing earlier publications on the external appearance of English hill towns, this paper examines in depth three such towns. The discussion focuses on four features that give rise to the distinct identity of ‘classic’ English hill towns in the landscape: the shape of the underlying landform; the way that the built form of the town has responded to that landform; the influence of this relationship on the external appearance of the town; and the visibility of the town in the wider landscape. A model is offered to explain the relationship between these four features, with particular attention being paid to the need for a realistic appraisal of what people can actually see of the town from surrounding viewpoints. The analysis reveals significant similarities between the towns but also crucial differences that mark out their individual, unique identities. More broadly, the analysis is relevant to appraising the external appearance of a wider range of settlement types, whether in England or internationally, that might in turn inform planning design policies.

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to acknowledge the constructive comments made by two anonymous referees.

Notes

1. The 14 towns were: Alnwick in Northumberland, Alston in Cumbria, Barnard Castle in Durham, Bridgnorth in Shropshire, Bromyard in Herefordshire, Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire, Kirkby Stephen in Cumbria, Ludlow in Shropshire, Painswick in Gloucestershire, Richmond in Yorkshire, Shaftesbury in Dorset, Stow on the Wold in Gloucestershire, Wirksworth in Derbyshire and Wooler in Northumberland.

2. ‘Classic’ English hill towns conform to the following outline characterization: Growing up around a castle in a defensive position, usually on steeply sloping land above a river and on a relatively important route, they developed as centres of regional power. They also grew significantly as trading centres and became thriving market towns. Along with growth came complexity of plan-form, combining linear and nuclear elements, characterized by dense building in the older part of the town and, now, by surviving evidence of burgage plots. In turn, the density of form contributed to a deep and intense visual profile associated with a sharp figure-ground relationship clearly visible in the wider landscape. This is enhanced by the emphatic geometry displayed in the three-dimensional pattern of buildings running along the contours and stepping down slopes. The presence of a castle and/or churches, associated with growing wealth, lends distinction, even drama, to the skyline (Owen, 2005, p. 72).

3. A range of sources including texts and websites was consulted to piece together the overall evolution of each of the three towns since its founding. Local topographical maps at a scale of 1:10 000 were examined to analyze the shape of the landform on which each town was initially settled and subsequently developed. The same scale of map proved appropriate for an initial examination of the existing plan-form of the core of each town. This was supplemented by reference to a number of published town plan analyses and commentaries tracing the evolution of the plan-form since the founding of the town and showing how the mediaeval street patterns continue to provide the framework for present day plan-forms. Maps of existing plan-forms were laid over topographical maps to interpret the ways in which they appear to have responded to the shape of the underlying landform in helping to create the present three-dimensional form of each town. The results of this process were checked against visual surveys of the external appearance of the towns. Finally, further site visits were made to each town to undertake a detailed appraisal of the visibility of the town from areas and routes in the surrounding landscape.

4. In the earlier papers (Owen, 2003, 2004, 2005) these four features were identified separately as influential in shaping the identity of hill towns, but the structured relationships between them were not examined explicitly as they are here.

5. One interesting aspect of the evolution of the external appearance of hill towns, or any other towns, that has been revealed by the development of the appraisal is the difference in the rates of change of the various components of that appearance. For example, changes to the underlying landform can be recognized only over millennia; changes to the urban fabric are manifest over decades or even centuries; changes in the form and colour of vegetation are noticeable between the seasons of a year; whereas the character of the light can change during the course of a day. Of course, the position of the observer on which perception of the external appearance of the town depends can change momentarily as he or she moves through the adjacent landscape.

6. Sporadically over the past 50 years planners have explored the issue of distant views into towns, but this has been motivated mainly by attempts to protect strategic views of historic monuments or outstanding buildings as part of a high buildings policy. Two of the most recent initiatives of note include Edinburgh's standards for urban design (City of Edinburgh, 2003), which inter alia seeks to protect and enhance views to and from established landmarks, hills, skylines and maintain strategic views from major access routes and public vantage points, and draft supplementary planning guidance for London, which provides details on how 26 strategic views into the city are to be managed including assessments of panoramas of key locations, river prospects and linear views (Mayor of London, 2005). A more detailed analysis of these recent initiatives will be undertaken in the next phase of the research to inform the development of techniques for use in formulating planning design policies for the external appearance of towns.