Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
landscapehistorians.
My interest is primarily in the natural topography on which these
man-made features have developed, because even in this rather flat landscape - and
not clearly visible on the photograph - there are gentle hills, valleys and streams that I
want to try to understand.
Scale and size in landscapes are important considerations that we will return to
frequently. The landscapes that we shall be discussing are generally kilometres to
tens of kilometres across, and they are often best examined from the air, or by using
computer-based maps with exaggerated vertical scale.
Southern England contains many famous and well-loved natural landscapes, ran-
ging from the Chalk Downs, with their unique flora and fauna, to the rocky promontor-
ies and bays of Cornwall, Devon and Dorset. In total topographic contrast, the Fens of
East Anglia are regarded by some as representing an extreme absence of any scenery
at all, but their remarkable flatness is of interest because they are the result of recent
sea-level rise, and of engineering on a remarkable scale. These different landscapes are
produced by a wide variety of events and processes; exploring these is the theme of
this topic.
As we have already seen, landscapes have often been extensively modified by
people. The early clearance of woodland and the construction of field boundaries have
profoundly changed the scenery and, more recently, the construction of buildings,
roads, railways, canals and airports has almost completely covered some areas of
Southern England. Figure 2 shows night-time lighting in cities, towns and oil plat-
forms, giving a vivid impression of the present extent and distribution of the larger set-
tlements. It is surprising how varied the population density is, even in crowded Britain.
Using the figures for 2002, the population density of the UK overall is 244 people per
square kilometre, but this conceals a huge variation: 8 people per square kilometre in
the Highland Region of Scotland, 143 for Cornwall, 149 for Norfolk and an amazing
13,609 for Kensington and Chelsea in London.
The main focus of this topic is the pattern of large scenic features that have resul-
ted from natural episodes that predate human influence. It is not usually difficult to dis-
tinguish the natural from the man-made, and the study of the natural can often explain
many aspects of the way our ancestors lived in the landscape. It is possible to uncover
the reasons why people have chosen to settle with their families in certain places, why
villages have grown by the clustering of houses in particular locations, and why some
villages have then grown further and turned into towns and eventually cities. Even the
roads, railways and airfields have clearly grown using the valley floors, river crossings,
better-drained slopes and plateaus that are part of the natural scenery.
