Chiltern Historic Landscape Characterisation

An Historic Landscape Character (HLC) map of the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) was funded by the Chilterns Conservation Board and English Heritage, to improve our understanding of the historic dimension of the Chiltern landscape and to explain the origins and development of the historic landscape for specialists and others interested in the history of the Chilterns.

In the long-term, the value of the Chiltern HLC lies in the ways it can be used to help conserve the historic landscape and buildings of the AONB, including providing a role in influencing future development. The Chiltern HLC also looked in greater depth at particular landscape themes: woodlands, roads/trackways and buildings. The assessment of the character of buildings in the Chilterns involved rapid, on-the-ground survey of buildings undertaken by volunteers supported by professionals. The survey method was designed to be unobtrusive to residents and was a cursory appraisal of buildings from pavement level.

The aim of this study was to gain a greater understanding of the extent and diversity of the historic buildings within the AONB beyond the statutory listed buildings registers. The results of the survey have been fed into the main Chiltern HLC project.

It is hoped that the Chiltern HLC project will engage local communities in raising awareness of their own environment and possibly encourage local research and interpretation of Chilterns landscape.

The project report The Making of the Chilterns Landscape is available from the Chilterns Conservation Board at £10.00 a copy or can be downloaded free.