North Wessex Downs - Topography

Topography

The AONB covers an area of some 1,730 km2 (670 sq mi). It takes the form of a horse shoe on its side, with the open end facing east, surrounding the town of Newbury and the River Kennet watershed. The northern arm reaches as far east as the suburbs of Reading, mid-Berkshire, whilst the southern arm similarly reaches Basingstoke in northern Hampshire. The western extreme of the AONB reaches as far as Calne and Devizes. The highest points are the 297m (974 ft) summit of Walbury Hill, situated southwest of Hungerford in West Berkshire, close to the Hampshire border, and the Milk Hill-Tan Hill ridge east of Devizes, mid-Wiltshire, at 295m (968 ft) above sea level.

At its northeast extreme, the North Wessex Downs AONB faces across the Goring Gap to the Chilterns AONB on the other side of the River Thames. From here working anti-clockwise around the horseshoe, the Berkshire Downs have a steep scarp slope facing north over the Vale of White Horse and a gentler dip slope facing south into the valley of the Kennet. This area includes the horse-racing village of Lambourn and is hence sometimes known as the Lambourn Downs. Beyond the town of Marlborough the downs (now called the Marlborough Downs) sweep in a semicircle to the south around the headwaters of the River Kennet, with the Vale of Pewsey cutting through these downs carrying the headwaters of the Hampshire River Avon. Here too can be found the wooded area of Savernake Forest. Finally, the highest stretch of the Downs runs east along the Berkshire-Hampshire border on the opposite side of the River Kennet from the Berkshire Downs. Again the scarp slope is to the north (facing down in the valley of the Kennet) and the dip slope is to the south into Hampshire.