An updated version of this profile is online at nationalcharacterareas.co.uk. This pdf is retained for historical and completeness purposes.
The Lancashire Coal Measures National Character Area (NCA) surrounds the towns of St Helens and Wigan, and extends from the Mersey Valley NCA in the south to the Lancashire and Amounderness Plain NCA in the north-west. Rocks from the Carboniferous Coal Measures underlie most of the area, giving rise to a varied topography of gentle hills and valleys, with patchy layers of glacial deposits.
This fragmented landscape rises to 179 m at the summit of Billinge Hill on the western boundary, and then falls abruptly to the Lancashire and Amounderness Plain and Merseyside Conurbation to the west, and the Mersey Valley to the south. Views of the foothills of the southern Pennines can be seen to the east.
The area is dominated by its industrial heritage, long associated with mining activity. The resulting landscape is a complex mosaic of farmland, scattered urban centres, industry, active mineral sites and derelict or reclaimed workings, giving this area a strong and distinctive identity.
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