Soil Site Reporter

Soil Associations

0571j FRILSHAM



Soil and site characteristics
Well drained mainly fine loamy soils over chalk, some calcareous. Shallow calcareous fine loamy and fine silty soils in places.

Geology
Drift over chalk
Cropping and Land Use
Cereal and grassland rotations, some continuous cereals; field vegetables and fruit; permanent grassland on steep slopes.

Component soil series

Subgroup Series name Percentage WRB 2006 link
5.71 FRILSHAM 40% Chromic Endoleptic Luvisols
5.71 WEASENHAM 10% Haplic Luvisols
3.43 RUDHAM 10% Calcaric Brunic Leptosols
3.43 ANDOVER 10% Calcaric Leptosols
5.11 SOHAM 10% Calcaric Endoskeletic Cambisols
5.11 PANHOLES 10% Calcaric Endoleptic Cambisols
5.11 SWAFFHAM PRIOR 10% Calcaric Endoleptic Cambisols
Covers 397 km2 in England and Wales

Soilscapes Classification
7
Freely draining slightly acid but base-rich soils

0571j FRILSHAM

Detailed Description

This association is found on the Chalk of Hampshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Surrey, Kent and Dorset. The soils are developed in mainly fine loamy drift over chalk on gently and moderately sloping ground below hills and ridges capped by either Tertiary beds or Plateau Drift. The dominant Frilsham soils are fine loamy typical argillic brown earths over chalk at moderate depth and Weasenham soils are similar but in thicker drift. Fine loamy Rudham and fine silty Andover soils are shallow brown rendzinas. Soham, Panholes and Swaffham Prior soils are fine loamy, fine silty and coarse loamy typical brown calcareous earths respectively with chalk at moderate depth.

The drift is thickest in hollows and on footslopes but the depth to Chalk varies unpredictably over short distances giving a pattern of deep and shallow soils. Frilsham and Soham soils generally occur on gentle slopes, with the shallower Rudham and Andover soils on steeper or more eroded ground. Weasenham soils are present on footslopes and in shallow dry valleys. Frilsham and Weasenham soils are locally calcareous in their upper horizons where they have received colluvial wash from chalky soils upslope. Panholes series is confined to localities where the thin superficial drift is mainly fine silty.

In Dorset, the association occurs downslope from outcrops of Reading Beds, and soils on small outliers of this formation are included locally. Frilsham and Rudham soils are dominant on the gently sloping, rolling land, their proportions related to the thickness of drift. In hollows much of the drift is calcareous and fine loamy Soham soils are developed, but in places distant from the Reading Beds, fine silty Panholes soils are found. Grey, shallow extremely calcareous Upton soils are found on eroded brows and steeper slopes where cultivation over a long period has incorporated chalk into the topsoil. Small remnants of basal Reading Beds around Wool have soils with clayey, sometimes glauconitic, subsoils formerly described as Yattendon series. Bursledon, Fyfield and Standhill soils are developed on remnants of sandy and loamy Reading Beds east of Dorchester.

Some Newmarket and Moulton soils occur near Banstead in Surrey, and Watlington in Oxfordshire. Coombe soils are found on gently sloping land at the foot of the Chalk scarp. Wix and Worminghall soils occur at the foot of the North Downs dipslope in Surrey in the bottoms of valleys floored by Reading Beds. Small remnants of basal Reading Beds near Ashampstead and Wargrave have soils with clayey, sometimes glauconitic, subsoils formerly described as Yattendon series. In west Berkshire, Weasenham series is dominant, except north of Newbury where small patches of Frilford, Standhill and Fyfield soils on sandy Reading Beds are included. Here, Moulton series is the most common soil. The soils have been mapped in detail near Marlow and in the Reading district. They were mapped in the Frilsham association in their survey of Berkshire.


Soil Water Regime

The soils are permeable and well drained (Wetness Class I), and on gentle slopes excess winter rain is rapidly absorbed into the soil. Soils are slightly droughty for common arable crops, but are moderately droughty for grass and potatoes near the coast where moisture deficits are larger.

Cropping and Land Use

The association comprises easy working soils supporting a mixture of arable and grass for dairying, with woodland locally extensive. Farms tend to be either dominantly arable or to specialize in dairying. Rudham and Andover soils on steep slopes are restricted to permanent grassland or woodland. Timely cultivation is needed to avoid compaction and damage to topsoil structure. Spring cultivations especially need careful timing and there may be few suitable opportunities for tillage in a wet year. The soils are suitable for direct drilling and minimum cultivation techniques. Some fields have acid patches and regular liming is needed. There is a negligible risk of poaching except in wetter districts and little wastage of nitrogen fertilizer by leaching and denitrification. The main limitation to grassland production is droughtiness.

0571j FRILSHAM

Distribution Map

Note that the yellow shading represents a buffer to highlight the location of very small areas of the association.

Keys to component soil series

South Western Region

South Eastern Region

Typical Landscapes

South Western Region

All information Copyright, Cranfield University © 2024

Citation: To use information from this web resource in your work, please cite this as follows:
Cranfield University 2024. The Soils Guide. Available: www.landis.org.uk. Cranfield University, UK. Last accessed 29/03/2024




About Us

LandIS, or the Land Information System is one of the offerings of the Soil and Agrifood Institute. Incorporating the National Soil Resources Institute, Cranfield Environment Centre (CEC) is the largest UK national and international centre for research and development, consultancy and training in soils and their interaction with the atmosphere, land use, geology and water resources.

Cranfield Environment Centre
Cranfield University
Bullock Building (B53)
Cranfield campus
Cranfield
MK43 0AL
(01234) 752992

QR Code

Cookies: This site uses cookie. No personal information is gathered or held. You will need to enable cookies for this site to operate correctly.