Agricultural Land Classification Survey: Ashington, Bothal Burn/Potland Burn (1989-1999)

Post-1988 detailed agricultural land surveys conducted between 1989 and 1999 by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. The dataset includes scanned original paper maps, survey reports, and for some sites, unedited sample point soils data and soil pit descriptions. It is provided by the Government Digital Service and contains Natural England and Ordnance Survey copyright data.

Use Cases

• Classifying agricultural land quality based on the detailed grading methodology described in the survey reports.
• Mapping historical soil characteristics and land grades based on scanned survey maps and point data.
• Analyzing changes in land capability over time based on the 1989-1999 survey period and detailed subgrade classifications.
• Correlating soil pit descriptions with broader land classification grades for specific survey sites.

Strengths

• Surveys use a consistent, documented grading methodology ('Agricultural Land Classification of England and Wales').
• Includes subdivision of Grade 3 into detailed subgrades 3a and 3b.
• Contains multiple data types: scanned maps, reports, and for some surveys, raw soils data and pit descriptions.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and file formats are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect temporal bias inherent to the 1989-1999 collection period.

Provenance

Source

Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (survey), Government Digital Service (platform).

Collection Method

Detailed site surveys with mapping at scales from 1:5,000 to 1:50,000, typically 1:10,000.

Time Range

1989 to 1999

Freshness

Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Geography

Ashington, Bothal Burn/Potland Burn, Northumberland, England.