Goole Country Park is situated within an intensively farmed, low lying landscape that lies to the west of Goole
within the M62 Corridor Hook to Pollington character area (East Riding of Yorkshire Landscape Character
Assessment, East Riding of Yorkshire Council 2005), which is part of the M62 Corridor Farmland landscape
character type. These areas form part of the Humberhead Levels national landscape character area
(Countryside Character Volume 3: Yorkshire and the Humber – The Character of England’s natural and
man-made landscape, Countryside Commission (now the Countryside Agency) 1999)
This is an essentially low lying flat rural landscape that is fragmented by the corridors of communication
routes most notably the Leeds to Hull, Doncaster to Hull and Guardian Glass railway lines, the M62 and major
roads into Goole and the Aire & Calder Navigation and Dutch River waterways. The railways particularly cause
an obstruction to the country park.
The area contains a range of development types. These include the large glass factory, small to medium
industrial sheds, residential development to the east and isolated farmsteads that include New Potter Grange,
which is directly adjacent to the site, as well as the port of Goole that dominates the skyline with its array of
cranes. The large scale industrial developments are detractors in the rural landscape and have weakened
the rural character to the area. However, despite the detractors (communication routes and industrial
developments) there are important landmark features that contribute to the sense of place (e.g. the two water
towers known as the ‘Salt and Pepper pots’ and parish church at Goole) as well as the natural landscape that
makes up the country park itself, which includes wetland inc. some ponds, woodland and grassland margins.
Also the roads and railway lines have led to the establishment of some linear tree and woodland cover.
The number of detractors and the fragmentation of the landscape have affected the quality of the surrounding
landscape to the country park. However, the country park has a natural quality that is lacking in the area,
which reflects how the area would have once looked with large areas of wetland and woodland scrub before
the area was drained for agricultural production.
Features of the land scape
Openness and long distance views to features such as the two water towers (‘Salt and Pepper pots’)
and Goole parish church;
• Rural agricultural setting to the west;
• Scattered farmsteads away from villages such as New Potter Grange, Percy Lodge and Rawcliffe
Pastures;
• Linear features of the Aire & Calder Navigation and Dutch River, which includes Goole Docks, Goole
Marina, Rawcliffe Marina and the Waterways Museum;
• Bodies of water including the fishing lake and wetland area;
• Dense tree and scrub cover across Oakhill Nature Reserve;
• Canalside nature trail.