Castle Top, Lea Bridge & High Peak Junction
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Castle Top, Lea Bridge & High Peak Junction Conservation Area Appraisal CASTLE TOP, LEA BRIDGE & HIGH PEAK JUNCTION CONSERVATION AREA APPRAISAL Page 1. Castle Top, Lea Bridge & High Peak Junction 1 in Context 2 Origins & Development 2 • Topography & Geology • Historic Development 3. Archaeological Significance 10 4. Architectural and Historic Quality 11 • Key Buildings • Building Materials & Architectural Details 5. Setting of the Conservation Area 27 6. Landscape Appraisal 29 7. Analysis of Character Areas 39 • Castle Top Farm & Bow Wood Farm • Bow Wood • Lea Bridge • Cromford Canal & High Peak Junction 8. Negative Factors 52 9. Justification for Boundary 55 • Recommendations for Amendment 10. Conservation Policies 57 • National Planning Guidance • Regional Planning Guidance • Local Planning Guidance Appendix 1 Statutory Designations (Listed Buildings & Scheduled Monuments) i CASTLE TOP, LEA BRIDGE & HIGH PEAK JUNCTION CONSERVATION AREA APPRAISAL List of Figures Fig. 1 Aerial Photograph Fig. 2 Castle Top, Lea Bridge & High Peak Junction in the Derbyshire Dales Fig. 3 Castle Top, Lea Bridge & High Peak Junction Conservation Area Fig. 4 Identification of Character Areas Fig. 5 First edition Ordnance Survey map of 1880 Fig. 6 Building Chronology Fig. 7 Planning Designations Fig. 8 Trees and Woodland Fig. 9 Zones Fig. 10 Relationship of Structures & Spaces Fig. 11 Conservation Area Boundary - proposed extensions Fig. 12 Conservation Area Boundary as revised and approved December 2006 List of Illustrations & Acknowledgements Pl. 1 Extract from Sanderson’s map “Twenty Miles round Mansfield” 1835 (by kind permission of the Local Studies Library, Derbyshire County Council) Pl. 2 Alison Uttley Reproduced by courtesy of the University Librarian and Director, The John Rylands University Library, The University of Manchester Pl. 3 Castle Top Farmhouse, “Campedia” Album, c1936 (by kind permission of the Local Studies Library, Derbyshire County Council) Pl. 4 Matlock Tithe Map of 1848/49 (tracing of the Tithe by kind permission of Derbyshire County Council) Pl. 5 Leawood Aqueduct (pre-1916) (Friends of the Cromford Canal) Pl. 6 Extract from Cromford Tithe Map of 1841 (Derbyshire Record Office) ii CASTLE TOP, LEA BRIDGE & HIGH PEAK JUNCTION CONSERVATION AREA APPRAISAL List of Illustrations & Acknowledgements (continued) Pl. 7 View up the incline at High Peak Junction (10th September 1928) (Friends of the Cromford Canal/ Glynn Waite) Pl. 8 View along the CHPR circa 1950 (by kind permission of Derbyshire County Council) Pl. 9 View of Sheep Pasture Incline circa 1900 (by kind permission of Derbyshire County Council) Pl. 10 George Robertson - extract from sketch of Willersley circa 1800 (by kind permission of The Arkwright Society) Pl. 11 View of High Peak Junction, when it was an operational railway (circa 1920) (by kind permission of Derbyshire County Council) Prepared by Mel Morris Conservation Ipstones, Staffordshire ST10 2LY on behalf of Derbyshire Dales District Council December 2006 iii Castle Top, Lea Bridge & High Peak Junction Conservation Area Appraisal 1. Castle Top, Lea Bridge & High Peak Junction in Context CONTEXT OF THE CONSERVATION The World Heritage Site (WHS) was inscribed in AREA December 2001. The whole of the Derwent valley falls within the “buffer zone”, which is primarily The district of Derbyshire Dales covers an area of the landscape setting of the valley, extending from approximately 79,000 hectares (307 square miles), ridge to ridge. A “buffer zone” is required by of which over half falls within the Peak District UNESCO to safeguard the setting of the site. National Park. The area is mostly rural in character and comprises some of the most diverse and Castle Top, Lea Bridge & High Peak Junction was scenically beautiful areas in Britain. The Planning first designated a conservation area on 6th Authority for the area outside the National Park is November 1990. It was carried out in conjunction Derbyshire Dales District Council. The largest with Amber Valley Borough Council, so that the settlements are the towns of Matlock, Ashbourne boundaries were contiguous, in recognition of the and Wirksworth. historic industrial significance of the Lea valley. Castle Top and High Peak Junction lie respectively A few of the historic buildings within the village are half a mile and a mile from Cromford, which is 3 listed buildings. There are two scheduled miles south of Matlock. The conservation area is monuments; SAM DR 245, which includes The largely unpopulated, with the exception of several Workshop, Offices & Terminus at High Peak houses that lie along the A6, six dwellings at Castle Junction, The Weighbridge and the Wharf Top & Bow Wood, and two houses at Lea Bridge. Transhipment Shed, and SAM DR 188, which includes High Peak Pumphouse & Wigwell The conservation area is made up of four very Aqueduct. All of these designations are listed in different character areas, which were pulled Appendix 1. together under one conservation area designation in 1990. Castle Top lies to the north-east of Lea Road, which runs between Cromford and Lea Bridge. The conservation area boundary follows the route of this road and includes two farms and associated ancillary buildings and cottages at Castle Top Farm & Bow Wood Farm. The conservation area then includes a stretch of ancient woodland called Bow Wood, the land between this and Lea Road and a number of buildings at Lea Bridge, that fall just within the administrative area of Derbyshire Dales, on the border with Amber Valley. The conservation area includes the terminus of the Cromford & High Peak Railway, which meets the Cromford Canal at High Peak Junction and a section of the Cromford Canal running between the River Derwent, at the foot of Lea Wood, and High Peak Junction. The Derwent Valley Mills is a World Heritage Site and extends from the site of Masson Mill, at the northern perimeter of the Cromford Conservation Area, southwards down the valley to the Silk Mill at Derby. High Peak Junction and the section of the Cromford Canal that lies within the conservation area falls within the World Heritage Site, as does the section of Lea Mills that falls within Smedley’s mills complex. Several areas fall outside the World Heritage Site; Castle Top & Bow Wood and the section of the Cromford & High Peak Railway that lies beyond the A6. 1 CASTLETOP,CASTLETOP, LEALEA BRIDGEBRIDGE && HIGHHIGH PEAKPEAK JUNCTIONJUNCTION CONSERVATIONCONSERVATION AREAAREA ININ THETHE DERBYSHIREDERBYSHIRE DALESDALES FIGFIG 11 ReproducedReproduced fromfrom thethe OrdnanceOrdnance SurveySurvey mappingmapping withwith thethe permissionpermission ofof thethethethe ControllerControllerControllerController ofofofof HerHerHerHer Majesty'sMajesty'sMajesty'sMajesty's StationeryStationeryStationeryStationery OfficeOfficeOfficeOffice ____ CrownCrownCrownCrown copyright.copyright.copyright.copyright. !!! UnauthorisedUnauthorised reproductionreproduction infringesinfringes CrownCrown copyrightcopyright andand maymay leadlead toto !!! UnauthorisedUnauthorised reproductionreproduction infringesinfringes CrownCrown copyrightcopyright andand maymay leadlead toto !!! 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