Main Heading Henley Conservation Area Character Appraisal The conservation area character appraisal - this sets the context for the proposals contained in Part 2. Part 1 was adopted by Council in September and is included for information only. September 2004 Henley Conservation Area Character Appraisal The Council first published the Henley Conservation Area Character Appraisal in draft form in July 2004. Following a period of public consultation, rd including a public meeting held on 3 August 2004, the Council approved nd the Character Appraisal on 2 September 2004. Prepared by The Conservation Studio 1 Querns Lane Cirencester Gloucestershire GL7 1RL Tel: 01285 642428 Fax: 01285 642488 Email: theconservationstudio.co.uk March 2004 Thanks to Henley Archaeological and Historical Group who commented in detail on the draft document. Part 1 Contents Executive summary . .1 Part 1 Conservation Area Appraisal Chapter 1 Introduction . .2 Statutory background . .2 Planning background . .2 Chapter 2 Location . .2 Topography and setting . .2 Geology . .3 Chapter 3 History . .3 Archaeology . .3 The development of Henley . .3 Chapter 4 The character and appearance of the Henley Conservation Area . .6 General description . .6 Activity and uses . .7 Noise and quiet . .7 Townscape: morphology . .7 The effect of historical development on plan form . .9 Boundaries and building plots . .10 Trees, landscape and open spaces . .10 Views and vistas, including focal points . .11 Public realm audit . .11 Chapter 5 Character Areas . .13 Area 1: The Fair Mile and Northfield Road . .13 Area 2: The northeast: Marlow Road, the playing fields, riverside and Phyllis Court . .14 Area 3: The town centre: Bell Street, part of New Street, Hart Street, Market Place, Friday Street and Duke Street . .14 Area 4: The western edges: West Street, Gravel Hill, Kings Road, Hop Gardens and Friar Park . .17 Area 5: The riverside: Wharf Lane, part of New Street, Henley Bridge,Thames Side and part of Station Road . .18 Area 6: Edwardian suburbs: Greys Road, Albert Road, Greys Hill, Church Street, Norman Avenue, part of Duke Street and Queen Street . .19 Area 7: St Mark’s Road, St Mary’s Road, Vicarage Road and St Andrew’s Road . .20 HENLEY CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL i South Oxfordshire District Council Chapter 6 The Buildings of the Henley Conservation Area . .20 Introduction . .20 Listed buildings . .21 Buildings of Townscape Merit . .23 Materials . .24 Building style and plan form . .26 Architectural details . .28 Shopfronts . .28 Part 2 Issues . .29 Conservation Area boundary review . .29 Negative features - sites, buildings and open spaces . .30 Pedestrian and traffic management . .30 New development . .31 Potential development sites . .31 Chapter 1 The future management of the Henley Conservation Area .32 Introduction . .32 Buildings of Townscape Merit . .32 Article 4 Directions . .32 The protection of trees . .33 Local Plan policies . .34 Chapter 2 Design Guidance for New Development . .34 Introduction . .34 The need for contextual design . .34 Urban grain . .34 Scale and density . .35 Height and massing . .36 Appearance, materials and detailing . .36 Boundary treatments . .37 Extensions to existing buildings . .37 Site specific recommendations: . .38 Market Place Mews . .38 Improvements to the public realm . .38 Chapter 3 Conclusions . .40 How residents and other property owners can help . .40 Supplementary Planning Guidance . .40 Further information . .40 ii HENLEY CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL South Oxfordshire District Council Executive summary owners about maintenance and alterations and includes guidance on Henley is an attractive market town new development. It will be subject to located on the banks of the River public consultation and put before the Thames, close to the Chiltern Hills. A Council for approval as Supplementary settlement was first established by Planning Guidance. This appraisal will Henry II in the late 12th century, when then be used by the Council when the principal features of the town were determining applications for change laid out. These include St Mary's within the conservation area. Church, Market Place, Hart Street and the long narrow gardens which stretch out from the backs of the buildings which now line these streets, referred to as "burgage plots". Although the bridge was rebuilt in the late 18th century, some late 12th century fabric still remains in the abutments facing the town. The town developed as a port for exporting grain and other produce to London and by the 15th century Bell Street, New Street and Friday Street had been laid out. St Mary's Church was extended and new timber-framed Henley Thameside buildings were being built along the principal streets, some of which remain. Further expansion occurred in the 18th and 19th centuries, when the timber buildings were largely refronted in brick and new, prestigious houses built for the wealthy brewers and merchants who lived in the town. Today, Henley is characterised by its medieval street plan, by the survival of its burgage plots, by the continuous terraces of listed buildings along its principal streets and by its attractive riverside setting. The annual Henley Regatta is a major event on the social calendar and rowing, boating and other waterside activities remain an important part of Henley life. This appraisal seeks to define what is special about the conservation area, including the identification of those features which make Henley unique. It also contains advice to property HENLEY CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL 1 South Oxfordshire District Council Conservation Area and in government guidance including, Appraisal most importantly, Planning Policy Guidance (PPG) 15, Planning and the Historic Environment. Chapter 1 Introduction Planning background. Statutory background. All local authorities have an approved Local Plan which sets out each The designation of areas (rather than Council's policies and which is used individual buildings) of special extensively for development control architectural or historic interest was purposes. These plans are almost first set out in the Civic Amenities Act permanently under review, as central 1967 and since then over 9,000 government guidance changes rapidly conservation areas have been and local economic and social designated in England and Wales. conditions require adjustments to the More recent legislation has expanded Council's policies. The relevant on these early principles and Section document for the Henley Conservation 69 of the Planning (Listed Buildings Area is the South Oxfordshire Local and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 Plan adopted in 1997. obliges local planning authorities to determine which parts of their areas South Oxfordshire District Council has are of special architectural or historic 70 conservation areas and about 3,500 interest and to designate them as listed buildings. Policies which seek conservation areas. Section 72 of the their preservation and enhancement same Act also specifies that it is the are set out in the Local Plan in Section general duty of local planning 4 - The Historic Environment, authorities, in the exercise of their particularly on pages 42-62. planning functions, to pay special The advice on the control of attention to the desirability of conservation areas, including new preserving or enhancing the character development, provided in the Local or appearance of these conservation Plan is inevitably quite general. In Part areas. 2 of this appraisal can be found more Policies which aim to achieve this are detailed policy guidance which will be of interest to owners of buildings and sites within the Henley Conservation Area. Chapter 2 Location Topography and setting. Henley is situated on the west bank of the River Thames, with the Chiltern Hills rising steeply to the east and further wooded hills surrounding the town to the north and west. The town New Street lies on ancient ridgeway routes across set out in each Council's Local Plan 2 HENLEY CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL South Oxfordshire District Council March 2004 these hills, where they crossed a impetus for early settlement. A late natural ford. Above Henley, the river is Saxon spearhead and an axe of Viking not easily navigable and this provided type have been found in the Thames. an impetus for development in the late medieval period as a riverside port, The development of Henley. particularly for the export of grain. Henley is notable as an example of a planned medieval town and for the Geology. survival of its burgage plots, which lie Henley lies close to the Chiltern Hills, to either side of the main streets. notable for their chalk which provides Thame, located a few miles to the lime and flint for building materials. To north-east, is another such town, laid the north around Oxford can be found a out by the Bishop of Lincoln, also in the honey-coloured limestone and also a late 12th century. There was a friable chalk/limestone stone called medieval manor at Phyllis Court, on the clunch, sometimes used for building. northern edges of the conservation Local clays, suitable for brick making, area, but there is no mention of a can be found in the river valleys and settlement before 1179 when it is these provided the raw material for the recorded that Henry II "had bought land brick and tile-making industries which in Henley for making buildings" . It has developed during the 18th and 19th been suggested that he created a new centuries. town and that the burgage plots which can still be plotted off Hart Street and the Market Place all date from this Chapter 3 History period. However, the discovery of the old bridge in 1984 showed that the Archaeology. bridge, alongside the present bridge on the south side, was dated to c.1170. The historic core of the town includes Since it was not aligned to any main medieval burgage plots, the Parish street it is assumed that the town pre- Church and the site of the Manor dated the bridge. Hart Street leads to House. A number of archaeological the church not the bridge.