The Old Lodge, Babworth Design and Access Statement and Heritage Impact Assessment

March 2021 9248 9248 – The Old Lodge, Babworth Client: Mr & Mrs Boyce

FOREWORD

Property Address: The Old Lodge Babworth,

Retford, DN22 8EN Applicant Mr & Mrs Boyce

Agent Carl Andrews BA DipArch RIBA AABC IHBC

On behalf of Soul Architects Limited

This Design and Access Statement and Heritage Impact Assessment has been prepared by Carl Andrews of Soul Architects Limited.

The document has been prepared in support of the application for the demolition of the existing garage structure and the construction of a New Workshop and Car Barn.

Soul Architects Limited, 13 Sparken Hill, , Nottinghamshire S80 1AX ■ 01909 500710 ■ [email protected] ■www.soularchitects.co.uk 9248 – The Old Lodge, Babworth Client: Mr & Mrs Boyce

CONTENTS

1 UNDERSTANDING OLD LODGE ...... 4

1.1 Site Location and Topography ...... 4

1.2 Site Analysis ...... 4

1.3 Historical Development...... 5

1.4 Historic Maps ...... 6

1.5 Historic Park and Gardens ...... 7

1.6 Assessment of Significance ...... 9

2 THE PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT ...... 11

2.1 Interpretation of the Site ...... 11

2.2 Proposed Development ...... 13

2.3 Impact on the Surroundings ...... 13

3 HERITAGE IMPACT ...... 13

Soul Architects Limited, 13 Sparken Hill, Worksop, Nottinghamshire S80 1AX ■ 01909 500710 ■ [email protected] ■www.soularchitects.co.uk 9248 – The Old Lodge, Babworth Client: Mr & Mrs Boyce

1 UNDERSTANDING OLD LODGE

1.1 Site Location and Topography

Old Lodge is located within the Babworth Estate and is located on the east boundary. The property is accessed from the south entrance on Babworth Road. The Babworth Estate is to the West of within the Nottinghamshire district of Bassetlaw. Retford is approximately 8 miles east of Worksop and 35 miles north east of .

Extract from Google Earth

The Babworth Estate is a registered Historic Park and Garden. The Old Lodge is a small octagonal building with a hipped slate roof. To the west there is a range of out buildings and a tall wall forming an enclosed courtyard. There are later flat roof additions to the rear of the lodge and out buildings.

1.2 Site Analysis

The Old Lodge (grade II) is located on the east boundary of the Babworth Estate (grade II). The Historic Parks and Gardens cover an area of approximately 85 hectares and is in multiple ownerships. With the exception of the east boundary to the Retford Oaks Academy, the boundaries of Old Lodge are onto the estate. The site is accessed from the south entrance on Babworth Road through entrance gates and railings (grade II). The lodge adjacent the entrance is not listed.

Soul Architects Limited, 13 Sparken Hill, Worksop, Nottinghamshire S80 1AX ■ 01909 500710 ■ [email protected] ■www.soularchitects.co.uk 9248 – The Old Lodge, Babworth Client: Mr & Mrs Boyce

Old Lodge (Grade II) Retford Oaks Academy

Swiss Cottages Gates & (Grade II) Railings (Grade II)

1.3 Historical Development

Listing descriptions: Old Lodge, Grade II Lodge, c1820. Stucco on a blue brick base. Slate roof with overhang at the eaves, single painted brick ridge stack and further single rendered stack to the rear. Single storey. Octagonal-plan. Doorway with C20 glazed door, flanked by single fixed lights each with arched Gothick glazing bars and lozenge shaped tracery under flat heads. To the rear are single storey extensions.

Soul Architects Limited, 13 Sparken Hill, Worksop, Nottinghamshire S80 1AX ■ 01909 500710 ■ [email protected] ■www.soularchitects.co.uk 9248 – The Old Lodge, Babworth Client: Mr & Mrs Boyce

Gate Piers and Railings, Grade II

Gate piers and railings, c1790 by Repton. Ashlar and wrought iron. Pair of rusticated ashlar gate piers on a moulded ashlar base with a narrow moulded ashlar band running near the top and shaped ashlar coping. Flanked by sloping wrought iron railings and single, similar, smaller piers.

1.4 Historic Maps

1898 Map showing the Babworth Estate and Old Lodge

Soul Architects Limited, 13 Sparken Hill, Worksop, Nottinghamshire S80 1AX ■ 01909 500710 ■ [email protected] ■www.soularchitects.co.uk 9248 – The Old Lodge, Babworth Client: Mr & Mrs Boyce

1918 Map showing Old Lodge and the Gates and Railings

1.5 Historic Park and Gardens

Babworth Park, Grade II

J Bridgeman Simpson inherited the C18 Hall and called in Humphry Repton (1752-1818) who produced a Red Book in 1790. Repton's proposals included a covered or winter walk, enlarging the lake and planting around it, putting in the eastern approach, and laying out the walled garden (Stroud 1962). The Hall remained in the Bridgeman Simpson family until the late C19 when it was purchased by Colonel Whitaker. The Hall became a convalescent hospital in the First World War. The Hall and its grounds remain (2000) in private ownership.

LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING Babworth Hall is situated 2km west of Retford and comprises c 85ha.The northern boundary gives onto arable land; the eastern edge of Dog Kennels Plantation abuts the Chesterfield Canal on the north-east boundary, continuing southwards and merging with other woodland to form the south-east boundary. The southern boundary runs westwards along Babworth Road to the south-west corner of the site. From there the western boundary runs northwards along Sutton Lane. The site is mainly flat but slopes to the south-east. The setting is rural to the north and west and urban to the east and south-east, with the East Coast railway line running in a north-westerly direction c 250m from the eastern boundary of the site.

ENTRANCES AND APPROACHES There are two entrances to the park. From Sutton Lane the west drive runs past the brick-built West Lodge eastwards for 600m then turns south for 60m to meet the east drive at the east front of the stables, 90m north of Babworth Hall, from where it continues south to the west front of the Hall. From Babworth Road, the road to Retford, the east drive runs north-westwards for 500m from the gates, flanked by stone gate piers, by Babworth Hall Lodge which is of brick with a tiled roof. It then crosses a bridge to the north of the dried-up lake, before turning south-westwards for 400m to arrive at the west front of the Hall. An approach from the Retford Road was proposed by Repton but the existing drive was not laid out as planned (Pevsner and Williamson 1979). Carriages using the proposed approach would have been hidden by trees when nearing the Hall. A short drive from Old Lodge, 500m east of Babworth Hall on the eastern boundary of the site, joins the main west drive to the Hall.

PRINCIPAL BUILDING Babworth Hall (listed grade II), which stands in the southern half of the park, is built of three storeys in red brick and ashlar. Dating from the mid C18, alterations were made in the late C18 by Humphry Repton as set out in his Red Book of 1790. He proposed that the Hall be colour-washed with a mixture of lime mixed with black and yellow. The Hall was described in 1790 (Throsby) as having been 'greatly enlarged by the present possessor' and the description continues 'it has a modern front of brick, with plain ornamental stone'. Repton's proposal to colour-wash the Hall had been carried out by 1813 as it was described in The Beauties of and Wales as 'a plain, comfortable, white-fronted residence having had considerable additions made by the present possessor' (Stroud 1962). In 1850 William Burn (1789(1870) restored the red brick and carried out other alterations.

Some 90m north-west of the Hall stand the stables, (early C19, listed grade II), built of ashlar, render, and red brick with slate roofs to a quadrangle plan. The stables stand south-east of the walled garden, the south-west wall of the stables being the south-east wall of the walled garden.

Soul Architects Limited, 13 Sparken Hill, Worksop, Nottinghamshire S80 1AX ■ 01909 500710 ■ [email protected] ■www.soularchitects.co.uk 9248 – The Old Lodge, Babworth Client: Mr & Mrs Boyce

GARDENS AND PLEASURE GROUNDS The gardens lie to the south of the Hall within the pleasure grounds which enclose the Hall, stables, and walled garden. Lawns lie to the west, south, and east of the Hall. To the south-east of the south lawn are gradually sloping cobbled steps, flanked by yews, which lead to the lower garden. At the base of the steps a path leads westwards with shrubs planted on the steep slope. Some 20m along the path a narrow, stepped stone path leads north-westwards to the upper garden. Further along the path to the south is a swimming pool together with a wooden hut. Shrubs are planted to the west of the pool. The path continues to the west end of the garden and then leads north up a gentle slope to the upper lawn. Another path leads westwards off from this junction in the lower garden to join a path which runs north-eastwards. This path runs in a cutting with banked sides and leads to the forecourt at the west front of the Hall.

Repton, in his Observations on The Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening (1803), described winter or covered walks in general: it was possible to obtain a covered line of connection with the green-house, and other appendages of a winter garden, at a little distance from the house ... a shelter from rain at all seasons but not covered in glass, all which add great comfort to the interior, while they contribute, by their exterior, to ornament garden history.

One of his examples on a small scale was 'the winter walk at at the Hon J B Simpson's at Babworth' (Repton 1803).

The pleasure grounds are enclosed by a ha-ha on the south-west boundary at the western edge of the west lawn and on the south-east boundary. To the north and south of the west lawn are lightly wooded areas. In 1790 the pleasure grounds were described thus: 'The pleasure grounds, which appear to be pleasing appendages, are improving under the direction of a Mr Repton' (Throsby 1790).

The area surrounding All Saints' church (listed grade I), 150m south-west of the Hall, and Haygarth House, the former Rectory (listed grade II), 240m south-west of the Hall, forms part of the pleasure grounds which extend to north of the walled garden. The Rectory was aggrandised for the Rector, the younger brother of J B Simpson, in the late C18/early C19 (J Whittaker pers comm, 2000).

PARK The Hall stands with the pleasure grounds in the centre of the parkland. Some 220m south-west of the Hall lie the remains of a lake, which dried up in the early 1960s due to changes in the water table. Between the pleasure grounds and the lake lies the Lawn (parish map, 1857) which is now (2000) put down to permanent pasture. East of the lake lies an area of woodland stretching along the eastern boundary of the site, the north-east section of which is known as Dog Kennels Plantation with Lakeside Plantation to the south-east. Dog Kennels Plantation was put in as part of Repton's designs (J Whittaker pers comm, 2000). The woodland is a mixture of the early C19 trees and mid to late C20 additions. The remainder of the park is mainly laid down to arable.

Repton's Red Book discusses ornamenting the lake. Illustrations in the Red Book of the area before improvement show a bleak and windy scene beside the lake with Mr and Mrs Simpson being blown by the wind and Retford church spire in the distance. Repton's illustration of his proposed improvements shows the family sitting under mature trees playing musical instruments on the lawn which slopes down to the lake, now planted around the edges (Stroud 1962). By 1899 a path ran from the pleasure grounds east to the lake and then south along the lake side, crossing the lake by a series of three footbridges between two islands at the southern end. The path continued north on the east shore of the lake to the Boat House at the north end, then crossed the stream which runs from the lake and continued westwards to

Soul Architects Limited, 13 Sparken Hill, Worksop, Nottinghamshire S80 1AX ■ 01909 500710 ■ [email protected] ■www.soularchitects.co.uk 9248 – The Old Lodge, Babworth Client: Mr & Mrs Boyce

the east front of the stables, with a spur running south-westwards 100m from the stables (OS 1899). The path across the park has gone (2000) and the lake site is much overgrown.

KITCHEN GARDEN The walled kitchen garden lies immediately west of the stables, 100m north-west of the Hall. The garden is approached from the south-east as a spur of the path from the forecourt of the Hall to the stables. Some 60m north-westwards along this path another path leads north-west through woodland to south of the walled garden, with wide herbaceous borders abutting the south-facing external walls. The entrance to the walled garden is by a cast-iron gate. Within the garden are planted Christmas trees at the west end with a C20 greenhouse abutting the north wall. Marks on the north wall confirm the location of the former lean-to greenhouse (OS 1899). A border planted with rhododendrons abuts the south wall. Set against the centre of the east wall is a brick-built, two-storey gardener's house. In the south-east corner of the garden is the bothy, now (2000) a private cottage, whose garden lies to the south of the stables. The kitchen garden was proposed by Repton in his Red Book of 1790 and was laid out according to his plan with brick walls set at intervals with stoves and flues to ward off frost (Stroud 1962). Bound into Repton's Red Book is a working drawing by William Wilkins for a greenhouse; this was never built (ibid).

1.6 Assessment of Significance

The Old Lodge is a grade II listed building with a Registered Historic Park and Garden, there can be no doubt that the Old Lodge and its setting contribute to the wider historic value of this site.

The property is surrounded by a large number of mature trees and views of the property from beyond the boundaries are very limited. The property has been extended in recent years to improve the quality of living accommodation and an additional area of land has been acquired for vehicle parking. To the wider site there is a modern garage with various additions providing external storage.

Existing Garage

Soul Architects Limited, 13 Sparken Hill, Worksop, Nottinghamshire S80 1AX ■ 01909 500710 ■ [email protected] ■www.soularchitects.co.uk 9248 – The Old Lodge, Babworth Client: Mr & Mrs Boyce

Additional Parking Area purchased from adjoining landowner

Soul Architects Limited, 13 Sparken Hill, Worksop, Nottinghamshire S80 1AX ■ 01909 500710 ■ [email protected] ■www.soularchitects.co.uk 9248 – The Old Lodge, Babworth Client: Mr & Mrs Boyce

2 THE PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT

2.1 Interpretation of the Site

Additional land Existing garage

Views of listed building on entrance to the site

Old Lodge (extended)

Assessment of Site

Soul Architects Limited, 13 Sparken Hill, Worksop, Nottinghamshire S80 1AX ■ 01909 500710 ■ [email protected] ■www.soularchitects.co.uk 9248 – The Old Lodge, Babworth Client: Mr & Mrs Boyce

Two areas of possible development

Existing views maintained

Assessment of Opportunities

Summary

The historic building is located to the south of the site which presents an opportunity for the construction of additional structures supporting the dwelling to the north boundary.

The site is surrounded by dense woodland restricting views of the listed building to the access road. These views can be maintained and the visual impact of unaffected by the additional structures.

View of access road

Soul Architects Limited, 13 Sparken Hill, Worksop, Nottinghamshire S80 1AX ■ 01909 500710 ■ [email protected] ■www.soularchitects.co.uk 9248 – The Old Lodge, Babworth Client: Mr & Mrs Boyce

2.2 Proposed Development

The development proposes two new outbuilding structures, A timber framed Car Barn adjacent the site entrance and a new Workshop/ Garden Store in the position of the existing garage.

The Car Barn is a simple timber framed structure clad with timber boarding with a pitched roof covered with slate. The Car Barn will provide shelter and protection to two vehicles that are regularly parked at the property. On completion the site will be landscaped to provide a defined driveway and garden area.

The existing garage and adjoining structures will be removed to make space for the Workshop. The structure will be of a more traditional construction with rendered walls over a brick plinth. The hipped roof will be covered with slate with lead hip rolls to match the detailing of the original lodge and extension.

Please refer to the following drawings supporting this application.

9248-101 Existing Site Plan 9248-120 Proposed Plans and Elevations

2.3 Impact on the Surroundings

The Car Barn and Workshop have been carefully considered to minimise impact on the surroundings and in particular the Registered Park and Gardens. The Workshop is located on the site of the existing garage and constructed in a style to reflect the original dwelling. The Car Barn is located adjacent the site entrance and is a timber clad structure which will appear more discreet on the edged of the woodland.

With the dense mature trees surrounding the site the property sits discreetly to the east boundary with little or no indivisibility with the wider site. The proposed development has limited impact on the historic value of the surrounding Registered Park and Gardens.

3 HERITAGE IMPACT Careful consideration has been given to the level of provision and the size of the Car Barn and workshop. The workshop provides a flexible space and creates the opportunity for future home working arrangements if required.

The appearance and character have been considered alongside the local vernacular language to enhance the setting of the existing listed building.

The proposal does not adversely impact on the setting of the listed building for the following reasons;

1 The subordinate scale and location of the proposed buildings, which ensures that the significance and prominence of adjacent historic buildings is preserved.

2 The harmonious design of the proposed buildings, which will utilise a sensitive palette of materials to fully respect the character and appearance of its setting.

Soul Architects Limited, 13 Sparken Hill, Worksop, Nottinghamshire S80 1AX ■ 01909 500710 ■ [email protected] ■www.soularchitects.co.uk 9248 – The Old Lodge, Babworth Client: Mr & Mrs Boyce

It is considered that the addition of the new Car Barn and Workshop to the north of the property does not significantly affect the architectural significance of The Old Lodge or the Babworth Park Registered Park & Gardens.

Extent of new opening minimises loss of fabric

Soul Architects Limited, 13 Sparken Hill, Worksop, Nottinghamshire S80 1AX ■ 01909 500710 ■ [email protected] ■www.soularchitects.co.uk