Easby Hall, Easby, Great Ayton, Hambleton
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Easby Hall, Easby, Great Ayton, Hambleton Heritage Asset Statement: Assessment of Significance. By J.M. Trippier Archaeological and Surveying Consultancy May 2011 Clients: Messrs Wighton, Jagger, Shaw Architects Ltd A Heritage Asset Statement for Easby Hall, Easby, Great Ayton, North Yorkshire, 2 CONTENTS Page No 1. BACKGROUND 3 2. MODUS OPERANDI 4 3. SITE AND SETTING 5 4. ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL BAKGROUND 5 5. DESCRIPTION OF THE HALL 9 6. BUILDING ANALYSIS 11 7. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE HALL AS A HERITAGE ASSET 16 8. DEVELOPMENT PROPOSALS 17 9. ASSESSMENT OF IMPACT OF PROPOSALS ON THE 20 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE HERITAGE ASSET(S) 10. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 22 11. BIBLIOGRAPHY 23 APPENDIX 1: LOCATION MAP APPENDIX 2: PHASING PLAN APPENDIX 3: ELEVATIONS BEFORE 1989-1990 ALTERATIONS ___________________________________________________________________________________ J.M.Trippier Archaeological and Surveying Consultancy: May 2011 A Heritage Asset Statement for Easby Hall, Easby, Great Ayton, North Yorkshire, 3 1. BACKGROUND 1.1. Introduction 1.1.1 Messrs Wighton, Jagger, Shaw Architects Ltd of Harrogate have instructed J.M Trippier Archaeological and Surveying Consultancy to prepare an Assessment of Heritage Asset Significance Statement to supplement their planning application in respect of alterations to Easby Hall, Easby, Great Ayton, Hambleton, TS9 6JQ. 1.1.2 John Trippier BA (Hons),MRICS, PIFA is a Chartered Surveyor and Practitioner of the Institute of Field Archaeologists with over 40 years experience of surveying and recording buildings of types. He is a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and has a 1st Class Honours degree in Archaeology and Medieval History. He formed his own practice in 1997 and has since specialised in archaeological contracts with the emphasis on the recording and analysis of historic buildings. He was assisted in this assessment by Stephen Price BA (Hons), MPhil. 1.2 Planning Requirements 1.2.1 The central government Planning Policy Statement, PPS5: Planning for the Historic Environment, which came into effect on 1st April 2010, sets out the Government’s planning policies on the conservation of the historic environment. English Heritage has produced a Planning Practice Guide (PPG) to accompany PPS5. 1.2.2 Policy HE 7 requires that, in decision making, local planning authorities should seek to identify and assess the significance of any element of the historic environment that may be affected by the relevant proposal (7.1). And, in considering the impact of a proposal on a heritage asset, local planning authorities should take into account the particular nature of the significance of the heritage asset and the value that it holds for this and future generations. This understanding should be used by the local planning authority to avoid or minimise conflict between the heritage asset’s conservation and any aspect of the proposals (7.2). 1.2.3 A ‘Heritage Asset’ is a building, monument, site, place, area or landscape positively identified as having a degree of significance meriting consideration in planning decisions. Heritage assets are the valued components of the historic environment. They include designated assets ( such as a Scheduled Monument, Listed Building or a Conservation Area)and assets identified by the local planning authority during the process of decision-making or through the plan-making process (including local listing) ( PPS5 ANNEX 2). ___________________________________________________________________________________ J.M.Trippier Archaeological and Surveying Consultancy: May 2011 A Heritage Asset Statement for Easby Hall, Easby, Great Ayton, North Yorkshire, 4 1.2.4 Applicants are now required to provide a) a description of the significance of the heritage assets affected (by the proposals) and the contribution of their setting to that significance. and b) an assessment of the likely impact of the proposals on the heritage assets The level of detail should be proportionate to the importance of the heritage asset and no more than is sufficient to understand the potential impact of the proposal on the significance of the heritage asset (Policy HE6). 2. MODUS OPERANDI 2.1 Policy HE6 also requires that, as a minimum, the relevant Historic Environment Record (HER) should be consulted and the heritage asset assessed using appropriate expertise where necessary given the application’s impact. The PPG also recommends that the following steps should be taken: • Check the development plan and main local and national records including the relevant HER, statutory and local lists, the Heritage Gateway, the National Monuments Record and other relevant sources of information that would provide an understanding of the history of the place and the value the asset holds for society • Examine the asset and its setting • Carry out additional assessment where the initial search has established an architectural, historic, artistic and /or archaeological interest but the extent, nature or importance of which needs to be established more clearly before safe decisions can be made about change to the site. This may require a desk-based assessment and /or on-site evaluation. Such may be necessary for all types of asset including buildings, areas and wreck sites where understanding of the asset’s history and significance is incomplete. 2.2 In accordance with the above requirements we have consulted the Heritage Gateway, the National Monument Records, English Heritage’s Scheduled Monument Listing, Parks and Gardens Register and Listed Buildings Register, the Historic Environment Records (HER) for North Yorkshire and the North York Moors National Park. The North Yorkshire HER officer advised that no additional information or listings were recorded in respect Easby Hall and its environs. North Yorkshire Archives, Northallerton Local Studies Library and a variety of other sources were checked to enable an assessment of the available sources to be made and a bibliography of sources used is included. In addition, a large collection of deeds and leases dating from the 18th century onwards relating to Easby Hall and the Easby Estate were made available by the current owners of the Hall. These documents and have been assessed for the purposes of this brief and are referred to in the text below. ___________________________________________________________________________________ J.M.Trippier Archaeological and Surveying Consultancy: May 2011 A Heritage Asset Statement for Easby Hall, Easby, Great Ayton, North Yorkshire, 5 2.3 We have also consulted the on-line version of the Local Planning Framework for Hambleton DC but could find no references to Easby although Easby Hall Park had been recorded as a Leisure Park and Garden under Policy L8 of the now defunct District Wide Local Plan. 3. SITE AND SETTING 3.1 Easby Hall is located in the village of Easby in North Yorkshire, some 3.5 miles east of the market town of Stokesley. Its precise location is shown with a red arrow on the map at Appendix 1 and its National Grid Reference is NZ57880873. The Hall lies a short distance south of the village centre on the west side of the valley of the river Leven with the Otter Hills Beck to the west. The land rises steeply on the east side of the valley to high moorland at Easby Moor. The moorland lies within the North York Moors National Park, the settlement of Easby outside of the National Park. 4. ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Prehistoric 4.1 The moorland to the east of Easby is a landscape of prehistoric settlement but as no sites or finds from this period are recorded in the Leven valley close to Easby Hall. The closest site is a Bronze Age round barrow (NYM1535) 0.5km to the north in Easby Woods. Anglo Scandinavian 4.2 The place name Easby suggests a Viking origin to the settlement; Esebi or Eseby meaning the farm or village of Esi. While no evidence from this period has been recorded at Easby, Anglo Scandinavian sculpture and grave goods have been found at nearby at Kildale (2 miles east of Easby) indicating Viking settlement in the area. Medieval 4.3 The manor of Easby is mentioned in the Doomsday book where it is described as “terra regis” owned by the crown and was assessed as 2 carucates and land sufficient for 1 plough (Graves 1808 p232). At some time after the Conquest the manor or at least part of Easby was granted with the manor of Stokesley and other lands to the Baliols (Graves 1808 p233). The Norman motte (NYM 1533) at Castle Hill on high ground above the river Leven to the east (NGR 58970847) may have been erected by Bernard de Balliol possibly without permission from the crown (I'Anson 1913 p245-7). This location affords an excellent vantage point with commanding views of the surrounding countryside and the motte, which has Scheduled Monument protection (SM 20534), may have been built as a watch-tower or temporary refuge some distance from the farmed land which comprised the manor. 4.4 The manors of Easby and Stokesley descended by marriage to the Eures who were a branch of the Barons of Warkworth but took their name from their lordship and seat of Eure in Buckinghamshire.The manor remained with the ___________________________________________________________________________________ J.M.Trippier Archaeological and Surveying Consultancy: May 2011 A Heritage Asset Statement for Easby Hall, Easby, Great Ayton, North Yorkshire, 6 Eures throughout the medieval period and the historian Ord suggests that they resided at Easby (1846 p409-10). 4.5 A chapel at Easby is mentioned in a document of 1349 (NYM 12434, NMR 27361). In 1808 the antiquarian Graves reports that the remains were "distinctly visible till within a few years" but that the site in Chapel Garth had been ploughed and the foundation of the building could only be traced with difficulty (1808 p237). In 1846 the historian Ord, states “an ancient chapel stood here (at Easby) and a chapel yard” but that “no remains of the chapel can now be traced but that a field near the village called Chapelgarth is where it probably stood” (Ord 1846 p 409-10).