Southwold Conservation Area Appraisal

Southwold Conservation Area Written by Paul Edwards, Historic Environment Specialist , and the Waveney District Council Design & Character Appraisal Conservation Team March 2008 Fig 2 Church of St Edmund Fig 3 The Lighthouse This copy has been produced specifically for Plan- ning & Building Control purposes only. No further copies may be made. Reproduced from the Ord- nance Survey map with the permission of the Con- troller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. Crown Copyright reserved. License No. 100042052 Waveney District Council. Fig 1 Location Plan Fig 4 Gun Hill Contents Page 3 Introduction Page 3 Planning Policy Framework Page 3 Summary of Special Interest Page 5 Assessment of Special Interest Page 5 Location and Context Page 5 Landscape Setting Page 7 Historic Development & Archaeology Page 13 Character & Spaces Fig 5 Beach Huts on the Promenade Page 15 Key Views & Vistas Page 15 Character Analysis Page 16 Marine Villas Character Area Page 22 Old Town Character Area Page 36 Seaside Suburban Character Area Page 42 Seaside Corporation Character Area Page 50 Sea Front Character Area Page 54 Community Involvement Page 54 Local Generic Guidance Page 55 Appendices Page 67 Management Plan Fig 6 The Pier 2 Southwold Conservation Area A linear area of the north bank of the mouth Character Appraisal of the River Blyth, and Walberswick Quay, south of the River Blyth has been Introduction designated as the Southwold Harbour Conservation Area and is the subject of a The historic environment is all around us in separate appraisal. the form of buildings, landscapes, archaeology and historic areas; it is a Designation as a conservation area is not precious and irreplaceable asset. Once gone intended to prevent new development or it is gone forever. stifle the area’s economic life or potential, though the Council will expect a high Caring for the historic environment is a degree of attention to be paid to design, dynamic process which involves managing repair and maintenance of such areas and, change. This does not mean keeping when exercising planning powers, will pay everything from the past but it does mean special attention to the preservation and making careful judgements about the value enhancement of the conservation area and significance of the buildings and according to the policies for the built landscapes. Critical to these decisions is an environment set out in the adopted appreciation and understanding of an area’s Waveney District Local Plan of November character including its social and economic 1996 and Interim Local Plan of May 2004. background and the way such factors have shaped its urban fabric. This should be the In recognition of these policies, and in line starting point for making decisions about with the requirements of the 1990 Planning both its management and future. (Listed Buildings & Conservation Areas) Act, we will continue to formulate and This conservation area appraisal: publish proposals for the preservation and • Describes the character of the area enhancement of the conservation area and • Identifies its special character consult the public on these proposals. • Puts forward a basis for effective policy control of development • Identifies proposals for its Summary of Special Interest enhancement. Southwold is surrounded by space and by water; by the sea to east, by Buss Creek in Planning Policy Framework the north, the River Blyth and the Reydon Marshes to the west and the harbour and the Conservation areas were introduced Town Marshes in the south. The town has through the Civic Amenities Act in 1967 sustained a fishing industry for over 1000 and there are now sixteen in Waveney years, and a harbour on the River Blyth District. Conservation areas are ‘areas of which prospered while Dunwich, the other special architectural or historic interest, great east coast port, dwindled. The the character or appearance of which it is medieval prosperity of the town and its desirable to preserve or enhance’. The merchants is revealed by the scale and Southwold Conservation Area was first opulence of the parish church, rebuilt after designated in1971 and amended and a fire in circa 1430. There was a great sea enlarged in 1991. A direction under Article battle with the Dutch watched from the 4(2) removing rights to carry out works to cliffs in 1672, and another fire in 1689 dwellings without planning permission was destroyed most of the medieval town, served in July 1997. which is lost almost without trace, except 3 for its informal road pattern and its many greens. There was a Georgian renaissance in the town that left some fine houses, when the port was made the base for the Free British Fig 7 St Bartholomew's Green Fishery in an attempt to snatch the monopoly of the North Sea herring grounds from the Dutch. During the C19th the town took on a new role as a ‘watering place for the gentry’, and fine Regency and Victorian houses and lodgings were built. In the 1890’s, extensive seaside-suburban developments began to cover the fields north of the town. The railway to Halesworth opened in 1879, the lighthouse was built in 1887, Adnam’s Brewery was Fig 8, Georgian Opulence in Queen St established in 1890 and the pier, in association with the northern suburban developments, was built in 1900. The many greens, the informal street layout, the small scale of the buildings, the widespread use of classical detail for windows and door cases, the vertical proportion of sash and bay windows, and the close visual rhythm of the fenestration Fig 9 View East, of the sea in East St. across the facades, contribute to Southwold’s reputation as one of ‘the most picturesque seaside towns in England’. Also contributing to its picturesque character is the attractive palette of materials seen in the wide use of a warm local red brick; the use of a contrasting crisp gault brick; roofs of red or black glazed pantiles and the application of gentle soft coloured renders. Fig 10 View from Wolsey Bridge Southwold’s greens and other spaces including the Market Place invite both the native and the visitor to linger. The greens come in all sizes, from the diminutive Church Green to the expansive South Green where the six sentinel cannons guard the cliff top. Southwold’s finest Regency houses are to be found on South Green, where, below, the beach huts with their Fig 11 View South to Sizewell 4 eccentric names and bright colours, soften southern boundary. South-west of the town the line of the sea wall and provide shelter is The Common, an extensive area of grass from the east wind for family tea. used as a golf course, and dominated by the town’s two water towers, side by side; the Assessment of Special Interest one antique and picturesque and the other Location and Context crass concrete. The land descends west Southwold is situated in Suffolk, on the across the common to Buss Creek, running north sea coast, 56 km (35 miles) north of in a curve from the Harbour Inn to the coast Ipswich, 21 km (13 miles) south of north of the pier and forming the western Lowestoft and 51 km (32 miles) south-east boundary to the town. of Norwich. The village of Reydon is 1 km (1/2 mile) to the north-west, and There is a good view of Southwold from Walberswick 1 km (1/2 mile) to the south. the west seen across the Reydon Marshes (See fig 1). from Wolsey Bridge on the A1095. There are fine views from various points along the Southwold lies within a soil region known Harbour; from the Harbour Inn to the as the Sandlings and is set on a low hill harbour mouth; or from the river levee formed from hard sand and gravel, further to the west. Southwold is seen, on surrounded on three sides by marsh and low its hill, surrounded by lush marshland, with cliffs and Sole Bay and the sea to the east. its water towers, church towers and light house and looking every inch the The area of the parish is 263 ha (650 acres) quintessential seaside town. Conversely and in mid-2005 the population was 1380. there is a fine panorama from Godyll Road Southwold lies within the Heritage Coast, on the edge of the town, looking south and its built up area is surrounded by a across the common towards Walberswick Special Landscape Area, and the Suffolk and its church tower and the Town Coasts & Heaths Area of Outstanding Marshes: or to west looking towards Natural Beauty. The enclosing landscape Reydon Marshes and to Tinker’s Marshes comprises of reed beds, rivers, mud flats with their drainage wind pump tower. There and dyke lined grazing marsh. It also are views from Gunhill Cliff looking south contains 4 County Wildlife Sites at Buss at the sweep of the coast from Walberswick Creek, Southwold Denes, Town Marshes to Dunwich; a view dominated by the and Walberswick Salt Marsh. distant view of the Nuclear Generating Plant of Sizewell A & B. Landscape Setting Southwold is a seaside town built on a low There are important views looking north hill taken by the sea in the east to expose from the highest point of North Parade, low cliffs and sandy beaches, and close to the junction with Dunwich Road, surrounded by lush grazing marsh drained of Easton Bavents and Easton Cliffs, the by reed-filled dykes. To the north of the view compromised by engineering work to town the cliffs dip down to the level of the the beach and cliff. There are fine views sea where inland is Buss Creek and its out to sea from North Parade, South Green marshes, forming the northern boundary of in the vicinity of Longisland Cliff and Gun the town.

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