1 History and Architecture of the Penn & Tylers Green
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HISTORY AND ARCHITECTURE OF THE PENN & TYLERS GREEN CONSERVATION AREA N.B. DRAFT TEXT ONLY. NO PHOTOGRAPHS MAPS OR PLANS HAVE BEEN INCLUDED, EXCEPT FOR THE DESIGNATIONS MAP. PLEASE LET MILES GREEN HAVE ANY COMMENTS ON THE ACCURACY AND CLARITY OF THE TEXT BELOW. ANY SPECIFIC DATES TO REPLACE THE GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF ‘VICTORIAN’, ‘EDWARDIAN’ OR ‘MODERN’, WOULD BE WELCOME - TEL 815589 TEXT FOR INSIDE FRONT COVER Sub Areas - In order to make the large and complex whole easier to deal with, the Conservation Area has been divided into five sub Areas, largely, although not perfectly, reflecting their historical development. These, as defined on the Designations Map (Pg. ?), are: Area 1 - Penn Church Area 2 - Lane End Area 3 - Tyler End Area 4 - Front Common Area 5 - Back Common A walking route - The buildings are discussed and illustrated in Area order, roughly as you see them if you start around Penn Church and walk down to Potters Cross; then back to circle first the Front Common; then the Back Common; finishing past St Margaret’s Church along Church Road West. Listed Buildings - are indicated in the text by ** and locally Listed (only in Tylers Green) by *. Photographs - of all the older houses have been included, but space and cost regrettably dictate that photographs of newer houses, however attractive, are limited to those illustrating a particular type or having a special interest. We are grateful to the many owners who allowed us into their gardens to take the photographs. Acknowledgements ….. ….. ….. CONTENTS Page Introduction Designations Map Road & Place Names Origins & Historic Development Historic Development Map Plot shapes and sizes Area 1: Penn Church Area 2: Lane End Area 3: Tyler End Area 4: Front Common 1 Area 5: Back Common Rays Lane North South Church Road (East) Church Road (West) Peculiar local details Traditional building materials The Appraisal Map Historic maps Bibliography Introduction Conservation Areas are areas of special architectural or historic interest, which are considered worthy of preservation or enhancement. At first, Penn and Tylers Green had two separate Conservation Areas, both designated by Buckinghamshire County Council in 1970. The present combined Conservation Area was achieved by a series of extensions: in 1981 (by the addition of the Back Common), 1986 (Rayners house & grounds and 1992 (the top end of Beacon Hill). The combined Conservation Area is large and very varied, encompassing an area of about 85 acres (34 hectares) with some 329 properties of which 50 are Listed Buildings. There are also Locally Listed and many unlisted buildings, particularly vernacular cottages, which contribute to the special character of the Conservation Area. The Designations Map (opposite?) shows the boundaries of the Conservation Area and names all the Listed and Locally Listed buildings. Unlisted buildings often also play an important role and just because they are not individually identified on the map does not mean that they are not of interest. It is an unusual Conservation Area, due in part to the important role that the commons and open spaces within it play in its overall character, and to the very different historical development of its component parts, which can be clearly read from the present day layout. It also, unusually, crosses District Council boundaries: Penn lies Comment [MG1]: within Chiltern District Council, Tylers Green in Wycombe District Council. This Comment [MG2R1]: presents its own challenges. Penn is the more rural settlement, lying within the Green Belt and AONB. There are some 16th and 17th century buildings close to the 12th century church and the far reaching countryside views from the ridgetop of Church Road has always been popular among the more prosperous parishioners. As a result, it has some fine large houses from the 17th to 19th centuries on large plots aligned to the road. Tyler End developed as a hamlet of Penn around the medieval tile industry, with early buildings situated on the edges of the common land where the tilers found their clay. Tylers Green developed when the growth of the chair-making industry in High Wycombe, from c.1800, led to large scale encroachments on the common, with pockets of small vernacular dwellings clustered around tracks and pits, facing onto the open expanses of common. The new hamlet took its name from the common used by the Penn tilers. The commons, both grassed and wooded, still remain as key open spaces, which create a rural centre for the village. Road and Place Names In order to distinguish clearly between different areas, the following nomenclature has been adopted throughout: Church Road, Penn - from the Crown to the entrance to Rayner’s (Penn School) 2 Lane End - the earlier name for the area around the top end of Beacon Hill Tyler End - the earlier name for the part of Penn that is on Elm Road Church Road (East) - From the Parish Rooms, past the Village Hall, to Elm Road Church Road (West ) - From St Margaret’s Church, past the Horse & Jockey Origins and Historical Development There are five key episodes that have helped create the layout of the present day settlement. In chronological order: 1) Penn Church - The foundation of the late 12th century church at Penn, and the growth of the early settlement core around it and along the ridge top. 2) Medieval tilers - The development of the 14th century tile industry, as a result of which settlement extended up to the edge of the commons of Tyler End Green where the raw material for the industry was readily available, creating a secondary core of settlement. This area included the nucleus around the former blacksmiths at the top of Beacon Hill, and the shops and buildings at the southern end of Elm Road. 3) Snatch-holders - The piecemeal illegal encroachments on the common, which were first recorded in 1746, but accelerated from c.1800 as a result of the sudden growth of the chair industry in Wycombe . This led to random building and plot patterns. 4) Sir Philip Rose of Rayners - The arrival of Philip Rose and the building of Rayners in 1847. He was the squire of Tylers Green, employed many of the inhabitants, built St Margaret’s Church and owned or built many other buildings, mostly concentrated on the south side of School Road and Church Road (West), i.e. not on the common and so with a more formal layout, and “politer” architectural styles. 5) Beaconsfield station - The opening of the Marylebone railway in 1906 encouraged London commuters and this coincided with the need for the Penn Estate to sell land for building and rapidly altered the whole nature of what had been relatively isolated rural communities. The Historic Development map (opposite?) illustrates the following seven identifiably different components of the Conservation Area which have resulted from this history: 1) The earliest village core of Penn around the 12th century church 2) Higher status, 17th to 19th century residential ribbon development along the south side of Church Road towards Beacon Hill. 3) Around the top of Beacon Hill, once one of the centres of 14th century tiling, but now the gaps between the few older buildings have been filled in by post-1906 railway development to join Penn and Tylers Green. The 17th to 19th century shopping area. The medieval tilers’ kiln sites would have lined the main road from Beacon Hill down to Potters Cross. 4) Buildings associated with the Penn Estate, many of which are on land on which once stood the late medieval mansion that finally became Edmund Burke’s school for French émigré boys from 1796 to 1825 5) The open Front Common around Widmer Pond and the formerly open, but now heavily wooded, Back Common where the placing of the tracks and the cottages, resulting largely from 19th century encroachments, is dictated by large clay pits. 6) The southern edge of School Road and Church Road (West), which has never been common land and so has earlier and higher status houses and public buildings mainly associated directly or indirectly with Rayners. 7) The Victorian estate of Rayners, now Penn School, which lies behind high walls within well wooded and extensive grounds. 3 Plot shapes & sizes The spacing of plots along Church Road, Penn follows a fairly typical irregular pattern, becoming regular only when reaching 20th century development that now links Penn and Tylers Green. Building plots are broadly rectangular, and aligned perpendicular to the road, with buildings located towards the front. Older areas around Penn Church and Beacon Hill have a less formalised pattern but follow these general principles. The Tylers Green settlement is characterised on the common encroachments by random sized plots with no particular orientation, and multiple nodes of development along tracks and lanes that surround the former clay pits. Area 1: Penn Church This area has grown up around the late 12th century church and forms a small traditional village centre. It has a grand house (The Knoll) belonging to the manorial family next to the church, a vicarage, a small green (where the stocks used to be),a war memorial, a school, a 16th century pub (The Crown), a Parish Room from where the Vestry administered the parish, and a cluster of old cottages. Most of the buildings are Listed and in some, later refronting conceals older 17th century timber-framed buildings. Ribbon development has been encouraged by the abundant ground water along the ridge top towards Tylers Green, and to a lesser extent down Paul’s Hill. No shops survive Many of the houses along Church Road, Penn, are quite grand with a distinct architectural style and large gardens, taking best advantage of the views that reach as far as Windsor Castle.