LOFTHOUSE Conservation Area Character Appraisal

Approved 24 March 2010 Lofthouse Conservation Area Character Appraisal - Approved March 2010 p. 31 Contents Page 1. Introduction...... 1 Objectives ...... 2 2. Planning policy framework...... 2 3 Historic development & archaeology...... 3 4 Location & landscape setting...... 5 5. Landscape character ...... 6 6. The form & character of buildings...... 11 7. Character area analysis ...... 16 Map 1: Historic development ...... 20 Map 2: Conservation Area boundary ...... 21 Map 3: Analysis & concepts ...... 22 Map 4: Landscape analysis ...... 23

Appendix A: 1 Management strategy...... 24 2 Monitoring & review...... 24 3 Maintaining quality ...... 24 4 Conservation Area boundary review...... 24 5 The management of change...... 25 6 Opportunities for enhancement ...... 25 Checklist to manage change ...... 29

Appendix B: Public consultation...... 30

Appendix C: Further reading ...... 30

This and other Planning documents are or will be made available in large copy print, audiocassette, Braille or languages other than English. If you require the document in one of these formats, please contact us (tel. 01423 556586 or email ldf@harrogate.gov.uk ) p. 32 Lofthouse Conservation Area Character Appraisal - approved 24 March 2010 1 Introduction

1.1 Conservation Area Appraisals aim to the impact that development proposals 1.6 By identifying what makes Lofthouse define and analyse the special interest would have on the Conservation Area special or distinctive it is suggested which constitutes the character and and whether these are acceptable and/or that any future change, whether to appearance of a place. It is these quali- appropriate. individual buildings, building groups or the ties which warrant the designation of a village as a whole, will be based on this Conservation Area. This Appraisal was 1.4 The assessment of the area’s special understanding of the past and the present approved by the Cabinet Member for architectural or historic interest is based character of the settlement. In this way, Planning and Transport and forms an on a careful and objective analysis of we can manage future change to ensure “evidence base” for the Local Development the area, using a method of analysis it makes a positive contribution towards Framework (LDF). Consequently, it is a recommended by English Heritage. preserving or enhancing its special material consideration when determining Various qualities are looked at including: character. applications for development, considering historical development, building materials, planning appeals or proposing works and relationships between buildings for the preservation or enhancement of and open spaces. Appraisals aim to be the area. It also forms the basis for a comprehensive but the omission of any subsequent Management Strategy, which particular building, feature or space will contain proposals and policies for should not be taken to imply that the conservation and enhancement it is of no interest. of the area. 1.5 Lofthouse Conservation Area was 1.2 The Appraisal provides information and originally designated in 1994. Following guidance to those wishing to carry out public consultation on the draft of this works in the Conservation Area whether Appraisal, the boundary was amended or not they require planning approval. further on 24 March 2010. This Appraisal So, it is a useful source of information for aims to describe Lofthouse as it is today Entrance to village from Lofthouse Moor. property owners, agents, applicants and and identify the special character and members of the public who live or work distinctiveness of its setting, buildings and in Lofthouse. open spaces. Having identified those special qualities, the Appraisal will examine 1.3 The main function of the Conservation whether opportunities exist to protect and Area Appraisal is to ensure that any works enhance its character. in the Conservation Area have regard to the special qualities of the area and to devise a strategy to protect these qualities. The Appraisal will help us understand

Lofthouse Conservation Area Character Appraisal - Approved March 2010 p. 1 2 Planning policy framework Objectives

2.1 Local authorities have a duty to designate conservation areas). The scope of Policy The principal objectives of the “areas of special architectural or historic HD3 also covers development proposals Appraisal are: interest, the character or appearance outside a Conservation Area which would of which it is desirable to preserve or affect its setting or views into or out of the  to define and record the enhance” as conservation areas under Conservation Area. special character and section 69 of the Planning (Listed 2.4 Lofthouse is in the Nidderdale Area of interest of Lofthouse; Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990. The same Act also requires local Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). In  to raise public awareness planning authorities to periodically review 1994, in recognition of the quality of its of the aims and objectives conservation areas. landscape the Countryside Commission of the Conservation Area designated the Nidderdale AONB. Saved 2.2 Government guidance on all development Policy C1 from the Harrogate District Local designation and stimulate affecting conservation areas is set out Plan, provides that priority will be given their involvement in the in Planning Policy Guidance Note 15: to the conservation of the natural beauty protection of its character; Planning and the Historic Environment of the landscape and any development  to identify what is worthy (PPG15). PPG 15 advises local author- should reflect the local distinctiveness of preservation to aid ities to define the elements that make of the area. the special character or appearance of understanding; conservation areas in order to provide 2.5 The Nidderdale AONB Management  to assess the action that a sound basis on which to develop Plan (2009-14) is a spatial strategy that may be necessary to local planning policies, preservation or addresses the need to manage change. The NIdderdale AONB Heritage Strategy, safeguard this special enhancement strategies and to make development control decisions. approved April 2009, identifies the object- interest ives, policies and actions required for the  to identify opportunities 2.3 In determining planning applications sustainable management of heritage for enhancement. for development within conservation in the AONB. areas and applications for Conservation Area consent, the Council will give 2.6 Involving the community and raising considerable weight to the content of public awareness is an integral part of Conservation Area character appraisals. the Conservation Area Appraisal process The consideration of proposals in the and needs to be approached in a pro- context of the descrip-tion contained in active and innovative way. Community these appraisals will be an important involvement helps to bring valuable factor in deciding whether a proposal has public understanding and ‘ownership’ to an adverse affect on the character and proposals for the area. A report included appearance of a Conservation Area and, in the Appendix details how the local therefore, whether it is contrary to saved community has been involved and the Local Plan Policy HD3 (which is the key contribution it has made to this Appraisal. policy for the control of development in p. 2 Lofthouse Conservation Area Character Appraisal - approved 24 March 2010 3 Historic development & archaeology

3.1 The first building in Lofthouse was a village suggests that there were as many 3.4 By the mid-nineteenth century the village’s grange established on the site of Holme as six or seven farms clustered population and importance was such Farm by Fountains Abbey, which is where in Lofthouse. that it was served by a pub (The Crown), the name of the local parish, Fountains a school and a Wesleyan Methodist Earth, comes from. The Abbey was given Chapel. Nidderdale was a stronghold land on the southern slopes of the valley in for Methodism and worship in Lofthouse 1251. This land would have been farmed began to be held regularly in a barn in by monks and the grange would have been 1758. The Barn Chapel as it was known the principal building on the Abbey’s lands was registered as a chapel in 1778 and in this part of Nidderdale. The monks served this function until its demolition in also quarried ironstone through a series 1875. The present chapel was built on of bell pits, the remains of which are still the site of the old barn in 1882. Close to visible on the hills. Nearby are the “Baal” Rose Cottage was the Sunday school to hills, sites of early iron smelting. Other the Chapel, but appears to have previously likely activity which began at Lofthouse been a chapel itself (denomination during the medieval period includes lead unknown). mining and limestone quarrying, with numerous limekilns erected in the vicinity of Lofthouse.

3.2 The fields to the west and north of the village appear to have been enclosures associated with the older hilltop settlement of Middlesmoor. The fields to the east and Dated 1653, Holme Farm is the oldest building in Lofthouse Conservation Area. south are probably associated with the establishment of new farms in Lofthouse 3.3 Over the eighteenth and early nineteenth in the late medieval period. The grange centuries most of the farmsteads in the for Fountains Abbey passed to the Rayner village were rebuilt or enlarged. Most of family in 1446. The Rayners occupied Lofthouse’s buildings date from this era. Holme Farm until 1900. The present It appears that small-scale lead mining Lofthouse Post Office. farmhouse is the oldest building in the continued to the southwest of the village 3.5 Between 1904 and 1908 the Bradford village and is dated 1653. Lofthouse on the slopes of Stock Ridge. Limestone Corporation built the Nidd Valley Light probably began to take its present form quarries and less commonly sandstone Railway from Pateley Bridge to Angram to during the post-medieval period as a quarries existed to the northwest and facilitate the construction of Scar House straggle of farmsteads built along the northeast of the village respectively. It and Angram Reservoirs. A station was track leading away from the valley floor. is probable that some of the miners and built at Lofthouse and consequently the A survey of the existing buildings in the quarrymen lived in Lofthouse. Crown Inn was remodelled and extended

Lofthouse Conservation Area Character Appraisal - Approved March 2010 p. 3 to its present form. The Crown was Hall (now the Village Hall) opening in originally a farmhouse with a public bar, 1927. However, in the second half of but with the construction of the railway the twentieth century the village was in the facilities were upgraded to a hotel economic decline and many buildings in 1906-7. With the completion of the became vacant and neglected. About reservoirs, the running of the railway eleven cottages were demolished in the became uneconomical and what was heart of the village in front of the Memorial Britain’s first municipally owned passenger Hall in the mid-twentieth century creating railway closed in 1929. The railway is now a large gap (used as a car park, and for a gone, but has left its mark on Lofthouse: brief time a filling station) in the built form. the present road bridge was built over the Other buildings were saved by the advent Nidd for the railway near the ancient ford. of increased tourism and second homes. Car park adjacent Lofthouse Memorial Institute. The former station building has Today, farming and sporting interests been converted to a dwelling. coupled with the many recreational visitors help drive the local economy of this area of 3.6 The twentieth century saw the village outstanding natural beauty. mature further with a post office opening in a cottage c.1900 and a Memorial

p. 4 Lofthouse Conservation Area Character Appraisal - approved 24 March 2010 4 Location & landscape setting

4.1 Lofthouse is in the Nidderdale Area of Ramsgill to the southeast, and the more Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and steeply sided, V-shaped upper reaches of is approximately seven miles north of Nidderdale to the north. The foot of the Pateley Bridge. The designation of the village stands at about 170m above sea AONB, which was made in 1994, formally level (AOD) with the settlement standing on recognises the national importance of the gently rising land on the edge of the valley landscape and the primary objective of floor, with the northern end of the village the designation is to conserve the natural being its highest point at c.180m AOD. beauty of the area, which is derived from its geology, physiography, flora, fauna and 4.3 Beyond the northern edge of the village historical and cultural components. the valley side rises steeply reaching a height of 358m AOD barely one kilometre northeast of the village. The same is true on the opposite side of Nidderdale, where Middlesmoor is only a kilometre to the northwest of Lofthouse but is c.290m AOD - roughly 110m higher than Lofthouse.

4.4 In terms of the road network, Lofthouse is unusual in its location. Rather than The older village of Middlesmoor occupies an elevated position to the being sited on the main valley road northwest of Lofthouse. linking Pateley Bridge with Stean and by the requirements of its original settlers: Middlesmoor, or at a crossing point over south facing gently sloping well-drained Lofthouse as seen form the edge of Lofthouse Moor to the northeast the Nidd, the historic core of the village is of the village. land above the floodplain and that the hidden away on the secondary road linking 4.2 Lofthouse lies slightly over the valley existing road bridge is a relatively recent Nidderdale with Masham and the Vale of addition to the village, being a through floor of Nidderdale, just above the York. This gives the village a tranquil, self- confluence of the Nidd with How Stean route for motorists since the mid- contained feel, particularly as the layout twentieth century. Beck, Blayshaw Gill, and, slightly further of the village creates significant twists and downstream, Backstone Gill. The village bottlenecks in the road. This ‘unusual’ sits at the threshold of the relatively flat siting of the village is perhaps explained and open valley floor which extends to

Lofthouse Conservation Area Character Appraisal - Approved March 2010 p. 5 5. Landscape character

5.1 Lofthouse is situated on a slightly elevated landscape, with its extent limited by the of Nidderdale. It is set alongside the shoulder of land at the edge of the flood- narrowness of the shoulder of land on confluence of the river Nidd, How Stean plain of the River Nidd. This location is at which it stands. Beck and Backstone Gill. The dominant the threshold of the wide glacial stretch historic landscape character is that of of U-shaped valley which extends to 5.3 With the exception of the small village of a rural upland valley floor, with pasture the southeast, and the more enclosed, Middlesmoor, the landscape surrounding fields defined by dry stone walls and gill V-shaped stretch of Nidderdale to the Lofthouse is pastoral fields bounded by dry woodland leading up to the moors. north. The result is that from within the stone walls. The narrow valley floors of village there are significant views over Nidderdale to the north of Lofthouse and 5.7 The immediate environs of the settlement the open valley to the west and south, its tributaries in the vicinity are the most comprise a series of small and medium but views to the north and east are far significant areas of trees, along with small sized pasture fields defined by dry stone more enclosed by the topography. isolated areas of plantation. The fields walls. Those fields to the west and south and walls form a consistent backcloth to of the village are irregular in shape, whilst the village and give the area its distinctive those to the east are more regular. It Pennine dale character. is thought that the fields to the west and north of the village represent the Historic Landscape Character enclosure of open fields associated with Middlesmoor, whilst those to the south are 5.4 A Historic Landscape Characterisation associated with the early post-medieval (HLC) has recently been completed for outward expansion of arable, outside of the Nidderdale AONB. The HLC provides the open fields. an overview of the area surrounding Lofthouse . The data on the historic 5.8 Further away from the settlement, leading characteristics has certain limitations as up the valley sides, the moorland edge the following criteria have been applied: has also been enclosed. The northern The southern side of Nidderdale forms a backcloth to views l They are visible in the modern moorland edge, leading onto High downhill in Lofthouse. landscape; Ash Head Moor, is characterised by 5.2 The location of Lofthouse just above the a particularly late period of enclosure l valley floor means that when looking They have been recognised on modern resulting from a Parliamentary award. along Nidderdale from the south and Ordnance Survey mapping; The pasture fields are exceptionally large across the valley from the west, the site l They are larger than 1 hectare. in size with regular dry stone walls. of Middlesmoor and its church tower are much more prominent in the landscape 5.5 This data therefore has strong limitations, 5.9 The southern moorland edge, leading than Lofthouse. From the north and and can only be used as a guide to onto Stean Moor, is characterised by east, the topography of the valley and understanding the general surviving medium and large pasture fields, again higher slopes of the valley are such that historic character of the area. with regular dry stone wall boundaries. Lofthouse is largely hidden from view. All These fields are the result of enclosure in all, Lofthouse sits unobtrusively in the 5.6 The settlement of Lofthouse lies in of unknown date, and do not appear to the valley floor in the upper reaches

p. 6 Lofthouse Conservation Area Character Appraisal - approved 24 March 2010 have a Parliamentary award associated back to at least 1600 if not earlier. Beside space which forms a strong contrast with with them. Within this area are areas of it lies an interesting enclosure feature: the surrounding pastoral landscape. The medieval and post medieval industrial an area of intake enclosure defined by built form and street plan mean that views workings, of stone, lead and iron ore, curvilinear dry stone walls. There is very of the surrounding landscape from within with visible remains of features such as little internal division in this area, and it is the village are limited to glimpses through bell pits, mine shafts and spoil heaps. thought that the area may be medieval in the few tight gaps between buildings. Quarries are also a feature of this area, date and used for stock enclosure. which contains the contentious Blayshaw 5.13 In keeping with the man made character of the village core the key landscape Marble Quarries, a marble mine and The village limestone quarries. Monastic industry is features are created by the built form and a key feature of the medieval landscape 5.11 Lofthouse has a compact, well-defined street furniture. The pinchpoints in the of the area, with Byland Abbey known to form due to the limited extent of the road created by buildings at Green Gate have been mining iron ore in the area, and elevated shoulder of land it is built upon. and at the Crown Hotel form emphatic with the Blayshaw Marble Quarry as the This natural limit to the extent of the gateways to the village as they reduce possible source of the Nidderdale Marble village was reached by the first half of the the road to a narrow width and close off used at Fountains Abbey. nineteenth century. Since then most new views. Within the village the drinking build has occurred on the valley floor and fountain/war memorial, Victory Memorial, is slightly separated from the envelope K6 telephone kiosk and village pump are of the historic core of the village by the all highly prominent features of the street sloping topography. The result is that the scene which form focal points and assist heart of the village contains predominantly wayfinding. eighteenth and nineteenth century buildings and spaces, giving a strongly cohesive 5.14 There are few trees or green spaces in character. the village core, but where trees, gardens and grass verges exist, they enhance the settlement’s rural character and relieve the hard character of the street space. A view over Lofthouse towards Blayshaw Gill. 5.10 Gills are a distinctive feature of the local Main approaches to the village historic landscape character, linking the valley floor with the moors. Blayshaw 5.15 The principal approaches to Lofthouse Gill to the south-west appears to consist are along the main valley road running of plantation, planted between 1600 and between Pateley Bridge and Middlesmoor. 1850. How Stean Beck woodland to the Approaching from the southeast, there is north-west is apparently largely pre-1600 little evidence of the village beyond the and is therefore classified as ancient semi- school and the twentieth century houses natural woodland. Within this woodland The enclosed village street has an intimate feel. on the valley floor, with only glimpses of the roofs and chimneys of the core of the are a series of limekilns, presumably 5.12 With the exception of the relatively open village visible through the trees. Views up processing lime from the nearby limestone car parks in the village centre, the built form the lane leading into the village core are quarries. Finally, to the southeast lies of Lofthouse is compact and inward facing. truncated by the twisting course of Backstone Gill. Backstone Gill contains The heart of the village is a hard, enclosed ancient semi-natural woodland that dates

Lofthouse Conservation Area Character Appraisal - Approved March 2010 p. 7 the lane, the tree canopy and the masses 5.17 The approach from the west via Lofthouse as telegraph poles, overhead wires or of The Crown Hotel and Holme Farm. Bridge is along a footpath. The canopy of signage. A list of key views in Lofthouse From the northwest the topography allows the trees along the banks of the River Nidd Conservation Area (which is by no means views over Lofthouse when descending form a screen which obscures much of exhaustive) is as follows: from Middlesmoor, but once on the valley the village from view. Crossing the bridge l Views over the village and its pastoral floor very little of the old village can be there are superb views up the Nidd to the valley setting from the northeast seen. The trees along the banks of the north. It is not until the bridge is crossed descending from the moor. Nidd provide a consistent screen. that views of the rear block of buildings at Fountains Farm can be had. From there l Views framed by the pinch point in 5.16 By contrast from the direction of Leighton, the path is funnelled in by a high stone wall the road at Green Gate the topography and lack of tree buffer to and the gable end of Fountains Cottage l Vistas channelled by the buildings the northern edge of the village means before emerging in the heart of the village along the village street towards that Lofthouse is visible as a tight cluster through what feels like a back door. landmark features or buildings such as of buildings nestled in the landscape. the drinking fountain / war memorial, Descending the valley side, the irregular Gladstone House or Holme Farm. layout of the buildings is evident due to the jumble of roofs and chimneys. However, l Vistas where the irregular form of the in terms of views into the village proper, building has defined the street space, the proximity of Bell Farm and Green Gate such as the ‘fold’ of buildings which means that little can be seen until the includes the Post Office, the ‘square’ threshold of the built up area is reached. of buildings by the Methodist Chapel or the ‘sweep’ of buildings at the top of the village. l Vistas through narrow breaks in the View into the village through Green Gate. built form to the open fields beyond Key Views such as at The Crown Hotel, Holme Farm, Rose Cottage, Chapel Cottage 5.18 The incremental growth of Lofthouse, and Green Gate. with buildings sited to maximise sunlight or create sheltered, enclosed spaces, has created a rugged, organic group of buildings which is highly attractive. Two spaces are of particular importance: the area around the drinking fountain and the area around the Victory Memorial. The growth of the village has deliberately created these two enclosed and interlinked spaces. These are characteristics of most Dales villages, which are typified by interesting views and vistas. Unfortunately The approach to Lofthouse from Lofthouse Bridge feels akin to entering some views are marred by features such View out of the village through a narrow gap by Rose Cottage. a house through its back door.

p. 8 Lofthouse Conservation Area Character Appraisal - approved 24 March 2010 l Views north and south along the River planes. At the road bridge the riverbed is Nidd from Lofthouse Bridge. virtually dry for parts of the year due to the change in the underlying geology. Further l Views of the sides of Lofthouse Bridge downstream, near Station House, the and the former railway bridge (now the setted old ford is the earliest river crossing road bridge) at Lofthouse. A track still links it with the l Views into and out from the tight bend road to Middlesmoor. between The Crown Hotel and the barn to Holme Farm 5.23 Within the village there are few green open spaces of note with man made features such as the drinking fountain, troughs and The tunnel-like approach to the Crown Hotel. K6 phone box acting as landmarks in the and west. Inside the settlement, these built form. However, by looking carefully, trees help to give Lofthouse its enclosed, the remnants of an important space can be self-contained character. discerned. At the head of the village there is the remains of a small village green 5.21 Other trees in the village are isolated which is now split up by the village street individual trees, but these contribute to and access routes to Gladstone House, the overall scene where the trees help to The Cottage and The Nook. enclose the street space and are native 5.24 Village greens were important spaces, The River Nidd north of Lofthouse Bridge. or traditionally found in the area. The planting of some coniferous and evergreen being used to corral livestock, particularly Trees trees and shrubs has introduced a discord- in the late medieval period when Scottish raids were a fact of life in northern 5.19 There are few trees within the village ant component of suburbia in what is an England. Nearby Ramsgill has substantial core, which are shown in the Landscape archetypal small Dales village. greens, but at Lofthouse it appears that Analysis map. Generally, the tightly the topography has resulted in there packed built form of the village means Landscape features being only a small, constrained space that trees tend not to be features of the 5.22 The Nidd is a substantial landscape street scene and are more prominent in feature, defining the western and views into and out of the village. The one southern extent of the village. However, exception to this is the approach from the its presence within the village is not valley road up to the Crown Hotel where particularly evident due to the short but the mature specimen trees in the garden steep drop from the village core to the to the Hotel and the line of trees along the river, and the screening off of the river edge of the field opposite contrive to give by buildings, walls and vegetation. It is this stretch of lane an enclosed, tunnel-like only from Lofthouse Bridge and the road character. bridge that the Nidd can be appreciated. 5.20 The key areas of self-sown trees are The views north from Lofthouse Bridge are particularly attractive, with the river along the banks of the River Nidd, where Deep verges or the remains of a village green? It could be speculated that this space at the top of the village was once a green. the canopies of the trees along the banks stepping down a series of bedding screen the village from view from the south

Lofthouse Conservation Area Character Appraisal - Approved March 2010 p. 9 for a green, accessed from the north by Significant boundary features & Lofthouse Station and ran along the Green Gate at the edge of the village. The boundary walls back of the platform. survival of the drinking trough for livestock 5.26 The predominant boundary features used is another hint at the former function of Strategic pedestrian routes this space. The former green remains an in and around Lofthouse are traditional dry open, informal area of grass verges which stone walls, which form field boundaries 5.28 Lofthouse stands on the popular forms a pleasant contrast with the harder as well as boundaries to private curtilages. Nidderdale Way, which links the village space around the drinking fountain and Boundary walls help to define ‘public’ and directly with Bouthwaite to the southeast provides a rugged, rural setting for the and Scar House Reservoir to the north. surrounding buildings. This path loops around to the opposite side of the valley and links Scar House Reservoir with Middlesmoor, Stean, Grass verges passing close to Lofthouse before 5.25 Apart from the verges which are remnants continuing to Ramsgill. The Nidderdale of the village green described in the prev- Way incorporates many of the old and ious paragraph, the presence of verges in possibly ancient routes through the valley, the Conservation Area is intermittent, but which provide as level access as possible where grassed verges exist they provide whilst avoiding the floodplain on the The dry stone boundary at Fountains Farm incorporates a boot scraper. a soft edge to the road and enhance the valley floor. In terms of Lofthouse, the rural character of the place. The most ‘private’ space and provide a clear, defined Nidderdale Way runs through the heart of significant grass verges run alongside edge to street spaces. Fortunately, there the village, entering by Memorial Institute Holme Farm along the valley road and are very few instances where boundary and exiting the village via Green Gate. the stretch of lane between Station House walls have been demolished or part and The Crown Hotel. The hard character demolished, causing the street space 5.29 A secondary route is the pathway of the street space around the drinking to ‘bleed’ into private space, particularly which runs from the drinking fountain to fountain is largely due to there being where garden space is paved over. Lofthouse Bridge. Before the construction virtually no grass verges between Hill of the railway bridge, this would have View and the Methodist Chapel. 5.27 In the heart of the village a handful of been a more important crossing point houses have more formal domestic than it is today. The unsurfaced pathway boundary walls with squared, coursed provides a more direct pedestrian route to stone and copings shaped to give a Middlesmoor and Stean. triangular or hexagonal profile. Dale Cottage and Gladstone House incorporate Wildlife & nature conservation railings on top of their boundaries, those to the latter being particularly ornate. 5.30 The area is rich in biodiversity with How However, the most significant exception Stean Beck valley, the hillside between to the prevailing use of dry stone walls is Lofthouse and High Lofthouse, and the boundary between Station House and the slope below Blayshaw Crags all Blythe House. The low stone wall with designated Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI’s). This places additional The grass verges at Holme Farm soften the street scene. rock-faced copings is topped by iron post and rail fencing with ball finials. This was protection on areas which feature originally the boundary to the platform of prominently as a backcloth to Lofthouse.

p. 10 Lofthouse Conservation Area Character Appraisal - approved 24 March 2010 6. The form & character of buildings

6.1 There are five buildings in Lofthouse by Fountains Abbey sometime after 1251. a cottage with integral first floor workshop, included on the Statutory List of Buildings The present building is dated 1653 and is though the building faces east-west and of Special Architectural or Historic Interest. a good example of a yeoman farmhouse the original function of the workshop is However, there are also a number of of this era. Unusually for Lofthouse, unknown. The access to the workshop un-listed historic buildings, which make the rear elevation of this building faces was up the external stone staircase a positive contribution to the character directly onto the street. The ground floor and through a first floor door. Both the and appearance of the Conservation rear doorway has composite jambs and workshop and cottage were heated by Area and are of particular interest locally. a chamfered segmental arch lintel which fireplaces and it appears that there have These buildings have been identified is inscribed with the date 1653. Holme always been internal doorways between during the public consultation and, as Farm is constructed of coursed rubble with the cottage and workshop. recommended in PPG15, are recorded on irregular quoined corners, and a graduated the Concept Map in this Appraisal. There stone slate roof which terminates in tabled 6.5 Unusually for such a modest, workaday is a general presumption that buildings gables. The building is orientated so that building Dale Cottage incorporates polite of local interest within the Conservation its principal elevation faces south and is architecture to its street frontage, which is Area will be protected from demolition and lit by rows of fixed and casement windows faced with squared, smoothed stone rather the Borough Council will be especially set in chamfered reveals and separated than the less regular, rougher stone used vigilant when considering applications for by double chamfer mullions. By contrast, for the side and rear elevations. The front alteration or extension. openings to the north facing rear elevation door and windows to the cottage are set and gables are much fewer in number and in deep-cut quoined jambs with similarly 6.2 The Listed Buildings in Lofthouse are all smaller in size. This arrangement lends treated voussoir lintels. The first floor Grade II and can be located on Map 2: itself well to textile manufacture, with upper windows are linked by a projecting square Holme Farm floor workshops well lit by the sun cill band. The openings to the workshop are less stylised, but the sash windows Lofthouse Pump match those of the cottage. Dale Cottage Dale Cottage has a graduated stone slate roof with The Victory Memorial three corniced stone chimneys emerging Lofthouse Drinking Fountain through the ridge. 6.3 Holme Farm is the oldest building in the 6.6 The Listed items of street furniture in village and is itself a replacement of the Lofthouse outnumber the Listed habitable first building in Lofthouse: the grange built buildings, with a drinking fountain, trough and village pump all Listed Grade II. Of these, two double as memorials to the Great War and are complemented by the Dale Cottage is an unusually grand cottage-workshop. Memorial Institute (1927), suggesting 6.4 Dale Cottage is in some respects a late- that the loss of members of this close-knit eighteenth-to-early-nineteenth century community was particularly keenly felt. successor to Holme Farm. It was built as Holme Farm: seventeenth century vernacular.

Lofthouse Conservation Area Character Appraisal - Approved March 2010 p. 11 north and south tablets are inscribed with slogans which promote drinking water. The monolith is topped by a moulded cap from which a stone cross with chamfered edges rises.

6.8 The Victory Memorial is dated 1919 and is also the work of Duncan Drummond. Unusually, this memorial commemorates the end of the Great War and the dec- laration of peace, rather than locals who

The finely jointed ashlar stonework of the village pump contrasts The Drinking Fountain is a landmark and focal point within the village. strongly with the dry stone walls to either side of it.

6.7 The most prominent of the three is the 6.9 On the main valley road Lofthouse drinking fountain which stands in front of village pump dates form the mid- Fountains Farm. Prior to its remodelling nineteenth century. It is Classical in in 1920 by Duncan Drummond, a local style with the rectangular stone trough stonemason, there was an earlier set between ashlar pilasters topped by eighteenth or nineteenth century fountain. projecting square imposts. These carry This was comprised of the existing a voussoired semi circular arch above octagonal stone trough around a plain The Victory Memorial is the centerpiece of the green at the top of which is a pediment. This arrangement central square monolith with a pyramidal Lofthouse. creates a recessed niche under the arch cap which was topped by a gas light. died in the conflict. It is a remodelling of which shelters the trough. The fine ashlar Drummond’s remodelling introduced an earlier trough. The rectangular trough stonework and Classical vocabulary of the a larger, more elaborately decorated has a central raised panel inscribed pump are far removed from the rugged, monolith with chamfered edges and stone ‘VICTORY’. Behind the trough is a block vernacular character of the village in tablets set in chamfered arched openings of coursed, squared rusticated stone which general. with decoratively carved keystones. The is topped by a pediment inscribed with tablet facing down the village street is the commemoration of the Armistice in inscribed with a war memorial and the November 1918.

p. 12 Lofthouse Conservation Area Character Appraisal - approved 24 March 2010 6.10 The key characteristics of the local 6.16 Buildings which face directly onto the architectural style based on the principal street are interspersed with those which elevations of the historic buildings are: are fronted by small enclosed front gardens which more often than not face General form in a southerly direction. Other buildings 6.11 Much of Lofthouse’s visual interest is are fronted by open grassed verges. derived from the organic, higgledy- Regardless of age and type, there is little piggledy way the village has developed space between buildings and a highway. over time with each building responding 6.17 A common attribute is that all buildings to the constraints provided by the topog- have pitched, gabled roofs. There raphy, the roadway or the proximity and The built form of Lofthouse is so tightly packed that in places the road are, however, variations in pitch and a orientation of its neighbour rather than a seems to disappear, as it does here in front of the Crown Hotel. significant minority of buildings have pre-conceived layout or set rules. 6.13 This irregular layout creates a mixture of asymmetrical gables, with the rear eaves 6.12 This has resulted in a street scene pinch points and more open spaces along level set below the front eaves level. The where some buildings have ridges and the village street. Examples of enclosed width of gables is always less than the front elevations which run parallel to the spaces includes the space in front of the width of the elevations with eaves. This street, others are gable on or away from Methodist Church and along the path means that the pitches of the roof always the street. Where gables face on to the behind the Post Office. Examples of pinch span the shortest distance. street, they usually feature openings, but points include Green Gate at the top of the in some cases are blind. Some buildings village, and between The Crown Hotel and Materials are set at irregular angles to the street Holme Farm barn. The more open street 6.18 Sandstone is the predominant walling and there are frequently slight variations spaces are the ‘square’ around the drinking and boundary wall material in Lofthouse, in angle or set back between neighbouring fountain and the former green around the reflecting the availability of this material buildings giving a wayward charm to the Victory Memorial at the top of the village. locally. The Memorial Institute is the only layout of the village. 6.14 There is a mixture of detached, paired and rendered building in the Conservation terraced buildings, with no one particular Area. There are roughly equal numbers form of development dominating. The of stone slate roofs and blue Welsh slate larger groups of buildings show signs that roofs. Stone slate is the traditional locally they have been built incrementally with available material and it would have not different components added or rebuilt been until the late nineteenth century that over time. the cheaper, lighter Welsh slate would be available to property owners in Lofthouse. 6.15 Whilst buildings are predominantly two Indeed, a number of older buildings have storeys in height, there are variations in been re-roofed in Welsh slate instead ridge and eaves height and roof angle of stone. In a few cases artificial roof between neighbouring buildings. In cladding has been used and this creates Gable on, sideways on, angled, parallel, matching, wayward, terraced, clustered, detached, hard against the street, set back from the street, addition the presence of single storey an unwanted contrast with the natural boundary wall, no boundary wall – the layout and orientation of the offshuts, lean-tos and outbuildings enriches materials. Traditionally, windows and built form of Lofthouse follows no rules. the grain of buildings and adds interest to doors would have been painted timber, the street scene. though this material is now in the minority.

Lofthouse Conservation Area Character Appraisal - Approved March 2010 p. 13 Farm the only buildings with significantly External walls steeper roofs. The former two are 6.24 The stonework varies with building age, because roofs built for Welsh slates are with the earliest stone walls (and some frequently steeply pitched, while the side and rear elevations to later buildings) latter may be so because the roof was being faced with coursed rubble or roughly originally thatched. Approximately half squared stone in courses of varying of the buildings have stone tabling at the depth. From the late eighteenth century gables and kneelers at the corner where the stonework to the principal elevations the tabling meets the eaves. Tabling and of buildings was much more regular in kneelers can be found on buildings with terms of the evenness of the courses, stone slate roofs and buildings with Welsh The consistent use of traditional natural materials unifies buildings the squareness of the stones and the regardless of their size, mass, style, original function or age. slate roofs. smoothness of the wall face. Regardless of age, the buildings in Lofthouse typic- Architectural detailing ally have uncluttered flat elevations 6.19 The predominant architectural style, uninterrupted by significant projections like regardless of the age or type of building, porches or other front extensions. There is the vernacular, which gives the village Roofs in Lofthouse are consistently ridged and gabled and retain is always a large wall to window ratio traditional stone chimneys. its distinctive Pennine dale character. giving the buildings a hardy, permanent The ratio of wall to openings is high, 6.22 Roof pitches are simple and are not appearance. This is particularly the case giving the buildings a sturdy, robust interrupted by dormers or rooflights. on elevations without a southerly aspect. appearance. The buildings have a rugged The gablets to the extension of The In these cases the ratio of wall to window and unpretentious look which heightens Crown Hotel and Fountains Farm are the is much higher. Holme Farm is a good the visual cohesion. Even the Methodist only examples of the roof pitches being example of this. Church, which incorporates a Venetian significantly interrupted. A proliferation of window and symmetrical elevations, is rooflights and the introduction of dormer restrained and does not use intricacy or windows would be significantly detrimental boldness to distinguish itself from the to the roofscape of the Conservation Area, surrounding buildings. which is highly prominent when seen from further uphill. The Crown Hotel and 6.20 The few stylised buildings in the Fountains Farm are the only examples of Conservation Area include the Arts and significantly oversailing roofs and the use Crafts style extension to The Crown of bargeboards. Hotel, the quoined openings and smooth stonework of Dale House and the Classical 6.23 Chimneys are situated at ridge level detailing given to Lofthouse pump and the emerging at the apex of a gable or part war memorials. way along the ridge. Chimneys are stone built, are robust in appearance and feature Roof detailing a cornice. Chimneystacks are always expressed within the thickness of the 6.21 The roof pitches vary slightly but are wall and hence do not stand proud generally moderate, with Gladstone of the external wall. House, the Methodist Church and Holme Watershot masonry is a Pennine detail.

p. 14 Lofthouse Conservation Area Character Appraisal - approved 24 March 2010 6.25 An unusual detail found on some of the over lintels. There are equal numbers of buildings is the use of watershot masonry. buildings where the jambs are monolithic This is where the stone in a wall is shaped and where coursing of the walls continues and coursed such that the top edge of the right up against the window openings. stone projects from the wall and the top Door openings are treated similarly. face of the stone (i.e. the bedding plane) is exposed and slopes gently away from 6.28 The eaves details to most buildings are the face of the wall. Although this might unadorned, with most gutters being carried appear to be inviting moisture to pene- on discrete metal brackets. A few of the trate the wall, the function of watershot more decorative buildings like the Crown masonry was to throw water clear of the Hotel and Gladstone House have simple wall in exposed locations, and particularly squared dentils carrying the gutters. A on gables. Watershot masonry is only similar number of buildings have timber found in the Pennines and as a building bargeboard details at the wall head, where tradition it appears to have ceased c.1830. the roof overhangs. Unfortunately some An easy to find example of watershot of the vernacular style modern dwellings in the Conservation Area have inappropriate masonry in Lofthouse is to the gable Sash windows through the ages: a Gerorgian-type sash (top right), bargeboard details. a later Victorian sash (top left) and stylish Edwardian sashes (lower of the Band Room. windows). 6.26 Quoins (large corner stones) are a Windows 6.30 Unfortunately, a significant number of common feature of buildings of all ages traditional sash and casement windows in Lofthouse, varying form the irregular 6.29 In Lofthouse, two traditional window types have been replaced with PVCu or standard sizes and shapes in earlier buildings such can be found. The most common is the factory made timber windows, often to the as Holme Farm, The Nook and Fountains vertically sliding sash window. This detail detriment to the overall character of the Barn through to the regular, identically varies across the Conservation Area with buildings concerned. Each inappropriate sized quoins of later buildings such as building age, with Dale Cottage featuring window installed erodes the character of the Methodist Church and Bell Farm. Georgian eight-over-eight-pane windows, the Conservation Area and the contribution Quoined doorways appear in a minority of Hill View featuring Victorian two-over-two the fenestration of buildings makes to buildings, including barns. Dale Cottage pane sash windows and The Crown Hotel the street scene. and the Methodist Church area the only featuring Edwardian style eight-over-one buildings where the jambs to the sashes. These variations add interest to 6.31 Very few dormer windows and rooflights windows are quoined. the street scene and are testament to the are evident in Lofthouse. A proliferation of historic development and redevelopment of these features would be detrimental to the 6.27 Window openings are rectangular in the village. The second vernacular window roofscape, which is particularly visible shape and are always taller than they type, side hung casement windows, are from further uphill. are wide, giving a vertical emphasis. far less common, as this window detail is Windows are well recessed in the typically only found on buildings erected masonry openings to protect them from before the mid-to-late eighteenth century. the elements. Windows typically have Examples of this earlier window type can slightly projecting stone sills and stone be found in the mullioned openings at lintels which are deeper than the sills. Holme Farm and The Nook. There is a significant minority of buildings where there is a shallow projecting hood

Lofthouse Conservation Area Character Appraisal - Approved March 2010 p. 15 7. Character area analysis

7.1 This section examines the buildings and into and out of the village. The second is an unwanted contrast with the close-knit spaces within the Conservation Area in the tight bend at the foot of the old village form of the village. Virtually all of the greater detail looking at sub areas. The where the long mass of Holme Farm barn buildings and outbuildings in the village aim is to identify the special character stands only a short distance away from core contribute to the character of the area of the area that provides Lofthouse both The Crown Hotel and Lund Cottage making it difficult to pick out any individual with its particular ‘sense of place’ and across the street. buildings which make a particular to summarise the details and features contribution above any other. that are important. The sub areas 7.4 In the village core there are only a few can be defined according to historical narrow gaps between buildings which 7.6 Approaching the village core from the development, building form and uses allow views of the surrounding countryside, valley floor, the sinuous stretch of lane and location. These areas are: though there area views to be had of the leading to the southern ‘gateway’ to the southern side of Nidderdale from within village is closely bounded by dry stone 1: The village core the village. This tight packing of the built walls and towering trees. On the right the 2: The riverside form and the narrow entrances to the two phases of construction of The Crown village were a product of the topography Hotel can be discerned. The taller side 1. The village core but it is also likely that the village street, wing with tapered chimneys, oversailing particularly before it was ever surfaced, roof, bargeboards and jettied mock timber 7.2 The core of Lofthouse is set along an functioned as a village green – a framing to the gable dates from the elongated S-bend of lane which runs communal corral for the livestock of the 1906-7 extension, built to capitalise on the through the middle of a narrow shoulder farms based in the village. Indeed the additional trade generated by the nearby of gently sloping south facing land which grassed area around the Victory Memorial railway station and workers constructing is sheltered by the valley side to the looks like the remnants of a green, the the reservoirs upstream. north and east and is elevated from the place name (and gate) of Green Gate floodplain to the south. The village street survives. 7.7 The lower mass of the original pub faces is the principal route through the area with onto the street and has a Georgian grid- a path to Lofthouse Bridge, a back lane 7.5 The physical constraints to the built form like layout of rectangular openings, with which runs behind the post office and in of the village has helped to create a place the front door emphasised by its quoined front of the Memorial Hall and a footpath where buildings are afforded little space surround. The ground floor windows were to the east the only alternative routes and there is little or no opportunity for any replaced with Edwardian sashes to match through the village. one building to dominate or make itself the extension and the pub was probably distinct from its neighbours. Instead of re-roofed in slate at this time. To the left 7.3 The extent of the village core is emphat- competing for attention the buildings in of the old pub are its former toilets, a ically defined by two points where the the village core form an attractive, unified leaning jumble of rubble walls which help roadway is constrained by the buildings group. Buildings of different masses, to enclose the bend of the road and add to either side producing significant local height, age and function stand side by to the grain of buildings in the area. The landmarks. The first is Green Gate at the side but are sufficiently consistent with Crown has substantial grounds containing head of the village which effectively closes each other. The one weak point is the gap mature trees. The Hotel car park to the the village off from the open hillside to in the built form created by the two car north is an open, gravelled space in the north and frames high quality vistas parks in the heart of the village, forming

p. 16 Lofthouse Conservation Area Character Appraisal - approved 24 March 2010 need of enhancement. The central tree that of the barn and help to channel vistas and Lofthouse Band. The building retains contributes positively to the street scene along the road. The presence of grass vernacular detailing and stonework. and its canopy helps to close off the verges in front of Holme Farm and its barn Behind this the Memorial Hall of 1927 space. contributes to the rural character of the contrasts with the rest of the village due to village street. its long low mass, rendered walls, and red 7.8 Also at the bend Lund Cottage is a clay tile roof. The long side elevation faces small detached building which has been 7.10 The adjacent Stoneywalls and Hill View the street and is in need of enhancement. chopped and changed over the years were built as a house and cottage or with quoins on some but not all corners cottage-store respectively. Unusually, 7.12 The drinking fountain forms a focal point to and one set of quoins terminating halfway Stoneywalls faces away form the street vistas along the village street once Holme up the wall. Possibly built as a cottage- and is obscured from view by a garage Farm is reached. The groups of buildings workshop/store a first floor doorway is and a sympathetic lean-to extension. The at Fountains Farm, Fountains Cottages the accessed by external stone stairs and house has a stone slate roof, a three bay Post Office and Bracken Cottage and Fern on the opposite gable there is evidence front elevation (from which a large single Cottage form a discernible ‘square’ around of a blocked first floor doorway. There is storey extension projects) and tabled the fountain, though the street space is an irregular fenestration with the larger gables with kneelers and stone chimneys triangular in form, as it is closely defined by roadside window possibly once a shop to the apexes. Hill View looks to have had the boundary walls fronting the buildings. window. some status due to the formal wall with triangular copings around the front garden, plus the well-proportioned front elevation. The purpose of the additional doorway is uncertain.

A view into the ‘square’ around the drinking fountain. Fountains Farm is Holme Farm barn and Lund Cottage. in the background.

7.9 Opposite, Holme Farm barn is a long Hill View and Stoneywalls. 7.13 The Fountains Cottages group to the mass, built in three phases with the oldest west side appears to have been built as a 7.11 Across the street, the village car park is element closest to the farmhouse. The pair of cottage-workshops, possibly from built on the site of cleared cottages of barn presents a largely blank elevation an older house or barn. It appears as which the Band Room is the only remnant. to the street but does feature traditional though the cottages were in the centre of The car park is bounded by dry stone walls, openings such as ventilators and pitching the group, with paired hooded doorways which at least offer some form of enclosure holes, with a boot scraper opposite the with quoined reveals in the centre and to the street space, unlike the adjacent pub front door to the Crown. Long stone symmetrical fenestration. At either end car park. The Band Room was built as the slate roofs and the use of coursed rubble were bays providing access to the upstairs mission room to the Church of St Chad unify the different builds. The adjacent workshops. Little Fountains Cottage in Middlesmoor, but since the 1950s has farmhouse is described in paragraph retains its external stone steps and first been the practice room of the Middlesmoor 6.3. Its mass and materials complement

Lofthouse Conservation Area Character Appraisal - Approved March 2010 p. 17 floor doorway, but at the other end of the by enclosed front gardens, but on the row the stairs have been removed and the western side there is a splay of different doorway partially blocked and made into a buildings which face gable-on to the street window. at different angles, giving a distinctive character. Principal among these buildings 7.14 On the other side of the ‘square’ the is the Methodist Church, a simple, cottages adjoining Fountains Farm are barn like edifice with tell tale Victorian similarly detailed to the pair of cottage- proportions. The Church is relatively workshops just described. The attached modest in appearance with an elongated Fountains Farm appears to have been hooded Venetian window to its gable, remodelled with a new roof, dormers and tall paired lights in chamfered reveals and larger windows about the time The elsewhere. The principal entrance is via a Crown was extended and remodelled. gabled porch with round-headed windows The oversailing roof and small Scottish- set into its sides. This entrance faces onto The asymmetrical gable of The Nook with The Cottage visible in the style gablets are features also found on background. the Crown. The attached barn has a 7.16 Near the head of the village, Bell Farm, blank front elevation in front of which is Gladstone House, The Cottage and The a K6 phone box, a key piece of street Nook form a disparate but attractive array furniture. The barn gable curiously has of buildings standing at the edge of the a blocked arched cart entrance with rock green in the centre of which the Victory faced voussoirs, but in front of this are Memorial forms an important landmark. later stone steps which lead to a first The Nook is the oldest of the group an floor doorway which is also blocked. The faces gable-on to the green. This allows adjacent Fountains Barn, if it was ever a its principal elevation (not visible from barn, is very domestic in appearance and the street) to face almost due south. It might well have been substantially rebuilt appears to have been a farmhouse and is during conversion. The tight stone flagged courtyard or square in front of the Methodist perhaps one of the oldest buildings in the Church. Chapel Cottage is to the right. village. This is suggested by its quoined asymmetrical gable, mullioned window a small flagged courtyard or square, which and blocked first floor taking-in door. Next is tightly defined by the masses of the door to the vernacular style but altered Church, Chapel Cottage and the back of former pair of cottages which is now a Honeysuckle Cottage. The asymmetrical house called The Cottage, Gladstone gable and unevenly sized and distributed House is a landmark building in the windows of Chapel Cottage creates a Conservation Area due to its prominent pleasing contrast to the ordered elevation location and architecture. The house was of the Church. Honeysuckle Cottage built c.1900 and has a formal, symmetrical has a blocked taking-in door at first floor front dominated by canted bay windows Holme Farm Cottage, Nidcot and Wayside Cottage. suggesting a former use as a cottage- either side of a veranda style porch. The workshop. 7.15 Along the stretch of village street the western side of the street is defined by the long row of cottages and barns fronted

p. 18 Lofthouse Conservation Area Character Appraisal - approved 24 March 2010 decorative timberwork to the porch and are constructed in diminishing courses. At Edwardian sash windows have been this crossing the riverbed is virtually dry for removed, but the property does retain its parts of the year due to the change in the stylish railings to the front wall. underlying geology. Further downstream, near Station House, the setted old ford is the earliest river crossing at Lofthouse. A track still links it with the road to Middlesmoor.

7.20 Lofthouse Bridge is historically an older crossing than the railway bridge, but looks Vista along the valley road by Station House. to have been significantly altered. It is carried over the Nidd by a single round alongside the River Nidd is much less arch. Its southern side exhibits coursed intensively developed. The northern side stonework and the remains of a hood of the valley road is dominated by the over the voussoirs, but the underside and Bell Farm and Gladstone House. grassland and trees on the short but steep northern side are clad in cement render. 7.17 At the head of the village Bell Farm is a slope between the village core and the The parapets consist of low, deeply coped c.1900 rebuild of an earlier farmhouse, valley floor. This greenery screens the stone wall topped by traditional post and reusing older stonework including quoins village core from view and make the valley rail railings. Curiously the northern parapet and some of the stone roof slates. The road feel like a linear space. The buildings is carried on a steel beam which spans farmhouse is modestly detailed and has along the road are vernacular in style and the crossing. It is only from Lofthouse a symmetrical frontage. The rubble-built are much more regular in form than the Bridge and the road bridge that the Nidd outbuilding across the road is a landmark rest of the village, with front elevations can be appreciated. The views north from building due to the narrow gateway it and ridges running parallel to the road. Lofthouse Bridge are particularly attractive, forms at the entrance to the village. Stone boundary walls and the railings to with the river stepping down a series of the former station platform are important bedding planes. 2. The Riverside features of the street space. The Nidd itself is only visible at its crossing points. 7.18 In contrast to the densely built up village core, the lower part of the village 7.19 The road bridge dates from c.1905-10 and was built by the Bradford Corporation to carry its railway between Pateley Bridge and Angram to facilitate the construction of the reservoirs at the head of Nidderdale. It is made of squared sandstone and exhibits the typical snecked coursing and pitch-faced stonework typical of Yorkshire railway structures. The bridge is carried

by a single segmental arch with voussoirs Lofthouse Bridge. Note the steel beam supporting the parapet . which diminish in size towards the crown of the arch. The solid parapets are coped and Vista by Allenby Cottage

Lofthouse Conservation Area Character Appraisal - Approved March 2010 p. 19 Map 1: Historical development of Lofthouse s Stationery Office. ©Crown copyright. Unauthorised reproduction may lead to prosecution or civil proceedings. Harrogate Borough Council 1000 19628 2010 Reproduced from the Ordnance Survey Mapping with permission of Controller Her Majesty’

p. 20 Lofthouse Conservation Area Character Appraisal - approved 24 March 2010 Map 2: Lofthouse Conservation Area boundary s Stationery Office. ©Crown copyright. Unauthorised reproduction may lead to prosecution or civil proceedings. Harrogate Borough Council 1000 19628 2010 Reproduced from the Ordnance Survey Mapping with permission of Controller Her Majesty’

Lofthouse Conservation Area Character Appraisal - Approved March 2010 p. 21 Map 3: Analysis & concepts s Stationery Office. ©Crown copyright. Unauthorised reproduction may lead to prosecution or civil proceedings. Harrogate Borough Council 1000 19628 2010 Reproduced from the Ordnance Survey Mapping with permission of Controller Her Majesty’ p. 22 Lofthouse Conservation Area Character Appraisal - approved 24 March 2010 Map 4: Landscape analysis s Stationery Office. ©Crown copyright. Unauthorised reproduction may lead to Reproduced from the Ordnance Survey Mapping with permission of Controller Her Majesty’ prosecution or civil proceedings. Harrogate Borough Council 1000 19628 2010

Lofthouse Conservation Area Character Appraisal - Approved March 2010 p. 23 Appendix A

1. Management strategy 3. Maintaining quality The purpose of the Conservation Area Appraisal and Management To maintain the recognisable quality of Lofthouse Conservation Area and to Strategy is to provide a clear and structured approach to development ensure the highest quality of design, the Council will: and alterations which impact on Lofthouse Conservation Area. The l From time to time review the character appraisal and special qualities, which “it is desirable to preserve or enhance”, have been management strategy, which will act as a basis for development identified in the Appraisal. control decisions and the preparation of design briefs; Although Lofthouse is an attractive village, it does not follow that all l Require all applications to include appropriate written information buildings, extensions, alterations and spaces within the Conservation Area and legible, accurate and up to date, fully annotated scale necessarily contribute to that attractiveness. Ultimately the aim is to (a) drawings; explore whether there are any buildings or areas which are at odds with or spoil the character of the Conservation Area, and (b) to consider how the l Keep under review a list of buildings of local interest, that special character or distinctiveness, as defined in earlier sections of this positively contribute to the Character and Appearance of the document, might best be preserved or enhanced. Conservation Area; Clearly some of the ideas or suggestions will relate to buildings or land l Where appropriate prepare supplementary planning documents in private ownership. It is important to note that individual owners and/or including design guidance and development briefs; the local community will not be under any obligation to make the changes or improvements suggested. However, they may be encouraged to think l Expect the historic elements which are essential parts of the about the suggestions made, and once the Appraisal has been adopted, the special architectural character of the Conservation Area to be findings and recommendations will be considered by the Borough Council preserved, repaired and reinstated where appropriate. in response to any applications for planning permission, listed building consent, Conservation Area consent and requests for grant aid. 4. Conservation Area boundary review As part of the process of producing the Appraisal, the existing Conservation 2. Monitoring & review Area boundary was reviewed. The outcome of the public consultation event The Borough Council is required to review its Conservation Areas on is that most people were happy with the Conservation Area as existing, but a regular basis, this may involve the designation of new Conservation a boundary amendment was suggested to make the Conservation Area Areas, the de-designation of areas that have lost their special character, larger. The possible inclusion of this area was determined on the basis of or the extension of existing conservation areas. The special character of their “special architectural or historic interest the character of which it is Lofthouse has been re-evaluated as part of the process of preparing the desirable to preserve or enhance”. Character Appraisal and this contributes to the overall review. At the consultation event, it was suggested to include the trees on the Part of the review process involves the maintenance of a comprehensive southern bank of the Nidd, opposite the cottages and houses on the valley and up to date photographic record to establish a visual survey of buildings road. The reason for this suggestion is that the trees on the southern bank of local interest in the Conservation Area. This record was compiled with contribute to the street scene and help to enclose the village. A survey the involvement of the community at the public consultation event. of the boundary confirmed that the trees along the outside of the bend do

p. 24 Lofthouse Conservation Area Character Appraisal - approved 24 March 2010 contribute positively to the pump means the high boundary village scene. Moreover, wall leading to it would be these trees also line the included, but not the houses or old track which leads to the gardens behind, which are of no setted ford and stepping special architectural or historic stones across the Nidd. interest. This was the earliest cross- It would be inconsistent to leave ing point in the vicinity of the village pump (right) out of Lofthouse. The trees on the the Conservation Area when the southern bank of the Nidd drinking fountains and troughs are up to and including the ford, so important to the street scene stepping stones and the The old ford across the Nidd is part of the village’s history pathway leading to them In preparing this Appraisal, a proposed Conservation Area boundary map have, therefore, been included in the Conservation Area. was included in the draft for consultation, but no comments were received during the 6 week consultation period. The re-survey of the Conservation Area boundary has resulted in two extensions to the Conservation Area boundary being proposed by officers. Other alterations to the Conservation Area are slight and are intended to The first is to include the recently converted barn called The Byre and its ensure that the boundary follows boundary walls and is readable on the curtilage within the Conservation Area. When the Conservation Area was ground. The proposed boundary alterations are indicated on Map 2. designated in 1994 this site contained modern agricultural sheds and a large slurry tank which dominated the site, making the barn a secondary, 5. The Management of change concealed building on the site. The site has since been redeveloped The special character and appearance of Lofthouse Conservation Area is with the modern agricultural buildings and structures demolished and vulnerable to erosion and significant harm through often well-intentioned but the barn sensitively converted, retaining its former character, which is misguided alterations and inappropriate change. complementary to that of the built form of the village. There is scope for the enhancement of the car parks in the heart of the The second addition is a village which provide a poor contrast to the surrounding densely built slight extension of the townscape. The improved enclosure of these sites with dry stone walls Conservation Area boundary would be a start. Similarly, the Memorial Institute is beginning to look along the valley road to tired and would benefit from sympathetic enhancement. include the village pump which stands in front of 10 6. Opportunities for enhancement Nidd View. This historic Lofthouse is an attractive village, and most of the buildings are occupied piece of street furniture and in good condition. There are, however, a number of opportunities for complements the drinking the enhancement of some areas as follows: fountain and trough found l The removal of inappropriate planting from the grass verges and elsewhere in the village and former green to give a traditional rural appearance. forms a clearer boundary to this edge of the Conservation l The re-use and repair of vacant or underused farm buildings and The Byre contributes positively to the village scene Area. The inclusion of the outbuildings, particularly the former Methodist Sunday school. Lofthouse Conservation Area Character Appraisal - Approved March 2010 p. 25 l The protection of front gardens and a presumption against Design Guidance creating hard areas in front of houses and the demolition of front Additional design guidance, which is more specific to the Conservation boundary walls. Area, could be considered for future alterations to direct change towards materials and design detailing which complements the defined local l The clearing of potentially damaging vegetation from the village architectural character. This would be in the form of non-statutory planning pump, drinking fountain and Victory Memorial and the sensitive guidance. If adopted, this guidance would act as a yardstick against which upkeep of these structures. Consideration should be given to proposals could be assessed and could assist both existing and future restoring the flow to these structures. residents in understanding what is desirable. l Rationalisation of road signage Article 4 Directions l Consider repositioning telegraph poles and placing overhead Formal control over future alterations of buildings could be introduced cables underground. through what is known as an Article 4 Direction which removes permitted development rights. These are rights granted by Statute, within strict l The reinstatement of appropriate traditional timber windows. limitations, to alter dwellings without the need for planning permission. l The reinstatement of traditional natural roofing materials to Article 4 Directions can be designed to be specific to particular types of buildings where inappropriate synthetic materials have been used. development relating, for example, only to roof covering or front elevations. It cannot place an embargo on change, but rather brings certain types of l Safeguarding and supporting the public and commercial uses development within the scope of planning control. Article 4 Directions are which exist in the Conservation Area. made by the Borough Council, and in some cases, would need confirmation by the Secretary of State. Article 4 Directions could be introduced Existing buildings throughout the Conservation Area or just to individual buildings whose The survey of the existing buildings special interest is considered to be at risk from incremental change. within Lofthouse clearly identified that Reinstatement of architectural detail a distinctive character exists, although Some buildings have been altered, which has changed their architectural to some extent this has been eroded by form in a way which conflicts with the settlement’s distinctive character. The subsequent alterations, which have not introduction of standardised 20th century door patterns and PVCu windows always recognised that distinctiveness. and porches has undermined the character of many historic areas. The Over the past thirty years, public use of non-traditional finishes such as staining for joinery is detrimental to awareness and expectation of the the character and appearance of the village and controls or guidance to planning system to protect the “familiar encourage painted timber and traditional details and materials should be and cherished scene” has increased introduced. Non-sympathetic alterations should be resisted. substantially. Additionally, there now Grant schemes exists a greater understanding of the From time to time the Borough Council operates grant schemes to help impact which incremental change can maintain and enhance the character and appearance of the Conservation have upon the distinctive character of Area. historic areas. Options to safeguard and Well maintained, but seemingly vacant, the former Sunday school could be re-used. enhance the architectural character of Quality erosion & loss of architectural detail Lofthouse could include some or all of the following: The character and appearance of buildings in the Conservation Area is harmed by the removal or loss of original architectural features and the

p. 26 Lofthouse Conservation Area Character Appraisal - approved 24 March 2010 use of inappropriate materials. For example, the loss of traditional joinery, Floorscape sash windows, front doors and roofing materials can have a considerable It is unlikely that in past times the street surfaces in Lofthouse were negative impact on the appearance of a historic building and the area. formalised with setts, paving or cobbles and it is considered that modern Insensitive re-pointing, painting or inappropriate render will harm the long- tarmac is the natural successor to the rammed earth and stone that would term durability of stonework. have preceded it. However, small pockets of stone surfacing survive and In all cases, the Borough Council will expect original historic features and there should be a presumption in favour of retaining these. Similarly, detailing to be retained, preserved and refurbished in the appropriate existing unsurfaced paths and tracks should remain as such unless there manner, and only replaced where it can be demonstrated that it is beyond is a compelling reason to alter them. Any new surfaces should respect the repair. prevailing character of the village. Roof alterations & extensions Important trees The Conservation Area contains many historic rooflines, which it is The existing mature trees throughout the Conservation Area add to its important to preserve. Fundamental changes to the roofline, insensitive charm and character. In accordance with the Council’s Landscape Design alterations, poor materials, intrusive dormers or inappropriate roof windows Guide, the existing pattern of trees should be preserved and repaired can all harm the character of the historic roofscape and will not be through managed planting and maintenance. In considering both of these acceptable. areas, guidance should be geared towards tree and shrub planting and management methods that improve wildlife habitats. Gardens & front boundary treatments Front and rear gardens make an important contribution to the streetscape Outdoor advertisements & street furniture and overall character of the area. The Borough Council will resist the The design and appearance of some of the street furniture and loss of soft landscaping and traditional boundary walls and railings. For advertisements in the village adds to the street clutter and needs example, the construction of new openings and the consequent breaking improvement in order to enhance the character and appearance of the up of the continuous boundaries to the village street would be detrimental Conservation Area. to the character and appearance of the Conservation Area. In certain locations traditional boundary features should be reinstated. New development A key consideration is the impact that future development proposals Telecommunications equipment, cable & satellite (whether in the form of new buildings or through the extension of existing dishes buildings) might have on the distinctive form and character of the Attaching external communications apparatus, including cable runs, to Conservation Area. historic buildings can harm the appearance of the buildings. The Borough New buildings will only be permitted where they respect, rather than Council can provide guidance on the installation of telecommunication compete with the historic skyline, respect landform and landscape pattern equipment including satellite dishes. and are accompanied by a comprehensive landscape scheme that is Overhead wires are intrusive in parts of the Conservation Area and the integral to the design. New development must be of a suitable quality burying of cables would enhance the character of the village. This should of design and execution and should relate to its context and respect the be a long-term aim in the interests of the character and appearance of the established values identified in the Appraisal. The Council will encourage Conservation Area. new development that complements the established grain or settlement

Lofthouse Conservation Area Character Appraisal - Approved March 2010 p. 27 pattern, whilst representing the time in which it is built and the culture it Similarly the treatment of gardens that adjoin agricultural fields should not accommodates. New development should respect and not adversely assume a suburban character by virtue of their landscaping, boundary impact upon the pattern of existing spaces between buildings. features or outbuildings such as sheds. Instead, the focus should be on A further key consideration for new development is the appropriateness using native deciduous planting to give traditional garden spaces which of the overall mass or volume of the building and its scale. A new relate to their context. There should be a presumption in favour of retaining building should be in harmony with, or complimentary to its neighbours. traditional dry stone walls as the boundaries to gardens and fields. It is important that the materials generally match or complement those that are historically dominant in the area. Within the above criteria, Tree planting new development should achieve creative design solutions, whether Lofthouse contains few areas of trees, which are largely limited to the contemporary or traditional in style. river banks and the gardens of houses. These trees would all benefit from management to ensure that the existing amenity and habitats they offer are Neutral buildings & spaces maintained or enhanced. In the longer term, the need to plant new trees Neutral elements or buildings may have no special historic or architectural to succeed existing new planting should be addressed in order that the quality in their own right, but nonetheless provide the setting for buildings eventual loss of individual mature trees does not create unwanted or spaces of special character and interest or may simply conform to the holes in the canopy or townscape. general grain and settlement pattern of the area. This backcloth helps the area to retain its cohesiveness and therefore need special management. Footpaths The location Lofthouse in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty which is 7. Landscape issues popular with walkers makes its footpaths of particular importance in terms The following guidelines have been developed in recognition of the of connecting the village with other settlements and destinations. Ways landscape sensitivities and pressures which exist within the of improving the footpath network in and around the village and providing Conservation Area: more links with the surrounding landscape should be examined. The condition of the existing footpath network in the area could be improved Village edges without changing its character. The visual and spatial relationship between Lofthouse and the surrounding Wildlife & nature conservation countryside is an important facet of the Conservation Area. At present there is a balance between the buildings, trees and walls creating a sense The village lies close to three Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI’s). of enclosure at the heart of the village, and the opportunity to see pastoral Possibilities exist for the creation of wildlife corridors, particularly along the fields through gaps in the built form and vegetation. The planting of high river corridor improve diversity and enhance the landscape pattern hedges of any species or the erection of high fences behind or between around the village. buildings would cut vital visual links between the village and its setting.

p. 28 Lofthouse Conservation Area Character Appraisal - approved 24 March 2010 Checklist to manage change

In managing change in the Conservation Area, regard should be paid to the following:

 Development should not impinge on the form and  In general new buildings should complement the form and layout character of Lofthouse. of the existing settlement. In general the principal elevations of buildings should face onto the street.  New development and landscaping should not divorce the conservation area from its rural setting. Links and views  New development should not adversely impact upon the between the two should be retained or enhanced. historic skyline.  The regular maintenance of older buildings is encouraged,  Maintain the softness of roadside verges by avoiding the together with the restoration of traditional features where introduction of kerbs where none existed historically. these are absent.  The positive management of the stock of mature trees should  The repair and re-use of older buildings should be encouraged be undertaken. in the first instance rather than demolition and redevelopment.  Retain important gaps and the general space about buildings to  New development and repairs should be constructed of ensure glimpses of trees and views are maintained. materials which match or complement traditional natural  Minimise the clutter of signage, street furniture, lighting materials. and road markings.  Design should reflect the distinctive local architectural  Repair and retention of boundary walling. style both in terms of overall form and detailed design, as appropriate to the context.

Lofthouse Conservation Area Character Appraisal - Approved March 2010 p. 29 Appendix B

Public Consultation feedback would be posted to the Conservation and Design Team. The Borough Council’s Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) sets This feedback was received and comprised: out the requirements for public consultation. To meet these requirements,  additional photos of Lofthouse, and to inform a review of the Conservation Area, a public consultation event  a suggested boundary alteration, was held on Wednesday, 30th July 2008 at Lofthouse Memorial Hall. This consultation took the form of a public meeting including a walkabout and a  landmark buildings, structures and walls, workshop session. Prior to the event residents were notified via a posted  leaflet that the consultation event was taking place. key views,  areas in need of enhancement; and , The format of the workshop included a short presentation on why the Conservation Area is being reviewed, the purpose of the Appraisal and  descriptions of Lofthouse in a single sentence management plans and a brief resumé on the changes that have happened since the original designation. Every effort has been made to take into account and give due consideration to the views of the local residents (and to represent those views in this The main activity was a walkabout which involved the group of those Appraisal document). attending the workshop in a visual survey of the Conservation Area. The community was encouraged to make notes and take photographs to identify Local involvement is an essential aspect of the consultation process and what makes Lofthouse special to them. On return to the Hall, the workshop local residents were encouraged to comment on the draft document during session enabled the group to share their views on the information gathered the consultation period from 5 May - 16 June 2009. Followin consultation, on the walkabout. amendments and additions were made to the text, particularly regarding policies of the AONB Management Strategy. The Cabinet Member for Those who attended the workshop were concerned that not all residents Planning and Transport approved the Appraisal on 24 March 2010 were present and wanted more time to survey the village and gain the input and it is published on the Council’s website. of residents not at the workshop. It was therefore agreed that residents would be given more time to complete the work and that the group’s

Appendix C

Further reading Upper Nidderdale History Group (2008) ‘People and Places: Memories of Upper Nidderdale’

p. 30 Lofthouse Conservation Area Character Appraisal - approved 24 March 2010