Bancroft Gardens, Hitchin – Conservation Plan

BANCROFT GARDENS, HITCHIN – CONSERVATION PLAN Stage 1: Conservation Assessment An assessment of the history of the site followed by an assessment of any cultural, historic and architectural importance of the few 20th century buildings and associated features. INDEX: Hitchin: Historic Background Bancroft – Local context Development of the recreation ground: Special interest at the recreation ground Parks and open spaces in context Hertfordshire Parks and Gardens Buildings in context Buildings of Importance and Landmarks (Un) Listed buildings: Themes The Landscape – Area 1 The River Hiz – Area 2 Lavender and Leather – Area 3 Conservation Assessment Significance: Summary Proposals for Bancroft Recreation Ground: Issues: Opportunity: Conservation benefits include: Objectives for Bancroft Recreation Grounds: Management Implications: Historic plans Historic images SQUIRE HERITAGE CONSULTING INTRODUCTION Bancroft Recreation Ground is an urban park of 8.5 acres located in the centre of the historic market town of Hitchin. It is a designated public open space and lies in a conservation area. The Gardens are owned and maintained by North Herts District Council and are the only green space in the town centre. It is identified as an important green space in the Conservation Area Character Assessment1 and NHDC‟s Green Spaces Strategy has identified it as a site in need of improvements. It has a variety of trees and formal garden areas, a children‟s playground, a bandstand, a river walk and facilities for sport (tennis courts, bowling greens and the bowling green pavilion). 1. Hitchin: Historic Background Hitchin is a medieval market town with narrow streets and lanes, and a large market square surrounded by Tudor and Georgian buildings. Originally a Saxon burgh (A.D. 758 King Offa) then a Norman town, the settlement developed next to a small stream (the River Hiz). This position benefited its wool and malting trade and subsequent prosperity in early times. It accounts for the fact that Hitchin is one of the oldest continuously occupied urban centers in Hertfordshire. The ancient Icknield Way passes immediately to the north and there is evidence of Roman activity (for example the Roman villa at Purwell). The origins of the settlement itself, however, probably start later with the Hicca, a Saxon tribe whose name is related both to that of the town and to the River Hiz Medieval Hitchin became the centre of an important Royal estate, the origin of its continued status as a Royal Manor. Its Church was well located for a large ecclesiastical area on the Hertfordshire-Bedfordshire border and there is evidence of a relatively large population at this time, the biggest between St Albans and Bedford The manor of Hitchin was the head of the group of Hertfordshire manors held by Earl Harold, to which William I succeeded after the Conquest2. The great barons of the north, the Baliols, included Hitchin as one of their estates, whilst during the reign of Edward III the Lady of the Manor was the notorious Alice Ferrers, the King's mistress. Other owners of the manor included William of Wykeham, noted Bishop of Winchester; Sir Hugh Seagrave, who fought at Crecy with the Black Prince; Richard, Duke of York, who was slain during the Wars of the Roses; Anne, the queen of James I, and Henrietta, the queen of Charles I. Hitchin grew wealthy on grain, sheep, cattle, cloth-making, brewing, tanning and associated trades. The river was ideal for brewing and the flat plains surrounding the town meant corn was grown as the chief product of the district for more than 300 years. The market was established (1221) and two priories and a watermill represented the towns importance in medieval times. Hitchin Priory (1317) was founded as a Carmelite Friary and the Gilbertine monastery (now The Biggin) was established in 1361. Middle Ages In the middle age it was one of those numerous little manorial towns which existed throughout England with varying liberties which bordered upon borough rights. Historically, the important family in 1 Bancroft north and Bancroft Recreation Ground is Character Area 1 of Hitchin Conservation Area: 2 The entry in the Doomsday Book of 1086 famously records that “Rex Willelmus tenet Hiz” (“King William holds Hitchin”). 2 SQUIRE HERITAGE CONSULTING the town was The Radcliffe and Delme-Radcliffe families, who owned Hitchin Priory and its estate from 1548 until 1965, as well as other estates in Surrey, Sussex, Kent, Hampshire and Cambridgeshire. Following the earliest map of Hertfordshire (Saxton‟s 1577), the town appears to have developed substantially by 1676 with a mill noted on the outskirts of the town representing its industrial activity. In the 16th century, the town‟s reputation for malt led to Queen Elizabeth I‟s alleged retort to a Spanish nobleman who had been extolling the virtues of the vineyards at home: “My Hitchin grapes surpass them, or those of any country”. 18th – 19th century The town of Hitchin retains its mediaeval plan and the earliest surviving town plan (c1750) shows the long, thin burgage plots and development is focused on the one main street (now Bucklersbury, Market Place, High Street and Bancroft) centered around the church and market place. The prosperity of the eighteenth century was reflected in the refracting of many timber-framed buildings that were given stylish classical brick fronts. As people from the country came to the town to seek work, new trades such as iron-founding and agricultural machinery developed. Philanthropic endeavour improved local health and education through, for example, the first steps towards a local hospital and the foundation of the British Schools (in 1810). Between 1801-51 the population grew as fast as at any time in the town‟s history (from 3,161 to 7,077) and yet the accommodation did not expand much beyond its medieval framework. The result was gross overcrowding and serious disease. In 1848 Hitchin was one of the first towns to take advantage of new legislation to establish a Board of Health. In 1850 the Great Northern Railway placed Hitchin on the main line from London to the north and led to its development as the natural business and commercial centre of North Hertfordshire. A corn exchange soon attracted merchants from as far away as Liverpool with grain moved by train. William Ransom became a major pharmaceutical chemists and Perks and Llewellyn developed an important lavender industry. A glimpse into the natural world of the early nineteenth century is given through the writings and observation of Joseph Ransom, forbearer of the Ransom pharmaceutical dynasty3. 20th century In the late nineteenth century, towns such as Watford and Luton increased in importance at the expense of Hitchin, but the town proved adaptable enough to maintain its unique position. Its economic base was diversified from the 1920‟s while its essential characteristics as an attractive market town were preserved. Letchworth has developed since 1910 and Stevenage grew rapidly too, particularly in the 1950s becoming the base for pharmaceutical and aerospace companies. Since 1945 changes in local agriculture have ended the cattle and corn markets leading to the closure or collapse of town industries such as Ransoms, Russell‟s tannery and the breweries. Many people now make the commute to London or to the pharmaceutical and aerospace companies in Stevenage. 3 Joseph Ransom's Naturalist's Notebook 1804-1816; The Nature Notes of a Hitchin Quaker Published by Hitchin Historical Society 2004 3 SQUIRE HERITAGE CONSULTING Plan of the town of Hitchin, by Drapentier (after Chauncy’s History of Hertfordshire, 17004) Sunday afternoon concert, 1930’s 2. Bancroft – Local context The original plan of Hitchin is typical of country market towns, as it clusters around a large triangular market-place formed by the widening of the road. The market-place originally extended from the south side of Tilehouse Street on the south to Bancroft on the north, and from the east side of Sun Street on the east to the west side of Bucklersbury and High Street on the west. 4 Sir Henry Chauncy's important work on Hertfordshire was published in 1700, apparently in a print run of 500 copies. Chauncy was an eminent lawyer and antiquarian. The detailed bird's eye view of the town was drawn and engraved by J. Drapentier. 4 SQUIRE HERITAGE CONSULTING Hitchin is fortunate in having retained so many of its ancient houses, though most of them have been refronted and much altered in the 18th and 19th centuries. In Bancroft or Bancroft Street, at the north end of the market-place, are many old houses. Bancroft is a wide thoroughfare with several Georgian buildings with door cases representative of the Tuscan, Doric and Corinthian orders of columns. It has narrow streets with many listed buildings of two or three storeys‟ provide a complex, closely contained streetscape of great quality. As Nikolaus Pevsner remarked in his book on Hertfordshire, Hitchin is after St. Albans, the most visually satisfying town in the county. The most notable building is the Parish Church of St. Mary, which stands in the town centre near both the market place and River Hiz. Its size and richness of architecture represent the commercial wealth of a late mediaeval town. Hitchin Priory is a late 18th century mansion, a handsome building with a Palladian facade from modified Adam designs. The north side incorporates a few fragments of the original priory founded in the 14th century by Carmelites (or White Friars). After the Dissolution the Priory belonged for almost four centuries to the Radcliffe family. The courtyard is partly flanked by cloister arches and partly by the north front of the house, built in 1679. Also of interest are the 18th century brick coach house, stables and attractive little bridge over the Hiz.

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