Lewis Lodge, Burton Park, DUNCTON
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ABSTRACT This heritage report is in respect of proposals at Lewis Lodge (also 17 Lodge Green), Burton Park, Duncton, West Sussex, GU28 0LH. The proposals include some internal re-ordering of later partitions, removal of suspended ceilings, a small glazed entrance lobby and a conservatory extension. LEWIS LODGE, BURTON Damien Blower, Architect BSc (UCL), MA (UCL), MArch (USA), RIBA, SIA, FRSA PARK, DUNCTON 5607-HER-V1: Heritage Report of the 29th March 2021 V1-A for Pre-Planning Control Record: Ref: HER/5607/V1 Date: 29/03/2021 Author: Damien Blower Version/Rev: Date: Description: Issue A 29.03.2021 Pre-Application Submission DB/JS Table of Contents Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 2 Location .................................................................................................................................................. 2 Scope of the Report ................................................................................................................................ 3 Description & History of Development on the Site............................................................................... 3 Historic Environment Record (HER) ....................................................................................................... 5 Heritage Significance and Character ...................................................................................................... 6 Architectural Significance ....................................................................................................................... 6 Archaeological Significance ..................................................................................................................... 6 Historic Significance ................................................................................................................................ 6 The Proposals ......................................................................................................................................... 7 Assessment of Impact ............................................................................................................................ 8 Appendix A - Mapping Record ................................................................................................................ 9 Appendix B- HE Records ....................................................................................................................... 14 Appendix C – Record Drawings (see separate attachment) ................................................................. 18 Appendix D – Photographic Record (See 5607-MH-P08-A/P09-A) ...................................................... 18 1 Introduction The building forming the subject of this application is a converted stable block, originally built in 1897 to service nearby Burton House and its emparked grounds. The building is a heritage asset by virtue of its relationship to the historic curtilage of the Grade 1 Listed Burton House (LEN-1274798 - 22 Feb 1955) and Grade 1 Listed landscape (LEN-1001208 - 01 Jun 1984). Previous applications at the site have been dealt with under Listed Building Consent. Burton House had been a school in the immediate post-war period until a more recent residential conversion and the stables had been in use as dormitory accommodation for boarders at the School. After the school’s demise and other institutional use, it was converted into a residential property in 2000 and has since undergone minor alteration. The conversion was carried out at the same time as low-density infill residential development around Lodge Green, woven in and around the historic buildings that formed this part of the Burton Park Estate. Duncton sits within the South Downs National Park, with its characteristic chalk downlands and Wealden plain. Burton Park is visible from miles around and is a very prominent and handsome late Georgian house sitting in its archetypal park, in the finest traditions of the English landscape. This report sets out to identify both the harm and the benefits accruing by the proposals. The writer is an architect with specialist skills and experience in working with and understanding old buildings and heritage assets in the built environment. Location Lewis Lodge sits on an east west orientation and within approximately 2 acres. It is approached from the private no through lane, surrounded by the country estate of Burton Park, consisting of pastures, woodlands, footpaths, and bridleways. Petworth, an old market town is about 3 miles from the village of Duncton, where Burton Park is situated. Burton Park Estate lies on gently undulating land in the Weald at the foot of the South Downs, which rise quite steeply and prominently in front of Burton Park. The ground generally falls from the North West towards the South East and a stream running across the park has been dammed to provide for lakes which have been created for fishing and to serve the village mill. The shared drive which services all the properties dates from when it served the Estate of a family of considerable wealth and although the subdivision of ownership has altered the relationship of the Estate buildings to the Main House, the drive and landscape still retains its historic purpose as it wends through the landscape and around Burton park in the picturesque manner. There is a neighbouring property to the east beyond the garage but none that would be affected by the development proposals. The proposals would not be visible from the public highway. 2 Scope of the Report At this point no archaeological or detailed historic building analysis has been undertaken on site. This report is based purely on desktop research and a photographic recording visit. It does not go into detail about Burton Park as this has been well researched and on public record, nor does it cover the wider parkland and other heritage and landscape assets within the Estate, which are also well covered elsewhere. The report is limited to the building itself and the modest garden around it. Nor does it consider the nearby estate buildings as these are not affected by the proposals and although there is a modern 21st C house across the boundary, it is not a heritage asset whose setting would need to be assessed. All impacts are private to the building and to the setting of the building within its garden, with very modest impacts to the Grade 1 Listed Park, which blanket covers the entirety of the old Park including Lodge Green. The writer has not investigated the record at the records office but has consulted the HE records online at ‘Heritage Gateway’. Although the HE record has plenty of evidence in the wider area, for the purposes of this report the records within a radius of 500m of the house are attached, although in writing the report, the writer refers to this wider evidence from the public record. The report by RH Allen of the ‘Environmental Project Consulting Group’ of 8th June 1995 and on the Planning Record under BVDN/95/00436/LBC is a valuable record of the Park and its buildings prior to its development as a residential estate. Description & History of Development on the Site Burton Park was developed as a deer park at some point in the second half of the 16th C by the Goring family who owned the land for several hundred years, beginning in at least 1520. The land included the mediaeval village of Burton, but this was long swept away by the time the great house and its emparked estate was set out by the Gorings in the late 16th C. All that remains of the village is Burton Church built in 1075, now sitting rather orphaned in the lee of the main house. The Goring’s mansion no longer survives although it was co-located with the present house. The present house is the third on the site in fact, as the Goring’s Elizabethan mansion was destroyed by fire in the early 18th C and replaced in an Early Georgian style by the celebrated architect, Giacomo Leoni. The deer park was further embellished to provide a suitably grand setting for the new Leoni house and its principal feature, Chingford Lake, was formed soon after the new house in 1740. At the same time, formal gardens and enclosures were built close by the house, some of which survive. By the second fire in 1826, the estate had been disposed of by the Goring family and the then owner, Anthony Biddulph, built the reconstructed neo-classical house in a Late Georgian style, designed by George Bassett. Along with his new house, he developed the estate as a sporting one, with land extending up to the River Rother, with pheasant shoots and pasture. In 1894, the estate was split and part of the estate was sold to the MP for Chichester, Sir Douglas Hall, although this included the main estate buildings, lakes and land around the house, while some of the land to north was sold to others and the land associated with the main house reduced in size. 3 Lodge Green was included within the Hall Purchase and forms a distinct part of the Estate, both historically as well as today. It is likely that when the old village of Burton was swept away by the Gorings, it may have been rebuilt around Lodge Green. The 1813 Map shows a settlement around Lodge Green and the drive that separated Chingford Pond from the Mill Pond went straight through Lodge Green around to the Church and main house. This drive is likely to have been the original main carriage drive to Gorings’ mansion, effectively cutting