MISTS FARM, SANDLEHEATH, SP6 1QG

CONSIDERATION OF HERITAGE INTEREST

SEPTEMBER 2020 REV A CONTENTS PAGE

1.0 Purposeofstatement 2

2.0 Non-designatedHeritageAssets-meaningandpolicy 3

3.0 Descriptionandhistoryofthesite 4

4.0 AssessmentofheritageinterestofMistsFarm 8

5.0 Conclusions 12

This report has been prepared for the exclusive use of my client and unless otherwise agreed in writing by K Metcalfe Heritage Ltd, no other party may use, make use of, or rely on its contents. This report has been compiled using resources agreed with my client and in accordance with an agreed scope of works. No liability is accepted by K Metcalfe Heritage Ltd for any use of this report other than the purposes for which it was prepared.

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20.49 | Mists Farm, Sandleheath | Heritage Assessment | Rev A 1.0 PURPOSE OF STATEMENT

This assessment has been prepared for the property owners in order to consider the heritage interest of Mists Farm.

A pre-application enquiry was submitted (ref. ENQ/20/20141/SSRC) and the response from New Forest District Council included the following statement regarding the loss of the existing dwelling:

The existing dwelling is not listed, nor does it lie within a Conservation Area. The Council also does not hold any 'local list' of non designated heritage assets. However, this does not mean that it has no heritage value. It is my view, that given the character, aesthetic value and age of the existing dwelling, the building could be considered as a non designated heritage asset. As such I would advise that a Heritage Assessment is submitted.

There is encouragement in the Framework and in Planning Practice Guidance (PPG) to identify non- designated heritage assets. The PPG states that ‘there are a number of processes through which non- designated heritage assets may be identified, including the local and neighbourhood plan-making processes and conservation area appraisals and reviews. Irrespective of how they are identified, it is important that the decisions to identify them as non-designated heritage assets are based on sound evidence.

Paragraph 197 of the NPPF states that the effect of an application on the significance of a non- designated heritage asset should be taken into account in determining the application. In weighing applications that directly or indirectly affect non-designated heritage assets, a balanced judgement will be required having regard to the scale of any harm or loss and the significance of the heritage asset.

In relation to this case, we need to understand the significance of the building, but it could be that the dwelling has been significantly altered internally or externally, or is in poor condition. The Heritage Assessment will help determine whether the existing dwelling has limited value in term of heritage. This would help provide a base line in the balancing exercise as set out in the NPPF. For instance, the removal of the existing dilapidated buildings and the creation of a traditional courtyard and good designed replacement, may well weigh in favour of the development.

This assessment therefore considers the heritage interest of the existing building against published criteria and national advice.

This report has been prepared by Katharine Metcalfe IHBC of K Metcalfe Heritage Limited, an appropriately qualified and experienced Heritage professional. Opinions expressed have been reach through primary research, site visits, and reference to previous reports by others.

Unless otherwise stated, all plans reproduced in this document are courtesy of Roderick James Architects. Unless otherwise stated, all photographs were taken on 25 August 2020.

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20.49 | Mists Farm, Sandleheath | Heritage Assessment | Rev A 2.0 NON-DESIGNATED HERITAGE ASSETS - MEANING AND POLICY

The pre- application submission response rightly queries whether the existing rendered building retains sufficient interest to be considered a non-designated heritage asset.

A definition of Heritage Assets can be found in the Glossary of the NPPF, which describes them as

“A building, monument, site, place, area or landscape identified as having a degree of significance meriting consideration in planning decisions, because of its heritage interest. It includes designated heritage assets and assets identified by the local planning authority (including local listing)”.

This implies that local planning authorities may identify buildings as non- designated heritage assets and apply this as a material consideration in the planning process.

The NPPF contains paragraph 197 that states:

The effect of an application on the significance of a non-designated heritage asset should be taken into account in determining the application. In weighing applications that directly or indirectly affect non-designated heritage assets, a balanced judgement will be required having regard to the scale of any harm or loss and the significance of the heritage asset.

This paragraph would only be applied if a structure was considered to retain sufficient heritage interest and so the level of heritage interest must be ascertained prior to an application being made.

The Planning Practice Guidance issued to support and clarify the NPPF has a section on Conserving and Enhancing the Historic Environment (published April 2010, updated February 2018). In relation to non- designated heritage assets, this states:

What are non-designated heritage assets and how important are they? Local planning authorities may identify non-designated heritage assets. These are buildings, monuments, sites, places, areas or landscapes identified as having a degree of significance meriting consideration in planning decisions but which are not formally designated heritage assets. In some areas, local authorities identify some non-designated heritage assets as “locally listed”.

A substantial majority of buildings have little or no heritage significance and thus do not constitute heritage assets.Only a minority have enough heritage interest for their significance to be a material consideration in the planning process*.

How are non-designated heritage assets identified?Local lists incorporated into Local Plans can be a positive way for the local planning authority to identify non- designated heritage assets against consistent criteria so as to improve the predictability of the potential for sustainable development.

When considering development proposals, local planning authorities should establish if any potential non- designated heritage asset meets the definition in the National Planning Policy Framework at an early stage in the process.Ideally, in the case of buildings, their significance should be judged against published criteria, which may be generated as part of the process of producing a local list*.

* Author’s emphasis

The Local Planning Authority do not have a published Local List or any published criteria against which to judge whether buildings should be considered to be non-designated heritage assets. There has been no formal assessment of the buildings by the Authority.

Therefore, with due regard to request from the Local Authority, this document will assess the merits of the building against criteria published in the NPPF, the NPPF Practice Guide and the Historic England Advice Note 7 “Local Heritage Listing” (May 2012).

Historic England’s document suggests criteria that Local Planning Authorities might use in compiling their own Local Lists, in order to ascertain whether the building meets the required level of heritage interest for its significance to be a material consideration in the planning process.

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20.49 | Mists Farm, Sandleheath | Heritage Assessment | Rev A 3.0 DESCRIPTION AND HISTORY OF THE SITE

Mists Farm is situated 3km north west of Fordingbridge. The site is accessed via a private track from Rockbourne Road and comprises approximately 2 acres, including the access track, however the farm owership extends beyond the site.

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20.49 | Mists Farm, Sandleheath | Heritage Assessment | Rev A The site comprises the main house and gardens, with various outbuildings to the south west.

The farmhouse is in two distinct parts; the older rendered section sits on a north east-south west axis, with the later red brick extension perpendicular to the rear. It is this later part of the building that is first seen when entering the site.

Historic maps show the development of the site from 1876, although the rendered cottage is understood to have been constructed between 1840 and 1860.

1876 OS 25 inch to 1 mile map.

The house and two outbuildings are clearly shown, surrounded by orchards

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20.49 | Mists Farm, Sandleheath | Heritage Assessment | Rev A 1908 OS 25 inch to 1 mile.

The house and two outbuildings are still visible, along with a third outbuilding.

1924 OS 25 inch to 1 mile.

Whilst the layout appears the same, the brick extension to the house would have been constructed by this time; the date for this is understood to be 1908 - 1912.

From the modern map, the buildings shown on these historic maps are extant and comprise the house, a stable, a barn and a piggery.

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20.49 | Mists Farm, Sandleheath | Heritage Assessment | Rev A The plan below dates from 1956 and shows the layout of the property at this time.

The proposals suggested by this plan included removal of the staircase in the rendered section. This work was carried out and since this time, the remaining internal wall at ground floor has been removed and the rendered section is now a single room plan at ground floor. Furthermore, the old front door is blocked up and a more recent porch has been added externally.

All but two of the windows in the rendered section are metal; either multi-pane Crittall style or much later aluminium, with non-traditional opening lights

The layout of the Edwardian extension remains as shown on these plans.

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20.49 | Mists Farm, Sandleheath | Heritage Assessment | Rev A 4.0 ASSESSMENT OF HERITAGE INTEREST OF MISTS FARM

The heritage interest of adesignated asset lies in its value borne out of its archaeological, architectural, artistic and historic interest, as well as the contribution made by its setting.

In the case of buildings that may be considered as non-designated heritage assets, they should be judged against published criteria; preferably published by the local planning authority however in the absence of this, the commonly applied criteria, published in Historic England Advice Note 7 “Local Heritage Listing” (May 2012), are used to ascertain the level of interest and whether this can be a material consideration on the planning process.

These criteria are: Age, Rarity, Aesthetic Interest, Group Value, Archaeological Interest, Archival Interest, Historical Association, Designed Landscape Interest, landmark Status and Social and Communal Value; an extract from the Historic England Advice Note on Local Listing showing the meanings of these criteria is shown below.

Extract from Historic England Advice Note 7 “Local Heritage Listing”

The assessment of the heritage interest of Mists Farm, made against these criteria, is below.

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20.49 | Mists Farm, Sandleheath | Heritage Assessment | Rev A Age. The age of the property is understood to be mid C19th. From the 1876 OS map, it is clear that many of the remote farmhouses had been constructed as part of the Agricultural Revolution that saw a doubling of agricultural output in the C19th. Whilst Mists Farm is therefore of an age that could provide some interest if it were intact, in itself it is not to be an important criterion in this case.

Rarity. It is a typical 2 room plan, mid C19th cottage that has been altered internally and extended over the years to create the “L” shaped dwelling seen today. As noted above, the property is part of the general period of development in agriculture and farming and as such, its rarity value is low.

Aesthetic Interest. The cottage was originally a 2 room plan with an off-centre stair and a fireplace to the north east. The cottage is rendered with a slate roof and a mixture of timber and metal windows. A porch to the original front door and an open lean-to on the north east side have been added in the later C20th.

Externally, and particularly the south east elevation, the house retains some aesthetic interest as an extended mid C19th vernacular cottage.

However internally, the removal of the staircase and internal walls downstairs, loss of most of the original windows, plus other alterations that occurred as a consequence of the extension, have reduced this interest.

The cottage is also in a poor state of repair, with visible cracks in the bedroom and externally.

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20.49 | Mists Farm, Sandleheath | Heritage Assessment | Rev A Overall therefore, the aesthetic interest is considered to be low to slight.

Group ValueThe outbuildings provide a visual reference of its former use but the number of temporary structures and shelters detract from the overall composition as a remote farmhouse with traditional outbuildings.

There are no other buildings visible and so the group value of the house with its outbuildings is low to slight.

Archaeological Interest. The map below show nearby archaeological finds; the site is circled in red.

(Taken from Archi UK Maps Database)

The blue pins are Roman sites, the red pins are Medieval and Post Medieval, green are Bronze Age finds and the white and yellow are unspecified. No finds are recorded within 500m although this does not preclude some archaeology being present on the site. The archaeological interest is therefore unknown.

Archival Interest. There is no planning history available online and a search of the archive and Newspaper databases results in only one document; sale particulars for an agricultural estate at Rockbourne, Damerham and Fordingbridge, dated 1 Jul 1946. The properties mentioned in this sale include: Rockstead Farm in Rockbourne; Bennetts farm on Rockbourne Marsh; Mists Farm; Allings/Allens Farm at Brickhill in Rockbourne; land at Brickhill and Sandleheath; Damerham Lodge; Ebenezer Cottage in Damerham; and Lopshill Farm. This document is not available to view due to the current Covid restrictions.

There are no other records or articles relating to persons or events of interest recorded at Mists Farm and the archival interest is considered to be low.

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20.49 | Mists Farm, Sandleheath | Heritage Assessment | Rev A Historical Interest. As with archival interest above, there are no records of any important historical figures related to the property.

Designed Landscape Interest. The garden is a simple domestic plot and the land surrounding is agricultural and natural woodland; there is not evidence of a designed landscape of any value.

Landmark Status. The property is not visible from any public viewpoints and is not a landmark building.

Social and Communal Value. Because of its remote location and low-key past as a private dwelling, that has been let for over 50 years, Mists Farm has no value within the community as a place of interest.

Therefore, a summary of the assessment of Mists Farm agains the Historic England Criteria is:

Age lowinterest

Rarity lowinterest.

AestheticInterest lowtoslightinterest;historicenveloperetainedbutmuchaltered internally and extended externally.

GroupValue lowtoslightinterestinthesetting withtheoriginaloutbuildings, but harmed by the introduction of later structures.

ArchaeologicalInterest unknown

ArchivalInterest none

HistoricInterest none

DesignedLandscapeInterest none

LandmarkStatus none

SocialandCommunalValue none

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20.49 | Mists Farm, Sandleheath | Heritage Assessment | Rev A 5.0 CONCLUSIONS

This assessment has been carried out to establish whether Mists Farm retains sufficient heritage interest for its significance to be a material consideration in the planning process.

Chapter 16 of the NPPF deals with Conserving the historic Environments and paragraph 197 states that the effect of an application on the significance of a non-designated heritage asset should be taken into account in determining the application. In weighing applications that directly or indirectly affect non-designated heritage assets, a balanced judgement will be required having regard to the scale of any harm or loss and the significance of the heritage asset.

This paragraph would only be applied if a structure was considered to retain sufficient heritage interest and so the level of this interest must be ascertained prior to an application being made.

New Forest District Council do not hold a list of locally important buildings and do not have published criteria against which to assess potential assets.

As such, the Historic England Advice Note 7 “Local Heritage Listing” (May 2012) provides standard criteria against which to judge potential assets and these have been used for the assessment in this document.

Within this document, there is general guidance on the creation of local lists:

Creating a local heritage list is a way for local councils and communities to identify and celebrate historic buildings, archaeological sites and designed landscapes which enrich and enliven their area.

Local heritage listing is intended to highlight heritage assets which are of local heritage interest in order to ensure that they are given due consideration when change is being proposed.

While local heritage listing can be a legitimate response to an actual or perceived threat to a heritage asset, including the threat of demolition, the level of protection afforded is influenced by the manner in which the local heritage list is prepared. The sounder the basis for the addition of an asset to the local heritage list – particularly the use of selection criteria – the greater the weight that can be given to preserving the significance of the asset. The degree of consultation on the list and the inclusion of assets on it also increases that weight.

To qualify for local listing nominated assets will need to meet the requirements of the selection criteria. Where possible, assessment processes possibly including public consultation, may be helpful in identifying errors or inaccuracies in supporting information.

It has been shown through this assessment that Mists Farm offers negligible heritage interest in any of the categories, with all categories showing no or low interest other than aesthetic interest and group value, both of which are assessed to be low to slight interest.

With regard to the unknown archaeological status, whilst there is certainly archaeological interest in the area, none has been recorded at Mists Farm and the proposed buildings are shown to be on similar footprints to the existing structures so little virgin land will be disturbed.

Referring back to the Planning Practice Guidance that was issued to support and clarify the NPPF, it states that“a substantial majority of buildings have little or no heritage significance and thus do not constitute heritage assets. Only a minority have enough heritage interest for their significance to be a material consideration in the planning process”.

Mists Farm has been assess in accordance with nationally published criteria and it has been demonstrated that the remaining level of heritage interest is insufficient to require material consideration in the planning process.

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