Heritage & Design & Access Statement
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HERITAGE & DESIGN & ACCESS STATEMENT In respect of: PROPOSED EXTENSION AND ALTERATIONS At: THE OLD SCHOOL HOUSE, LOWER STREET, DYRHAM, SN14 8EU On behalf of: Ms Rachel Cropper March 2021 ELAINE MILTON HERITAGE & PLANNING LIMITED t: 07979 942042 e: [email protected] w: www.emhp.co.uk Heritage Statement – The Old School House, Dyrham CONTENTS 1.0 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................3 2.0 HERITAGE DESIGNATIONS .....................................................................5 3.0 DESCRIPTION .................................................................................6 4.0 HISTORY ............................................................................................16 5.0 ASSESSMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE ........................................................19 6.0 PROPOSALS ................................................................................22 7.0 POLICY CONTEXT ................................................................................24 8.0 HERITAGE IMPACT ASSESSMENT ........................................................26 9.0 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................29 SOURCES USED IN THE REPORT ........................................................30 LIST OF FIGURES Fig.1: Site location plan Fig.2: Boundary of Dyrham Conservation Area Fig.3: Front of The Old School House Fig.4: East end of cottage showing single-storey kitchen Fig.5: Outbuilding store to front of house Fig.6: C20 block-built utility addition to rear of house Fig.7: Inside the entrance hall/cross passage Fig.8: Balustrade at the top of the stairs Fig.9: Original L-hinge to cupboard under the stairs Fig.10: Fireplace within the living room Fig.11: Panelled cupboards to either side of fireplace within sitting room Fig.12: Rear window to sitting room with window seat filled in and niche left over Fig.13: Rear window to sitting room from rear garden 1 Heritage Statement – The Old School House, Dyrham Fig.14: Nib wall (left) and step in ceiling within kitchen where partition existed Fig.15: WC within lean-to structure to side of cottage Fig.16: Dressing room partition as seen from the landing Fig.17: Roof structure showing tie-beam trusses and exposed joists and rafters Fig.18: Tithe map of 1842 Fig.19: Ordnance survey map of 1882 COPYRIGHT: The contents of this statement must not be copied or replicated in part or in whole without the express written consent of Elaine Milton Heritage & Planning Limited 2 Heritage Statement – The Old School House, Dyrham 1.0 Introduction 1.1 This statement accompanies applications for planning permission and listed building consent for extension and alterations to The Old School House, a Grade II listed property within the Dyrham Conservation Area. 1.2 Dyrham is a small village and former estate settlement to Dyrham Park, which lies to the east. It is set within a valley on the western edge of the Cotswold escarpment, approximately 8 miles north of Bath. The River Boyd runs through the village and separates the two narrow lanes of Upper Street and Lower Street. The Old School House is a detached cottage on the south side of Lower Street. Fig.1 Site location plan 1.3 The report describes the heritage significance of The Old School House and provides an assessment of the impact of the proposals in accordance with the requirements of the National Planning Policy Framework (the NPPF, February 2019) and in order to meet the council’s local validation checklist for applications affecting heritage assets. 3 Heritage Statement – The Old School House, Dyrham 1.4 The report was commissioned by the applicant, Ms Rachel Cropper, and has been prepared by Elaine Milton BSc (Hons) MSc DipArchCons MRTPI IHBC. A site survey was undertaken on 4 December 2020. 1.5 The report was compiled using the Historic England documents Conservation Principles, Policies and Guidance (2008), Statements of Heritage Significance: Historic England Advice Note 12 (October 2019) and Historic Environment Good Practice Advice in Planning Note 3: The Setting of Heritage Assets (December 2017). 1.6 Information on the history of the site has been drawn from several sources, including historic map regression, and these are listed on p30. 4 Heritage Statement – The Old School House, Dyrham 2.0 Heritage Designations 2.1 The Old School House was added to the List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest at Grade II on 15 August 1985. The property is therefore deemed by Historic England to be nationally important and of special interest. The list entry for the property reads as follows: ‘School house, now house. C18, with later alterations. Rubble with stone dressings and quoins, double Roman tiled roof with raised coped verges and kneelers, C20 replacement stone gable stacks. Two storeys and three windows, all three-light casements with wide ovolo mullions, leaded lights and hood mould, first floor central two-light casement, central door in plain stone surround with flat hood on brackets, plinth; single storey addition to left with similar two-light casement, left and right returns blank.’ 2.2 The property is located within the Dyrham Conservation Area, which was first designated by the local authority on 30th July 1975. The conservation area covers the grounds of Dyrham Park and St Peter’s Church immediately west, and the former estate settlement to the west on the parallel narrow lanes of Upper Street and Lower Street. St Peter’s Church Dyrham Park Fig.2 Boundary of Dyrham Conservation Area – The Old School House circled red 5 Heritage Statement – The Old School House, Dyrham 3.0 Description Exterior 3.1 The Old School House comprises a detached cottage aligned parallel to Lower Street and set back from the road behind a grass verge and a low stone boundary wall. The cottage is two-storey and is constructed in coursed local limestone with stone dressings, quoins and plinth. The roof is covered with double Roman clay tiles and has coped verges and gable stacks. The front elevation is symmetrical and of three windows, with ogee stone mullions and hoodmoulds and with rectangular leaded lights within metal frames. There is a centrally positioned wide-boarded timber door with a dressed stone surround and a flat canopy on brackets. Fig.3 Front of The Old School House 3.2 To the left (east) of the frontage, and recessed from the front and rear walls, is a single-storey kitchen range constructed in coursed stone with a two-light metal- framed leaded-light mullion window to the front. The roof is covered in double Roman clay tiles and has coped verges and a gable stack. 6 Heritage Statement – The Old School House, Dyrham Fig.4 East end of cottage showing single-storey kitchen attached to end of cottage and store outbuilding in front 3.3 In front of the kitchen range and built directly on top of the front boundary wall is a small, single-storey stone-built store. It has a pitched roof covered in double Roman tiles, a plank shutter to a window opening on the front and a plank door to the side. Fig.5 Outbuilding store to front of house 7 Heritage Statement – The Old School House, Dyrham 3.4 To the side and rear, filling the space between the side of the kitchen range and the eastern boundary, are further single-storey outbuildings with a mix of mono-pitch and double pitch clay-tiled roofs. The rear outbuilding has been extended in blockwork (painted white) to create a back porch and utility space. Fig.6 C20 block-built utility addition to rear of house 3.5 On the west side of the cottage is the original bell pulley for the school bell, which connects to a mechanism within the south-west corner of the first floor. 3.6 The rear of the house has a central, probably 1930s door with a stone canopy above. To either side are three-light stone mullion windows and above the door is a two- light mullion. In contrast to the windows on the front, the windows have a mix of metal casements without leaded lights and having horizontal glazing bars instead. The ground floor windows have ashlar stone blow the openings to allow for window seats or storage space to be formed within the thickness of the walls within the rooms. The window to the right (east) of the back door has replacement central timber-framed opening casement and fixed metal side-lights set directly into the stone. 8 Heritage Statement – The Old School House, Dyrham Fig.6 Rear of house with C20 door and replacement windows 3.7 The garden of the neighbouring Old Post Office Cottage wraps around the rear of the garden of The Old School House. Beyond that is an enclosed field. Interior 3.8 The ground floor of the cottage is arranged with central hall/cross passage, a sitting room to the left and a living room to the right. There are timber winder stairs to the rear of the hall with a timber newel posts having domed tops and chamfered sides and wide, rectangular section timber balusters. 9 Heritage Statement – The Old School House, Dyrham Fig.7 Inside the entrance hall/cross passage – view looking towards the rear from just inside the front door Fig.8 Balustrade at the top of the stairs 3.9 There is a cupboard under the stairs with original L-hinges. 10 Heritage Statement – The Old School House, Dyrham Fig.9 Original L-hinge to cupboard under the stairs 3.10 The living room has a large stone fireplace, the opening of which has been reduced in size with ashlar stone infill. Fig.10 Fireplace within the living room 3.11 The sitting room has a smaller fireplace opening and the original surround is missing. There are cupboards within the recesses to either side of the chimney breast, the panelled doors of which survive at high level. 11 Heritage Statement – The Old School House, Dyrham Fig.11 Panelled cupboards to either side of fireplace within sitting room 3.12 While the window seat survives within the rear wall of the living room, the window seat in the sitting room has been filled in (except for a small niche that has been left).