S/2075/18/OL Land Adjacent to WATERBEACH BARRACKS & AIRFIELD SITE, Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire

S/2075/18/OL Land adjacent to WATERBEACH BARRACKS & AIRFIELD SITE, Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire. From Dr Jane Williamson – Chair of Trustees at the Farmland Museum at Denny Abbey Very rightly, in this application, much is made of the importance of protecting the setting of the Scheduled Monument (SM) Denny Abbey. The SM includes, but extends further than, the Grade 1 listed Abbey and Nun’s refectory both of which are in the Guardianship of English Heritage, and the site of the Farmland Museum which is the only independent museum regularly open to the public in South Cambridgeshire. The Farmland Museum manages the Abbey and Refectory site under a management agreement with English Heritage. Much less emphasis is laid on the important role that the Abbey and Museum and can contribute to helping residents develop an understanding of the long history of an area which has changed so dramatically since the years leading up to the second world war. There will be opportunities to strengthen community cohesion through volunteering opportunities and use of the site for events and activities. The whole Scheduled Monument area, especially the Abbey itself can promote wellbeing because of the sense of peace and isolation and the continuity with a past which goes back through many centuries, in the application documents there are a number of quite tentative reference access to Denny Abbey from WNTE. For example, Design Principle FP10 merely says ‘Potential to include links into Denny Abbey from the Fenland parks will be explored.’ And D and A Statement part 5 p118 says ‘… main walking routes around the edges of Denny Fields including potential links to Denny Abbey, Farmland Museum and Cross Drove’. In neither case is there a commitment to actually provide such links. If Denny Abbey, the Abbey buildings and the Farmland Museum are to make a successful contribution to helping residents understand the story of the place where they live and their part in the story and help to promote a sense of ownership and involvement with this remarkable site, it is very important that they can be easily accessed on a bike or on foot or even on horseback, without the need to drive. Therefore, links to Denny Abbey Scheduled Monument, the Abbey buildings and the Farmland Museum should not only be ‘explored’ but actively established. If possible, this should be done using the line of historic routes to add to the sense of continuity with the past. Steps to protect the views out from Denny Abbey are also emphasized in the Design and Access Statement. I would like to be sure that particular care is taken to protect the view Eastward from the upstairs window in the Abbey building (from the room known as the Countess of Pembroke’s Room). Because it is much higher than other viewpoints on the site it will be particularly important to ensure that screening does hide the manicured areas used for sport which will not be at all in keeping with the Fen Edge landscape..

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