Main Heading Aston Tirrold & Aston Upthorpe Conservation Area Character Appraisal The conservation area character appraisal - this sets the context for the proposals contained in Part 2. Part 1 was adopted by Council in September and is included for information only. May 2005 Aston Tirrold and Aston Upthorpe Conservation Area Character Appraisal The Council first published the Aston Tirrold and Aston Upthorpe Conservation Area Character Appraisal in draft form in July 2004. Following th a period of public consultation, including a public meeting held on 12 nd August 2004, the Council approved the Character Appraisal on the 2 September 2004. Contents Introduction . .1 1 Aston Tirrold and Aston Upthorpe The history of the area . .3 Introduction . .3 Aston Tirrold . .3 Aston Upthorpe . .5 Aston Tirrold and Upthorpe from the nineteenth century . .6 2 The established character . .7 Chalk Hill . .9 Aston Street . .9 Baker Street . .12 Spring Lane . .14 The Croft . .16 Fullers Road . .16 Thorpe Street . .19 Important open spaces outside the conservation area . .21 3 Possible areas for enhancement and design guidance for new development . .22 Introduction . .22 The need for contextual design . .22 Grain of the village . .22 Appearance, materials and detailing . .22 Boundary treatments . .23 Scale . .24 Extensions to existing buildings . .24 Repairs . .24 Negative elements . .24 Services . .24 Street furniture . .25 4 South Oxfordshire Local Plan adopted by Council, April 1997 . .26 5 Summary of the conservation policies contained within the 2011 Second Deposit Draft local Plan . .28 6 Acknowledgements and bibliography . .31 ASTON TIRROLD & ASTON UPTHORPE CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL i South Oxfordshire District Council ii ASTON TIRROLD & ASTON UPTHORPE CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL South Oxfordshire District Council Part 1 Introduction 2. The Established Character The 1990 Planning (Listed Buildings This is an assessment of the existing and Conservation Areas) Act places a character, including the topography of duty on every local planning authority the area, the vernacular style, to determine which parts of their area predominant building materials and are areas of special architectural or natural or man-made features of local historic interest, the character or interest. appearance of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance. The Act also 3. Possible Areas for states that the local planning authority Enhancement should, from time to time, formulate This includes areas with potential for and publish proposals for the development and improvement and preservation and enhancement of advice on extensions and repairs to these Conservation Areas. existing buildings. This document is an appraisal of the Aston Upthorpe and Aston Tirrold 4. Existing Conservation Policies Conservation Area to give an overview These are extracts from the 1997 of the established character to be Adopted South Oxfordshire Local Plan preserved and to identify possible and the 2011 Second Deposit Draft areas for future enhancement. It is South Oxfordshire Local Plan intended to assist in defining what is of identifying policies relating to listed special architectural or historic buildings and Conservation Areas. importance, what should be protected and to give guidance as to the form, 5. Plan of the Conservation Area style and location of future change and This is a scale plan of the area, which development. aims to identify the elements, which The appraisal also includes a review of contribute to the character. The plan the boundaries of the conservation includes the Conservation Area area and possible extensions are boundary, listed buildings (buildings identified. Any extension to the identified by the Department of Culture, conservation area will be subject to a Media and Sport as being of special separate consultation exercise. architectural or historic interest), former The document is divided into various Grade III listed buildings (a now sections as follows: obsolete category but where the buildings may still be of architectural or 1. The History of the Area historic interest) and other buildings of local note. This latter group consists of This covers the period from prehistory buildings that play a part in establishing to the present day. It includes the character of the street scene but significant architectural history, have not yet been considered to be of important dates and references to sufficient importance to meet the people and events that have helped to current criteria for listing. Government shape the area we see today. guidance contained in PPG.15- Planning and the Historic Environment indicates, however, that there is a presumption against the ASTON TIRROLD & ASTON UPTHORPE CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL 1 South Oxfordshire District Council demolition of such buildings. Important trees are also identified. These are usually highly visible from public places and/or they contribute to the setting of a listed building. Important open spaces are identified, as these are a vital element in the character of an area. Character is defined not just by buildings, walls and trees, but also by the spaces between them. These contribute to the setting of buildings. They allow views around the area and they are often an important element in the historical development of a settlement. Important unlisted walls are identified. These are usually built of local materials and help to define spaces and frame views. Lastly, important views into, out of and around the Conservation Area are identified. It should be appreciated that a Conservation Area's character does not end with a line drawn on a map. Often the character is closely associated with attractive views out to surrounding countryside, sometimes via gaps between buildings. Views within an area such as that to a church or particularly attractive group of buildings are also important. 6. Archaeological Constraint Plan The character and history of an area are closely linked to its archaeological remains. This plan identifies the location of ancient monuments, earthworks and known crop marks, find spots, archaeological sites and linear works identified on the Sites and Monuments Record maintained by Oxfordshire County Council. 2 ASTON TIRROLD & ASTON UPTHORPE CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL South Oxfordshire District Council 1. Aston Tirrold and Aston The Astons are surrounded by fertile 1 Berks VCH, vol 3 farming land, the soil is loam and lies Upthorpe - the History 2 Morris, 1979 of the Area partly on the Upper Greensand and partly on the chalk of the downs. There Introduction is archaeological evidence for sporadic prehistoric occupation of the slopes of The villages are sited at a spring line. Blewburton Hill and Lowbury Hill and There are many springs which arise several ancient roadways traverse the within and close to the villages, and Parishes. The archaeological record for probably these were the reason for the Blewburton Hill suggests that it was original building of a settlement at this used in both the Romano-British and location, as with the other spring-line the Anglo-Saxon periods. In the gravel villages between here and Wantage, pits ¾ mile north of the village on the and beyond. The Astons are the most South Moreton Road there have been eastern of this string of spring-line frequent finds of Roman pottery and villages, before reaching the Goring human remains. Local tradition holds Gap at Streatley. that the battle of Ashdown in 871, Domesday Book identifies only one where King Ethelred and Alfred village, called ‘Estone’ with two land defeated the Danes could have taken holdes. It only later came to be place within the locality. identified as two separate parishes. Until the nineteenth century the two Aston Tirrold settlements appear to have been more Documentary evidence describes how distinct than they are today. Although the control of land in the parishes infilling between the two villages changed hands over time. Pre- probably took place over a Conquest records for the manor of considerable period before the Aston Tirrold show it was assessed at nineteenth century. Aston Upthorpe to 15 hides and name the wife of Lanc as the west and north of Fullers Road holding the land 1. Domesday Book (which still defines the parish boundary) notes that the Count of Montain also lies beneath the wooded slopes of held land in Aston Tirrold (which were Blewburton Hill with buildings bordering held by Arkell before 1066) and that Thorpe Street, Fullers Road and Spring the land is held from him by the Abbey Lane whereas in Aston Tirrold, the of Preaux 2. In 1086 the manor was settlement was associated with St. under the king's control and was Michael's Church and buildings along controlled by successive Earls of Aston Street and Rectory Lane. The Warwick until at least 1446 when, with more recent houses to the south east the death of Anne Beauchamp (c.1448) of Baker Street now link the buildings to ownership passed to the crown 2. the north west of Baker Street with Aston Tirrold probably owes its name those further to the south along Baker to Nicholas, or his son Geoffrey, Torrold Street that would historically have been de Aston who were both immediate more easily distinguishable as Aston tenants under the Earls of Warwick in Tirrold. Modern development has the twelfth century. The manor of Aston largely taken place on the outskirts of Tirrold then passed through various the village, although modern houses ownerships in the fifteenth and also fill gaps along the streets and sixteenth centuries. In 1577 Thomas lanes in the village itself. ASTON TIRROLD & ASTON UPTHORPE CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL 3 South Oxfordshire District Council 1 Berks VCH, vol 3 Stampe bought both manors from John century screens from elsewhere in the Yate, and was succeeded by his sons2. church 2. The transept roof is original. 2 Whitwell, 1984 From 1649 the Hatton and then the Over the chancel arch is a truss with a 3 Wordie, 2000 Fuller families controlled the estate.