Land Near Home Farm Cottage Crick Road, Watford, Daventry, Northamptonshire NN6 7UE
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Land Near Home Farm Cottage Crick Road, Watford, Daventry, Northamptonshire NN6 7UE Heritage Statement: Proposed Western Fishing Lake Mark Singlehurst, BA (Hons), DipTP March 2019 1 1.0 Introduction: Site Location, Description and Application Background 1.1 The planning application site to which this Heritage Statement relates comprises farmland at Home Farm Cottage, Watford, near Daventry, upon which it has previously been proposed that a new fishing lake be constructed on the east side of the tree-lined brook, surrounded by five movable fishing lodges in the form of large shepherd’s huts. The relevant planning permissions are DA/2016/0161 and the approved Discharge of Conditions 3 & 9 on the same (C/2016/0161), which included a revised proposal for the shepherd’s hut design (under Condition 3) in December 2017. The site is located approximately 1 kilometre (0.6 miles) north of the settlement of Watford and off the Watford Road that links Watford and Crick. The M1 motorway lies approximately 900 metres (0.56 miles) to the west. The Grand Union Canal lies approximately 400 metres (0.25 miles) to the west. The railway line runs 150 metres (492 feet) to the north and east. 1.2 The applicant’s dwelling (Home Farm Cottage) is located 230 metres (0.14 miles) to the north, close to the main Home Farm building complex. The site of the fishing lake lies 70 metres (230 feet) back from the Watford Road. The land is generally level but slopes gently north east to south west. The land immediately to the east and north rises steeply. The southern and western boundaries are defined by existing field boundaries marked by mature hedgerows. There is an existing field entrance in the south-western corner of the site which in turns links to the existing access to the Watford Road. The character of the landscape surrounding the site is wholly rural and comprises land in agricultural use. The approach to the site along the Watford Road is through parkland, which was formerly associated with Watford Court, a mansion with 16th-century origins that was demolished in the 1970s. Home Farm, as its name suggests, was formerly Lord Henley’s own estate farm, approached across Watford Park via a long, straight track from the Court to the farm. There were many other farms within the wider estate, most of which were described as ‘lodges’. 1.3 This land is classified as Grade 3 (good to moderate quality) agricultural land, which is described as: Grade 3 – good to moderate quality agricultural land: Land with moderate limitations which affect the choice of crops, timing and type of cultivation, harvesting or the level of yield. Where more demanding crops are grown, yields are generally lower or more variable than on land in Grades 1 and 2. 1.4 There are a number of protected trees in the locality, including some covered by a Tree Preservation Order within the hedgerow to the north. The mature ash tree in the south-western corner of the field within which the application site is sited is also subject to a Tree Preservation Order. According to the information held by the Council, none of the trees immediately adjacent to the planning application site are subject to an Order – and, in any event, it is not proposed to remove any trees or sections of hedgerow as part of the construction of the fishing lake. 1.5 The original planning permission proposed that the water feed for the new fishing lake would either encroach on to the course of the stream or be immediately adjacent to its course and fed via a diversion of the stream. The latest approved plans (site sections) indicate that the fishing lake would be roughly linear in shape and constructed to a consistent depth of one metre, with a flat bed. The lake would be constructed adjacent to the western field boundary, 60 metres in length and 17 metres at its widest point. The shape of the lake was kept deliberately natural. Dependent on ground conditions, the lake would be clay-lined to ensure retention of water. Existing hedgerows to the site boundaries would be reinforced with new planting where required. The field was otherwise to be left open, since this was part of the character of the area, and there was no proposal to create further enclosure. Low level planting would be undertaken in the immediate vicinity of the hardstandings for the transportable accommodation. Appropriate native aquatic and margin/riparian planting would 2 be undertaken within the extent of the fishing lake, to establish it as a natural feature and to provide habitat and biodiversity. 1.6 The current proposal involves adding a second fishing lake on the west side of the brook or stream, which would also be fed by that watercourse. It would have a similar irregular shape and meandering margins to the original proposal and would be related to the eastern lake in such a way as to suggest a single lake bisected by the tree lined brookstray. The new lake would have the same depth and flattened bed, together with matching access pathway and fishing ‘pegs’ (platforms) at the lake edge (another five positions). As with the eastern lake, a pedestrian path would link from the lake to the access drive to the south. The originally proposed eastern lake would have an area of approximately 835 square metres and an equivalent volume in cubic metres. The proposed western lake would have a larger area/volume of 1,400 square/cubic metres, giving a total of 2,235 square/cubic metres. 1.7 The scheduled remains of the 18th century landscaped gardens of Watford Court, which lie over part of the shrunken medieval village of Watford and its associated ridge and furrow cultivation, are located a few hundred metres to the south-east of the application site. The Grand Union Canal conservation area lies to the south-west. The approved eastern lake (DA/2016/0161) was not considered to affect the archaeological remains, but the proposed new lake would sit within an area of ridge of furrow, which aerial photographs show to be quite well preserved. 1.8 Ridge and furrow is a significant historic landscape feature in the district. Policy BN5 of the West Northamptonshire Joint Core Strategy Local Plan, Part 1, adopted in December 2014, is relevant. It states that development in areas of landscape sensitivity and/or known historic or heritage significance will be required to sustain and enhance the heritage and landscape features which contribute to the character of the area, including (b) significant historic landscapes, including ridge and furrow. Applicants are required to demonstrate an appreciation and understanding of the impact of development on surrounding heritage assets and their setting, in order to minimise harm to these assets. 1.9 To this end, the local planning authority has requested that this application be accompanied by a heritage appraisal and impact assessment, which should describe the significance of the heritage assets and consider the potential impact of the proposal upon the ridge and furrow and the setting of the Scheduled Ancient Monument (and ideally the canal conservation area). The Statement should demonstrate what efforts have been made to minimise the impact of development upon such features. The present Heritage Statement has therefore been prepared to address these matters. 2.0 The Scheduled Monument at Watford Park 2.1 That part of the 18th-century garden remains at Watford Court that lies over the site of the shrunken medieval village of Watford, together with its associated ridge-and-furrow cultivation, was designated as a Scheduled Monument (No. 1021465) on 21st February 2011. The reasons given for its designation included the following: “The village was a significant component of the rural landscape in most areas of medieval England. Although the sites of many villages have been occupied continuously down to the present day, many have declined considerably in size, particularly since of C14 and C15. The reasons for diminishing size were varied but often reflected declining economic viability or population fluctuations. As a consequence of their decline, parts of these villages are 3 frequently undisturbed by later occupation and contain well-preserved archaeological deposits. The significance of the shrunken medieval village remains at Watford is amplified by the adjoining ridge and furrow, evidence of an extensive medieval cultivation system which takes the form of parallel rounded ridges separated by furrows and which provided rich, well-drained land for planting crops. In the context of the settlement, the headlands of the open-field systems will provide important information regarding the layout and chronology of the agricultural regime upon which the settlement depended. “The earthwork and buried archaeological remains of the C18 gardens, shrunken medieval village and ridge and furrow at Watford survive well. Supporting evidence in the form of earthwork survey, the mapping of parch marks and documentary and cartographic sources enables clear interpretation of the remains and attests to their national importance. As the archaeological remains have lain undisturbed beneath open parkland since the early C19, there is a high potential to inform on the nature of medieval settlement and agricultural practice and the design and structural components of the C18 formal garden. The archaeological remains of the medieval and C18 period have group value with each other and with the listed structures associated with Watford Court…” 2.2 The designated area is bounded by Watford village to the east and south, by a brook which runs to the west, and by the Long and Barleypiece Spinneys to the north and north-west. Home Farm lies some distance to the north-west of the designated area, but the locality of the application site does include several fields showing clearly visible remains of unscheduled ridge-and-furrow cultivation.