Wallingford Conservation Area Appraisal

Adopted April 2018 Wallingford Conservation Area Appraisal

Acknowledgements Contact Copyright

This document has been produced with Conservation and Design Team All maps are reproduced from, or based thanks to The Conservation Studio who South Oxfordshire District Council upon, Ordnance Survey material with the produced a thorough draft of the area in 135 Eastern Avenue permission of Ordnance Survey on behalf of 2012. Their draft has formed the basis for this Milton Park the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery amended and updated document. OX14 4SB Office. © Crown copyright. Tel: 01235 422600 Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown Email: [email protected] copyright and may lead to prosecution or civil www.southoxon.gov.uk proceedings. South Oxfordshire District Council 100018668 2012

Wallingford Conservation Area Appraisal Adopted April 2018 2 Wallingford Conservation Area Appraisal

Contents 1. Introduction and Policy Context ……………………...... 4 6. Character Analysis …………………………….....…………...37 Character Area 1: Victorian Suburbs: Croft Road and St Johns Road 2. Summary of Special Interest ………………………...…..8 Character Area 2: The Saxon Embankments: Kinecroft and Bullcroft 3. Assessment of Special Interest ……………….……..….10 Character Area 3: Western Town Wall Infill: Goldsmiths Lane environs Location and Geography………………………………………. Character Area 4: High Street General Character and Plan Form……………………………. Character Area 5: Market Place, St Marys Street and St Martins Street Listed Buildings…………………………………………………. Character Area 6: Eastern Town Wall Infill: Wood Street environs Local Interest Buildings………………………………………... Character Area 7: Riverside: Thames Street Landscape Setting……………………………………………... Character Area 8: Wallingford Castle and Meadow Character Area 9: Northern Approach: Castle Street 4. Historic Development and Archaeology...... 19 Character Area 10: Southern Approach: Reading Road and Squires The origins and historic development of the area…………... Walk…………………………………………………………………… Archaeology…………………………………………………….. 7. Boundary Changes ………………………..…….……….…....76

5. Spatial Analysis ……………………….……………….....24 8. Future Management of the Conservation Area …….…….78

Street Pattern and Layout……………………………………... 9. References and Useful Information ……...……….………..82 Building Plots…………………………………………………... 10. Listed Buildings …………………………………….……….....83 Activity and prevailing or former uses……………………….. Views and Vistas………………………………………………. Appendix A: Local Interest Buildings Trees, Landscape and open spaces ……………………….. Appendix B: All Maps Biodiversity Value……………………………………………... Public Realm…………………………………………………...

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Introduction and Policy Context A conservation area is an area of special What does Conservation Area architectural or historic interest, the designation mean? character or appearance of which it is Conservation Area designation provides desirable to preserve or enhance (Planning extra protection in the following ways: [Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas] Act 1990, Section 69).  Local Authorities have general control over most complete demolition of The responsibility for designating buildings within conservation areas; conservation areas lies with the Local  Local Authorities have additional Planning Authority. Local Authorities have a control over some minor development; statutory duty to review their Conservation Areas from time-to-time.  Special provision is made to protect trees within conservation areas. Wallingford Conservation area was designated on 22nd January 1969 and a When assessing planning applications, boundary review was carried out in 1988. A Local Authorities have a statutory duty to draft Conservation Area Appraisal was pay special attention to the desirability of researched and produced by consultants, preserving or enhancing the character The Conservation Studio, on behalf of the and appearance of the conservation area. council from 2005 to 2012 and included a boundary review. In addition to statutory controls, both national policy and the Local Authority The draft Conservation Area Appraisal policies in the Local Plan help preserve produced by The Conservation Studio has the special character and appearance of subsequently been revised and updated by conservation areas and their setting the council’s Conservation/Design Team in where it contributes to its significance. 2017 incorporating further proposed boundary changes, updated Local Plan policies and government guidance. A view down St Mary’s Street from Market Place

Wallingford Conservation Area Appraisal Adopted April 2018 4 Wallingford Conservation Area Appraisal

What is the purpose of a conservation Planning Policy Context Consultation area appraisal? The development plan currently Consultation is an important part of the The aim of this Appraisal is to: comprises the South Oxfordshire Core designation process. Local views were  Identify the special architectural or Strategy 2012 and the saved policies of sought prior to the alteration or historic interest and the changing the South Oxfordshire Local Plan 2011. designation of the conservation area needs of the conservation area; Other material planning considerations and suggestions and comments  Define the conservation area include the National Planning Policy welcomed. The consultation period for boundaries; Framework 2012 (NPPF), Planning this document and the revised boundary  Increase public awareness and Practice Guidance (PPG) and the ran from 11 October to 22 November involvement in the preservation and emerging South Oxfordshire Local Plan 2017. A public exhibition open day was enhancement of the area; 2032. held at Centre 70 on 8 November 2017.  Provide a framework for informed Notice of a newly designated or altered planning decisions; Full details of the enabling legislation, conservation area is publicised in the London Gazette, a local newspaper and  Guide controlled and positive local development management policies management of change within the and effects of conservation area registered in the Local Land Charges conservation area to minimise harm designation can be found on the Council’s Register. and encourage high quality, website and in the advisory documents contextually responsive design. listed in Section 9.

The Boat House pub on the riverfront: identified as a local interest building 9-11 Castle Street, 20th century terraced houses (left) within historic street scene Chalmore House on the west side of Reading Road proposed for inclusion within the conservation area

Wallingford Conservation Area Appraisal Adopted April 2018 5 Map 1 Conservation Area Boundary Not to scale

Conservation Area Boundary

Wallingford Conservation Area Appraisal Adopted April 2018 Map 2 Designaons and constraints Not to scale

Conservaon Area Boundary

Listed Buildings

Scheduled Monument

Tree Preservaon Orders

N.b. Tree Preservaon Orders are subject to change. Please check with the Local Planning Authority for up-to-date informaon.

Wallingford Conservation Area Appraisal Adopted April 2018 Wallingford Conservation Area Appraisal

2. Summary of Special Interest Evidential value: high (national The primary significance of Wallingford importance) conservation area is as a town located on an important river crossing over the River There is high evidential value in the Thames. It became a major historical archaeological remains of Wallingford which military strategic site under the Saxons and consists of both the below-ground has the best-preserved town plan of this archaeological remains and its buildings. period in England complete with 11th There is yet more to be discovered in terms century motte and bailey castle. Wallingford of below and above ground archaeology also developed as an important market with archaeological reports emerging with centre with exclusive trade links via river new information regularly. St Lucians (rear elevation), listed at grade II* and road from early times. Significant archaeological investigation was Historical value: high (nationally This assessment of significance follows the carried out during the early 21st century important) framework set out in Historic England’s encapsulated by the Wallingford Burh to 2008 document Conservation Principles: Borough Research Project. This discovered Wallingford conservation area has high Evidential value: the potential of a place large numbers of finds both within and out historical illustrative value from pre-historic to yield evidence about past human activity. of the Saxon town walls and supported the and Roman times to the present day. This is understanding that the Saxon town was represented in the town’s evolution and Historical value: the ways in which past initially designed as a fortress rather than as form; the persistence of ancient routes, the people, events and aspects of life can be a town. remarkable survival of the Saxon street connected through a place to the present - it plan, defensive earthworks, the moated tends to be illustrative or associative. Large numbers of finds were discovered castle site and the range of buildings from and dated in the areas outside of the Saxon Medieval times to the present day which Aesthetic value: the ways in which th defences and particularly in the area to the includes the urban expansions of the 19 people draw sensory and intellectual and early 20th centuries. stimulation from a place. south suggesting that there was settlement in Wallingford long before the Saxon Each character area defined within this Communal value: the meanings of a development of the town. The findings of appraisal has a distinct historic character, place for the people who relate to it, or for this project in combination with the reports which adds to the historic interest of the whom it figures in their collective experience on previous major digs culminated in a whole conservation area. or memory. published monograph by The Society for Medieval Archaeology (2013).

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Wallingford conservation area has high qualities of individual buildings, the associational value in its royal connections. landscape and river setting, ancient King Alfred developed Wallingford as a earthworks, Saxon enclosures and street defensive military town to protect Wessex plan. The open green spaces of the from the Danes in the Saxon period. Kinecroft, Bullcroft and Castle Meadows Wallingford Castle was later built on are offset by the close-knit nature of the instruction from William the Conqueror and streets in between. The Victorian and thereafter became an important royalist Edwardian extensions to the town consist residence and stronghold. of planned streets with individual details and designs that show conscious aesthetic It was held by Empress Matilda during the intent. 12th century civil war and after the war the town was granted a Charter by Matilda’s Communal value: high (national son and heir Henry II. The castle was importance) almost continuously a royal residence until the time of King Henry VIII. Wallingford conservation area has had a historic communal use from early times as Wallingford then played a pivotal role in the demonstrated by the development of the English Civil War, being the last major town with market centre. It has a thriving royalist stronghold to surrender in 1646. and active local community and its heritage Wallingford’s war memorial forms an important value is enriched by the continuance of long communal focal point to commemorate those of Wallingford also holds importance as the standing local events and activities Wallingford who gave their lives in the First and home of Judge William Blackstone of Castle associated with leisure and religion. Second World Wars. The memorial was first Priory whose 18th Century Commentaries unveiled to the town in a ceremony on May 22 on the Laws of England helped shape the Market Square is of particular note as a 1921. legal system and Constitution of the newly public space and houses the town’s war created United States of America. memorial, town hall and the weekly market. Bullcroft provide important focal points and The work of the LPA and Community Groups gathering places. Aesthetic value: medium to high (regional to improve the market place and other Other places with high communal value and national importance) communal areas was recognised by Europa include the Corn Exchange and Town Hall Nostra Awards in 1980 and 1987-88. which are important expressions of civic Wallingford conservation area’s aesthetic pride. interest arises from the architectural The open spaces at the Kinecroft and

Wallingford Conservation Area Appraisal Adopted April 2018 9 Wallingford Conservation Area Appraisal

3. Assessment of Special Interest the town is generally no more than 55 3.1 Location and Geography metres above sea level. The town is Wallingford is within south Oxfordshire on immediately surrounded by the flat flood the flat, low-lying floodplain of the River plain of the river, although on the east side Thames. It is bounded on its east by the of the river beyond Newnham Murren and River Thames which flows from north to south framing the eastern edge of the Mongewell, the land rises gradually along a gentle escarpment. To the west, the settlement. land also rises to Cholsey Hill (74 metres) and Brightwell-cum-Sotwell (105 metres). The town is approximately 50 miles west of London, 20 kilometres (12 ½ miles) south-west of Oxford and 9km east of Whilst clay is found in the Vale to the east of the River Thames, the immediate geology is Didcot. The A4130, which connects gravel and alluvium over chalk. This Henley to Didcot, passes through the town provides the distinctive flints and clunch centre from east to west. In the 1990s a (chalk building stone) which is typical of the southern bypass was provided to alleviate traffic congestion in the town centre. area, along with deep red or blue bricks made from the local clay. Historically, the Wallingford is well connected by road and limestone of the Oxford Heights to the north local bus services to Oxford, Reading and of Wallingford has also provided a popular Henley. There is a railway station at building material. Cholsey, three miles away. Mooring facilities are available for those arriving by boat along the River Thames. The town lies on the Thames Path National Trail Topographical map of region: Wallingford is located which runs for 184 miles from the source at the point where the River Thames exits the flat of the Thames to the Thames Barrier in plains towards the ‘Goring Gap’ between the Greenwich. Routes 4 and 5 of the Chiltern Hills and North Wessex Downs Credit: National Cycle Network pass through the Google topographical imaging town.

Wallingford lies on a gravel spur next to Local flintwork: roughly knapped and densely laid the river although the level of the land in uncoursed in lime mortar

Wallingford Conservation Area Appraisal Adopted April 2018 10 Wallingford Conservation Area Appraisal

3.2 General Character and Plan Form occupied by the castle and the north- Wallingford is an historic market town of western quarter by a Benedictine Priory. national importance. The form of the town is The castle site now forms open land as succinctly described by architectural does the land occupied by the dissolved historian, Pevsner in his volume of priory, the area now known as Bullcroft. Berkshire 1966: ‘It is a planned town, roughly square with rounded corners and its The southern portion of the fortress streets roughly parallel or crossing at right developed as a residential area and town. angles.’ The main crossing is Castle Street ‘Crofts’ consisting of smallholdings occupied running north to south and continued in St the area. Archaeological investigation has Mary’s Street with High Street running from revealed that the present open area of land the Thames bridge. The castle fills the north in the south-western quarter known as east quarter, its north west quarter is mostly Kinecroft held properties in the 11th to 13th open (Bullcroft). Market Place lies south of centuries along the line of a continuation of the main crossing. Ramparts are well the present Church Lane. preserved on the north, south and east sides. The town’s medieval form maintained the established Saxon layout but eventually Before the formation of the Saxon fortress, divided the land into smaller strips to form many strategic routes converged upon the burgage plots. These consisted of long this point in the flat valley in one of the few narrow plots extending back from the main locations where the River Thames was roads with buildings cheek by jowl on the shallow enough to be forded all year round. road frontage, often with service lanes Its early evolution as a settlement can be providing access to the rear of the plot. This traced back to its basic geography and the distinctive urban form still survives in needs of early people. Wallingford and is best preserved on the The bridge approach to Wallingford in the low lying eastern half of the town on High Street and flood plain to the east of the town. The bridge Wallingford’s subsequent development was St Mary’s Street, with Wood Street and St contains some of Wallingford’s earliest surviving led by the strategic political demands of Peter’s Street retaining evidence of having historic fabric within some of its archways King Alfred. The Saxon street plan can still serviced the rear of these plots. be traced in the present grid layout. The north-eastern quarter of the town was

Wallingford Conservation Area Appraisal Adopted April 2018 11 Map 3 OS Map 1879 Not to scale

Wallingford Conservation Area Appraisal Consultation Draft October/November 2017 Map 4 OS Map 1899 Not to scale

Wallingford Conservation Area Appraisal Consultation Draft October/November 2017 Map 5 OS Map 1912 Not to scale

Wallingford Conservation Area Appraisal Consultation Draft October/November 2017 Wallingford Conservation Area Appraisal

The earliest buildings that survive in fronted. Terraced housing and small allotments and the building of schools and Wallingford are from the medieval period. cottages sprang up beyond the main streets important civic buildings. Notable for their early date are the ruins of throughout the southern portion of the town Wallingford Castle, St Leonards Church and and on its outskirts to house the burgeoning By the early 20th century, larger houses for Wallingford Bridge. Remains of the 13th workforce. the burgeoning middle classes had filled the century bridge can still be seen within the larger gaps on Castle Street and to the west fabric of the existing bridge and show the The arrival of the Wallingford railway branch side of Reading Road. During the mid to important role that the bridge has played as line to the west of the town embankments late 20th century the town expanded a gateway to the town through history. contributed the next phase of change. The significantly to the west with new roads areas surrounding the original Saxon town serving large housing estates between its Subsequently Wallingford flourished as a plan began to develop in earnest for the first peripheral roads. Today, Wallingford market town. Although few changes were time. Terraces of workers dwellings and remains inextricably linked to the River made to the planform of the town, its villas sprung up along Croft Road and St Thames and the activities along the river, appearance changed. Notably in the 18th Johns Road, along the Reading Road and which provide an active, vibrant and very century, some new buildings were throughout the town. Along with this attractive setting to the town. constructed and medieval were buildings re- expansion came the allocation of land for

St Leonards Church: one of Wallingford’s earliest Riverside, Thames Street: riverside villa home to the 19th century artist George Dunlop Leslie RA. The surviving buildings boathouse in the foreground was built for the artist in 1882 and is grade II listed as a good example of a boathouse at the high point of the late Victorian interest in boating as a leisure pursuit

Wallingford Conservation Area Appraisal Adopted April 2018 15 Wallingford Conservation Area Appraisal

3.3 Listed Buildings The Conservation Area contains about 150 individually listed buildings. Of these, two are listed at grade I and eleven are listed at grade II*, 10% of the total. This is a higher percentage than the national average. Nationally, grade I and grade II* listed buildings make up only just over 8% of the approximate total of listed building entries. They are considered to be “of exceptional interest” and “of more than special interest” respectively. The two grade I listed buildings are:

 Wallingford Castle (the remains of Queen’s Tower, the remains of St Nicholas’ College and a fragment of wall which may have formed part of the inner bailey) Queen’s tower remains in Wallingford Castle Calleva House, High Street: an imposing 18th Meadows; probably 13th century and listed at  Wallingford Town Hall (built in 1670 with century Baroque style building. Listed at grade II* Doric columns on the ground floor grade I creating an open sheltered area which The grade II* listed buildings are:  Church of St Peter, Thames Street was once used for market stalls – not  No. 6 St Mary’s Street  only is it an exceptional historic building Wallingford Bridge  Church of St Leonard, St Leonard’s Lane  but it is important for its dominating The Quaker Meeting House (c.1724) off  Church of St Mary, Market Place location overlooking the Market Place, Castle Street  St Lucian’s and attached maltings, Lower with a particularly fine Venetian window  Nos. 17, 18 and 19 High Street; the Wharf at first floor level). George Hotel ; St Michael’s House (Nos. 94, 95 and 96 High Street); and Calleva A full list of the listed buildings in the House Wallingford Conservation Area can be  Castle Priory College, Thames Street found at section 10 of this document.

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3.4 Local Interest Buildings 3.5 Landscape Setting encircled by the chalk hills of the North Wessex Downs and the outlying Sinodun Some buildings are not listed but make a Wallingford lies within the River Thames Hills. To the east, the Central Vale Fringes positive contribution to the special Corridor Landscape Character Area which is Character Area is a continuation of the chalk architectural and historic character of the described as flat, alluvial land which forms ‘shelf’, which is sandwiched between the conservation area. These buildings meet the the corridor of the River Thames between Chilterns escarpment and the River criteria set out by Historic England in Local Long Wittenham and Goring, and includes Thames. This is defined along its eastern Heritage Listing: Historic England Advice the lower reaches of its main tributary, the edge by the steep escarpment of the Note 7. Although they are not statutorily River Thame. The immediate landscape is Chilterns, which leads to the higher Chiltern protected, the effect of developments upon made up of large fields with a number of plateau, which is characterised by a row of their significance can be considered within drainage ditches and low hedges. There is ridges and valleys. planning applications against the tests of little woodland apart from a line of trees paragraph 135 of the National Planning along the east side of the road from Important national landscape designations Policy Framework as ‘non-designated Shillingford. On the east side of the river, surround Wallingford. The Chilterns AONB heritage assets’. long rows of willows and other trees are (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) and more evident, particularly in views from the North Wessex Downs AONB lie to the Local Interest Buildings are identified in Wallingford Castle. east and south-west of Wallingford yellow on Map 6. Photographs and respectively and on either side of the Goring descriptions are included as an appendix to To the immediate west is the North Wessex Gap, where the River Thames breaks this document. Some examples of buildings Downs AONB and Western Vale Fringes through the Chilterns on its way to Reading. which have been identified are: Character Area, an area of low-lying land  World War II Pill Box at the Riverside Park  Riverside, Riverholm and Middle Wharf on Thames Street  The Old Free Library and Methodist Church on St Leonards Square.

 The Boat House public house on the Riverside

The distant Chiltern Hills AONB visible on the horizon from Wallingford Castle motte

Wallingford Conservation Area Appraisal Adopted April 2018 17 Map 6 Listed Buildings and Local Interest Buildings Not to scale

Conservaon Area Boundary

Listed Buildings

Local Interest Buildings

Wallingford Conservation Area Appraisal Adopted April 2018