Revised Draft Alscot Conservation Area Appraisal

ALSCOT CONSERVATION AREA APPRAISAL Reviewed and Updated, July 2016

Fig 1: Alscot on the 1877 25 inch to the mile Ordnance Survey map

INTRODUCTION and adjacent to the conservation area since it was adopted in 1997 and review recent Conservation Areas are areas of special historic research that further informs our architectural or historic interest, which are understanding of Alscot. It will also follow the considered worthy of preservation or English Heritage (now Historic ) enhancement. They are designated under the publication Guidance on Conservation Area provisions of Section 69 of the Planning Appraisals published in 2005 which offers (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) helpful advice on the form appraisals should Act 1990. follow. The earlier character survey for Alscot was issued well before the publication of this Alscot was first designated a Conservation English Heritage document. This new Area by Council in 1982. A appraisal also takes the opportunity to review Conservation Area Character Survey (CACS) the current boundaries of the conservation was prepared and adopted as supplementary area which also a requirement of Section 69 planning guidance in 1997 by Wycombe of the Act. District Council. Government Guidance states that conservation areas should have an up- CHAPTER 1 to-date appraisal. Planning Policy Context The designation of a conservation area This review seeks to update the Survey in influences the way in which a Local Planning light of changes to buildings and areas within Authority applies its planning policies to the

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Revised Draft Alscot Conservation Area Appraisal area. It ensures that any planning applications for alterations or extensions to However these curtilages and the parkland buildings within or adjacent to the are all, apart from The Pightle, those to listed conservation area respect the special buildings. For such a small hamlet it has no characteristics identified in this document, less than six statutorily listed buildings with and local planning policies. only the Pightle not listed.

The major change since 1997 is the Alscot Conservation Area’s special replacement of various central government characteristic is of a small hamlet (it has no planning policy guidance notes and parish church) with no substantial new statements by the National Planning Policy building since the mid-19th century at least. Framework adopted in 2012 and the issuing Moreover it has a fine situation on the slightly by English Heritage (now Historic England) of higher ground above a stream, the guidance on conservation area appraisals in Crowbrook Stream, that runs through its 2005 and on conservation area management north-western half. It is also entirely in the same year. Below is an updated list of surrounded by fields and the stream’s valley current guidance. winds picturesquely, both to the west and to the east of Alscot. Its place in a shallow valley National policy and guidance is contained in a rural location adds to its special interest in: markedly while the high quality of its buildings • Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation and walls, not to mention the mature trees to Areas) Act 1990 the grounds of Alscot Lodge which dominate • National Planning Policy Framework 2012 views from the north, west and south, all add • English Heritage: Guidance on up to a hamlet of very high historic and Conservation Area Appraisals (2005) evidential value. While not a large • English Heritage: Guidance on the conservation area its character, historic Management of Conservation Areas (2005) buildings and appearance are of sufficient significance to fully justify its continuing CHAPTER 2 conservation area status.

Summary of Special Interest There have been changes since the 1997 The Conservation Area was designated in Alscot Conservation Area Character Survey, 1982 and comprises a small hamlet focused including fencing in of Alscot Lodge’s grounds on its principal dwelling, Alscot Lodge which and the conversion of the listed eastern is set within a modest-sized planned farmbuilding range at Alscot Farm (its main parkland. This core occupies the western barn was converted in 1990), and this revised parts of the designated area and the eastern document addresses and considers these. ‘tail’ is more vernacular with a former farmyard, a farmhouse and two cottages. The In 2015 the research undertaken by the area within the boundary is pretty tightly Gardens Trust (BGT) in drawn to include the curtilages of these three their Research and Recording Project has dwellings. Indeed it only includes the stream been published for a number of historic parks within the grounds of Alscot Lodge. and gardens in Buckinghamshire. In

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Revised Draft Alscot Conservation Area Appraisal

December 2015 their report on Alscot Lodge comes within 1.75 km of the Alscot was published and this extremely valuable Conservation Area but whose escarpment is document has resulted in a better clearly seen from within the conservation understanding of the house and its parkland area. Moreover the views from points such setting. Whiteleaf Hill view the conservation area in a setting amid open countryside. CHAPTER 3 Assessment of Special Interest The conservation area sits on the south edge of the shallow valley of the Crowbrook 1 LOCATION AND LANDSCAPE Stream that runs roughly parallel with Alscot SETTING: Lane. Its valley continues to the south-west towards Mill whose waterwheels it Location and Landscape Context once powered. Joined by other streams it The conservation area is about 1km north of eventually enters the River Thame a the market town of ’s kilometre west of Kingsey. parish church of St Mary and runs north-east from the Longwick Road, now the A4129. Its The railway arrived in nearby Princes houses mostly front Alscot Lane which is a Risborough in 1862 and a branch line was cul de sac road, although it continues as a built from Princes Risborough to Aylesbury bridleway to . The which opened in October 1863, skirting to the conservation area is only about 220m from south-east some 350 to 475m away from east to west, following Alscot Lane for its Alscot. In effect it formed the northern entire length. At its deepest, north to south, it boundary of Princes Risborough, apart from is 145m at its widest point in the park to some factories and businesses on the west Alscot Lodge but of varying depths further side of Longwick Road. The railway had little east. At the west end its frontage to the main discernible impact on Alscot apart from A4129 is about 110m. allowing the occupants of Alscot Lodge more convenient access to London and the farmer Apart from the remarkably busy A4129, the similarly a wider market for his produce. hamlet retains an utterly remote and rural character and is surrounded by agricultural The village is still surrounded by farmland, fields, despite the proximity of Princes much of it pasture along the winding stream Risborough to the south whose factories and valley, with arable further out. businesses come within 250m. General character and plan form The village lies to the north of the Chiltern The Conservation Area is very compact and Hills and within the Upper Thames Clay Vales basically comprises the parkland to Alscot (Character Area 108 of the Countryside Lodge, the former farmbuildings to Alscot Agency’s classification of The Character of Farm, Alscot Farmhouse itself in its garden England published in 2005). The Chilterns with two other dwellings, Alscot Cottage to its are identified as Area 110 and consist of east and The Pightle the only dwelling south chalk hills and are a designated Area of of Alscot Lane. Outstanding Natural Beauty whose boundary

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Revised Draft Alscot Conservation Area Appraisal

It is clear which building sits at the top of the Manorial history hamlet’s hierarchy: Alscot Lodge as it is set Alscot was always a part of the manor of within a park and largely concealed by Risborough, known as Princes Risborough mature trees and flint walls. Alscot (after The Black Prince), as against Monks Farmhouse is the dominant vernacular Risborough to the east. Detailed information building, with the other two cottages can be found on this in the Victoria County architecturally of lesser social status. History volume 2 on pages 260 to 267. This can be viewed on the British History on Line The plan form of the conservation area is web site very simple: the west boundary is the www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/bucks/vol2/pp260- Longwick road, the A4129 and the south 267 boundary follows the south side of Alscot Lane as far as The Pightle where it dips south Since the original CACS was issued in 1997 to include the cottage and its extended there have been two significant changes: the curtilage before rejoining the lane, the last conversion of Alscot Farm’s east range of section of the lane now a tarmacked drive farmbuildings into a dwelling now named beyond a field gate. Along the north side of Southerndown, and the publication of the the lane the conservation area extends BGT’s Research and Recording Report in northward to include Alscot Lodge and its 2015 on Alscot Lodge’s historic landscape. park, then the curtilages of the former farmbuildings and the two houses beyond. It is nothing if not compact and self-contained as a conservation area.

2 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT AND ARCHAEOLOGY

Origins and Historic development History Alscot is recorded as ‘Eilscot’ in the 13th century and is believed to derive from the Old English ‘Ælfsiges Cot’ meaning Ælfsige’s cottage’, a name that was still found here in the hamlet in the 13th century as the name ‘Elis’. In this 13th-century enfeoffment it was Fig 2: Enclosure proposals map recording the described as having three dwellings situated original course of the Longwick Road before by the highway, presumably modern Alscot 1823 superimposed on 1870s OS map Lane. In the reign of Edward III ‘Ascote’ belonged to the Hornere family. It then The earliest detailed map at a large scale that passed to the Reading family and after a few shows Alscot is that related to the Princes changes of ownership it was purchased by Risborough Enclosure Act of 1820 John Evans Tarrant in 1829. (Buckinghamshire Centre for Local Studies document IR/22/2). This shows the Long

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Revised Draft Alscot Conservation Area Appraisal

Wick Road, as it was then named, in its shows the re-aligned Longwick road (the earlier location cutting off the western section revisions focused somewhat on main roads). of what is now Alscot Lodge’s park. Fig 2 Fig 3 shows the railway added and shows the old roads superimposed on the interestingly still shows the lane that was 1870s OS map. The Enclosure Award shown on the Enclosure map running from straightened the Longwick Road to its present east to west parallel to the stream. This lane course and when the Risborough and Thame was subsumed into the parkland’s northern Turnpike Trust’s Act of 1825 was shelter-belt beyond the lake formed by the implemented a bridge was built across the dammed stream. The lane had almost stream, the modern alignment having already certainly long gone and it shows how out of been built, but apparently with a ford across it date the OS maps were. The map also shows still. the northern slopes of the stream valley by means of hachuring (the predecessor of contour lines on maps).

Between the OS original surveys and their amendment to show the revised course of the Longwick Road and the first edition of the 25 inches to the mile OS map (fig 1) the emergence of Alscot Lodge and the creation of its parkland occurred.

About 1830 a retired London solicitor, John Fig 3: Ordnance Survey 1” to the Mile Map Evans Tarrant (1783-1848) bought land and (1860s edition) buildings in Alscot for £250. In 1832 Caleb Stratton, a local surveyor and schoolmaster, This map indicates that there were still only after corresponding with Tarrant over the three dwellings in Alscot in 1820, the same purchase of the estate, drew up a ‘Sketch of number as mentioned in the 13th-century an Estate Belonging to J E Tarrant Esq’ and enfeoffment referred to earlier. These were this was the basis of Alscot Lodge’s park the three at the east end of Alscot: Alscot layout. The house was completed in 1838, Farmhouse, Alscot Cottage and The Pightle. the work hampered by a fire in 1836. The Alscot Lodge apparently did not then exist principal block was finished as a stucco villa, and the other buildings shown on the the service ranges in flint and brick. Ordnance Survey maps in figs 3 and 4 must have been farm buildings and the surveyor It is thought by some that the flint and brick only indicated the dwelling houses on his range was built first, during the 1820s as a plan. farm cottage but inspection of its fabric produced no evidence of this. It is moreover The next useful map is the Ordnance Survey worth noting that Tarrant bought ‘land and (OS) one inch to the mile one (fig 3). buildings’: there is no mention of a dwelling, a Originally surveyed between 1804 and 1815 it reference to which would have been the was revised in the early 1830s for issue and normal usage at the time had a dwelling a

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Revised Draft Alscot Conservation Area Appraisal house been involved. (Cf. tithe and enclosure farmed in the hamlet all his life and died in awards). 1995, his widow continuing to live in Alscot Farmhouse for a few years more. As the house is not shown in any form on the 1820 Enclosure sketch map it is considered Alscot Farmhouse and Alscot Cottage are that the flint and brick range is of the same both 17th-century timber-framed buildings date as the stucco block. It is a service and thus the oldest in the hamlet. Most of the building and in a less fashionable form with farmbuildings of note are late 18th century or Yorkshire sashes whereas the stucco block, early-19th century as is The Pightle. the ‘polite’ rooms for the Tarrants is in tune with the Late Regency or Early Italianate Archaeology forms found at the time in London where There are no Scheduled Ancient Monuments countless stucco terraces and villas were built or any sites of archaeological interest as it expanded rapidly westwards. identified within the conservation area.

More detailed information on the history of Apart from a Neolithic flint axe found in the Alscot Lodge’s ownership and parkland can 1990s in the garden of The Pightle, there are be seen on the Buckinghamshire Gardens no archaeological items or finds recorded in Trust’s web site at the County’s sites and monuments record. www.bucksgardenstrust.org.uk However the hamlet is clearly of an historic nature and in the event of archaeological Tarrant and his wife, Mathilda, died in 1848 deposits being found the Council may require and the descendants of the Tarrants owned it archaeological conditions attaching to until 1936. In the later 19th-century they let planning permissions where appropriate, the house and farms to tenants and one of including watching briefs, excavation or these, the Pursell family, later occupied the similar recording procedures as deemed house itself. They farmed the estate and advisable by the County archaeological bought it outright in 1936, moving into Alscot service. Farmhouse and selling Alscot Lodge, Alscot Cottage (then named End Cottage) and the 3 SPATIAL ANALYSIS Pightle which have remained in private ownership ever since. Alscot Cottage and This section covers the relationship of The Pightle had been farm workers cottages buildings, spaces and gaps between them (confirmed by the Census Returns from 1841 and resultant views, and how these create to 1911) until the Pursells sold them. special character:

Ernest Pursell, born in Great Hampden in The Character and interrelationship of 1864, became the tenant before 1891 (1891 spaces within the area Census) and is recorded as living in The Lodge in the 1901 Census. He died in 1912 Streetscape: and was succeeded by his brother William There is no formal public open space within who is recorded as the farmer in Kelly’s 1915 the conservation area, but Alscot Lane is a Directory. His son Frank Pursell lived and public road and just east of The Pightle is

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Revised Draft Alscot Conservation Area Appraisal joined by a public footpath and becomes a surrounds and the curtilage to The Pightle. bridle way heading eastwards out of the This field has its surface at a higher level than conservation area, heading for Monks Alscot Lane but there are views across it from Risborough through paddocks and eventually the footpath to its south, more intermittent in converging with the Crowbrook Stream. The summer than winter of course, but several of footpath east of The Pightle turns south-west the buildings in the conservation area are and runs parallel to the field south of Alscot seen, although it is the roofs and upper Lane to join Longwick Road 115m south of storeys that are more prominent. the lane’s junction. The footpath provides a number of views across the meadow towards Approaching Alscot from the Longwick Alscot Lane and the conservation area’s direction the public views are of Alscot buildings and of course Alscot Lane provides Lodge’s tree belts as the land dips into the numerous views at the heart of the stream’s valley. The bridge over the stream is conservation area. inconsequential but the west boundary of the conservation area is prominent with its tall The third public element that gives a sense of trees. There are no public footpaths to the the conservation area is along the Longwick north of the conservation area. Road, particularly importantly reading the shallow valley with the winding stream Views within the conservation area: continuing westwards, marked by trees and Alscot Lane is the ‘spine’ of the conservation lower foliage. area and has a gently curving character and, delightfully, there is no complete view along Important Views and vistas it. From the east end, by the field gate onto the bridleway the views are green and open Views into the conservation area: on the left and initially enclosed by domestic From the Longwick Road the main view into hedges before the flint boundary walls to the the conservation area is looking north-east former farmyard and Alscot Lodge curve along Alscot Lane with a densely treed gently away and Longwick Road cannot be preamble, Alscot Lodge’s park trees looming seen in this view. over its flint and brick boundary walls on the left and surrounding to the surviving stretch of From the west, that is the Longwick Road the pre-1820 road to the right. Then beyond end, as one progresses through the are brick and brick and flint walls and tiled conservation area the views are variously of roofs on the left. flint boundary walls, tiled roofs and then hedges, with the open field to the south, as From the east end, by the field gate onto the the lane curves gently in an arc. As the south bridleway the views towards Alscot Lane from field is passed there are open views that the east boundary are green and enclosed by afford views of Chiltern Hills escarpment. domestic hedges and still green with hedges There are also views northward into the and trees beyond the bridleway gate. grounds of Harvest Barn and Southerndown, the former farmyards to Alscot Farmhouse. To the south of the conservation area is a Alscot Farmhouse itself and Alscot cottage field between the old road in its wooded can only be seen obliquely as dense hedging

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Revised Draft Alscot Conservation Area Appraisal screens all but their east gables and part of None of the listed buildings, apart from Alscot their front elevations. Similarly The Pightle is Lodge, are any longer connected to the farms well screened from public view, although the and fields which they worked in times past. public footpath and the lane pass it on three That is to say none are occupied by farmers sides. There is also a view of the frontage of or farm labourers and the farmbuildings to Alscot Lodge over the boundary wall to the Alscot Farm are no longer in agricultural use lane. but have been converted to dwellings. However their agrarian past is plain to see, Views out of the conservation area: both for the houses and the former There are relatively few of these, apart from farmbuildings. Their curtilages are now looking west from near the junction with domestic gardens but more recent garages Longwick Road, from within Alscot Lane and and outbuildings have been added within at the bridleway where it leaves the them in a consistently agricultural style, using conservation area in the east along the track weatherboarding and plain clay tiles for their to the north-west into open countryside, a roofs. view somewhat marred by a recent tarmac drive to Little Orchard Farm, a modern house Alscot Lodge, however, remains in its original just beyond the conservation area. use as a single-family dwelling within its landscaped grounds. The coach house has From the lane there are views across the field been separated off to form a new dwelling. between The Pightle and the old road within its trees at the west. Architectural and historical quality of buildings and the contribution they make The preceding sections are not intended to to the special interest of the area list every view, merely a significant selection. There is a total of six statutorily-listed buildings within the conservation area. All are 4 CHARACTER ANALYSIS listed at Grade II.

Definition of Character Areas or Zones Alscot is a compact conservation area and has a single ‘spine’ in Alscot Lane. There are two character zones: the higher status largely tree screened and private landscaped park to Alscot Lodge, a homogeneous development of the earlier 19th century; and the farmsteads and cottages to the east. These latter pre-date Alscot Lodge and are the earlier core of the hamlet and are set in more open and visible settings. The south-east or entrance front

Activity and land use, and influence of Alscot Lodge This villa in its landscaped these on the plan form and building types parkland is now the principal building in the conservation area but it and its park did not

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Revised Draft Alscot Conservation Area Appraisal exist in 1820. The house and park were built and laid out between this date and the bulk completed by the date of John Evans Tarrant’s death in 1843. There is an attached service or north-east block in flint with brick dressings. This has predominantly Yorkshire sliding casement windows and old tile roofs. The western block is more ‘polite’ or fashionable and contains the family’s apartments. It has a principal entrance front facing south-east of three bays with sash windows set in stucco moulded architraves, a Alscot Farmhouse from the east shallow-pitched hipped slate roof, and a pedimented central Doric porch with square Alscot Farmhouse is a 17th-century timber- piers rather than columns. The list description framed house with the framing exposed to the considers this to be later, c1850. right gable. It is a three-bay ‘lobby entry’ plan house with the 17th-century stack intact behind the entrance lobby between the right hand bays. In the 18th century it was re- fronted in mainly chequer brick and the upper storey raised. It has timber casement windows and a modern entrance porch. The roof is clad in unfortunate interlocking concrete tiles that pre-date the building’s listing. At the rear was a lean-to which has been raised to two storeys to provide a parallel rear range with a more suitable plain Alscot Lodge’s, the garden front clay tiled roof. Inside is much timber-framing and chamfered spine beams, stop-chamfered The south-west and north-west elevations are to the left bay. The fireplace in the right hand similar but with French casements and a bay bay has a 17th-century three-centred brick window, uniting the house to its parkland in arch. typical villa style. The centre bay of the south- west front is set forward from its flanking bays and there are three parallel hipped slate roofs.

The park, an integral part of the house and its historic context is discussed later in this Appraisal. Barn and Dairy in January 1996 prior to conversion into a dwelling

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Revised Draft Alscot Conservation Area Appraisal

Barn and Dairy (now part of Southerndown) This range, along with the separate stable building immediately to its south were converted into a dwelling in 1997. It consists of a three-bay timber-framed and weatherboarded barn of about 1800 with a central wagon entry and a projecting bay to the left. The roof trusses have curved The barn in 1996, after conversion principals and curved tie-beam bracers.

Attached is an early 19th-century flint dairy of Barn (now Harvest Barn) is a late 18th- two storeys and two bays. It has a half-hipped century timber-framed and weatherboarded slate roof and a loft door in the gable. The barn of four bays. It has curved principal roof photograph shows the building as it was trusses and a roof with one-third hips. Before when listed and before the conversion to conversion it had a corrugated-iron roof with Southerndown. During the conversion the full gables but inside it the old hip timbers corrugated-iron roof of the barn was replaced survived. There was also a scrum of modern by plain clay tiles. farmbuildings attached. These were removed

in the 1990 conversion, the wagon porch was reinstated and it was named Harvest Barn.

Alscot Cottage (formerly End Cottage) Like Alscot Farmhouse this is a three-bay 17th- century timber-framed building, the framing exposed to the left gable. As with Alscot Farmhouse the cottage was refronted in brick in this case in the early 19th century. The roof is tiled with half hips at each end and there is The stables and attached wall in January a stack between the right hand bays and an 1996 prior to conversion into a dwelling external one to the left hand gable elevation. The windows are small-pane timber Stables and Attached Wall (now part of casements and the entrance is in the Southerndown) This early 19th-century flint narrower centre bay. To the rear are more farmbuilding has brick dressings and a recent extensions. hipped plain-clay tiled roof. Attached to its south-west angle is a run of flint walling, its The contribution of key unlisted buildings flintwork divided into panels by brick bands and flush piers and formerly the rear wall of a The Coach House (formerly a service long-demolished farmbuilding. The stable building to Alscot Lodge) The former coach building was converted in 1997 into an house to is a two-storey flint building with annexe to the Southerndown. brick dressings and bands. There are three modern windows on the Lane elevation and the former hayloft door in the gable is now a window. However the best windows are on 10

Revised Draft Alscot Conservation Area Appraisal the north elevation with Y-tracery in arched heads to the ground floor, the right hand one inserted in the blocked coach house doorway.

The walls fronting Alscot Lane looking south- west

The Coach House, north elevation Opposite the frontage of Alscot Lodge it becomes relatively modern brick but with an Across the small service yard is a single- old flintwork plinth. Was the original lowered storey brick and flint range of the same age at some stage to give Alscot Lodge a more and design with Y-tracery arched window open view across to the Chilterns? To the heads and two former stable doors. The west of the Coach House are the red brick buildings were built as part of the Alscot gate piers flanking the service access to Lodge developments of the 1830s. Its Alscot Lodge. contribution to the character and appearance of Alscot Lane is considerable. East of The Coach House the old flint and brick walls resume, as the outer wall of Outbuildings and Walls fronting Alscot outbuildings, the tile-roofed one old. Beyond Lane The character of the north side of the vehicular access to Harvest Barn the Alscot lane is strikingly dependent on mostly walls continue as far as the former stable flint and brick-dressed walls. These run from building, interrupted only by the access gates the gates to Alscot Lodge at the Longwick to Southerndown. From the 1877 OS map it Road junction to the former stable building to appears these walls were the rear walls of Alscot Farmyard. This is a total of 175m or so farmbuildings, since mostly demolished. out of the 220m total east-west length of the conservation area. Similar high quality flint and brick walls also bound the former kitchen gardens to Alscot The walls are mainly early 19th century and Lodge which are, unusually, laid out as two characterised by flintwork divided into large narrow and long ones side by side, and the horizontally rectangular panels by brick bands west curtilage of the grounds of Harvest Barn. and toothed flush piers. They commence with the gate piers and entrance to Alscot Lodge, The Pightle is shown on the 1877 OS map the wall crenellated to either side of the gate as a long, narrow building consisting of two piers with their stone caps. Along Alscot Lane parts: a two-storey range of three bays built in the crenellations give way to half-round brick with casement windows and plain-clay copings. tiled roofs and a single storey wing continuing 11

Revised Draft Alscot Conservation Area Appraisal it south. In recent years the single-storey shows the park in some detail, including its range has been replaced by a two storey one, trees and paths. It is striking that it is similar to the original cottage and a two and relatively unchanged since then, the main one storey range added at right angles at the obvious change being the thickening of the south end. The original three-bay cottage trees in the western section. appears to be early 19th century in character and was built by 1820. The west boundary is It has terraces and lawns sloping down to the marked by a modern flint and brick wall for its Crowbrook Stream which was dammed near first 25m and follows the conservation area the Longwick Road end to form a lake about boundary. 100m long and 20m at its widest. A detailed description of the park can be found in the The Contribution of Historic Landscape BGT Report. and Parkland Thanks to the work of the Buckinghamshire Gardens Trust Research and Recording Project our understanding of the county’s smaller historic parks and gardens has been greatly increased. This work has included Alscot Lodge and their work can be viewed on www.bucksgardenstrust.org.uk .

The Buckinghamshire Gardens Trust (BGT) have established that the small historic park to Alscot Lodge was laid out in the 1830s for The bridge and the weir, the lake beyond John Evans Tarrant (1783-1848), a retired London solicitor. He was in residence by The park is notable for its tree plantings 1832 when Caleb Stratton, a local surveyor which include a belt beyond the lake which and schoolmaster, after corresponding with replaced the track shown on the first edition Tarrant over the purchase of the estate, drew OS maps (fig 3): a path still follows its course up a ‘Sketch of an Estate Belonging to J E amid the trees. The western end of the Tarrant Esq’. He charged Tarrant 3 guineas grounds is densely planted and the current for this and this was the design followed for carriage drive from the Alscot Lane/Longwick Alscot Lodge’s park layout. Road junction was laid out in the 1830s and included the carriage-turning circle in front of The house was completed in 1838 but the the house. grounds took longer and were largely complete by 1871. Tarrant and his wife had Within the grounds also the course of the both died in 1848, leaving the grounds to be former road diverted in the early 1820s (fig 2) completed by Horace John Brooke, the was incorporated in the design and can be husband of their daughter, Emma. The BGT clearly traced as it descends as a sunken describe it as a ‘villa garden’ rather than a lane towards the lake. To the east of the park and it extends to 2.5 hectares. The 1877 house there are kitchen gardens divided by OS map (fig1) is particularly helpful as it walls into two long rectangles and of course

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Revised Draft Alscot Conservation Area Appraisal the service buildings of the coach house and Timber-framing is found in Alscot Cottage, stable block with their own separate gated Alscot Farmhouse, Harvest Barn and the access from Alscot Lane. main barn to Southerndown. Brickwork is used in the refrontings, infill panels of This is inevitably a summary and the fuller exposed timber-framing and extensions to analysis and description are in the admirably Alscot Farmhouse and Alscot Cottage. The complete and detailed BGT Research Report. Pightle appears to be all brick-built.

Local details In the principal ranges of Alscot Lodge, the most sophisticated building in the Boundary Walls conservation area, the elevations are in a These have been discussed in the section on then fashionable stucco and the roof is the Contribution of Key Unlisted Buildings slated. and are those along the north side of Alscot Lane, a stretch to the left of the main gates There are two roof materials that dominate into Alscot Lodge fronting Longwick Road the conservation area: plain clay tiles and and those at right angles to the road within slate. Concrete interlocking tiles replaced the former kitchen gardens to Alscot Lodge these on Alscot Farmhouse to its detriment. and flanking the front area to Harvest Barn (former farmyard walls) are key elements in These elements and materials are described establishing the historic character of the individually they and the vegetation all come conservation area. together to create an historic settlement of considerable and unspoilt character. These walls, though unlisted in their own right are within or form the curtilages of several Contribution made by the natural listed buildings and are thus protected from environment demolition and alteration without consent. Green Spaces & Open Spaces Prevalent and traditional building There are no formal areas of public open materials space, but Alscot Lane and the footpaths are The predominant publicly seen materials are accessible to the general public. the flints of the numerous boundary walls and outbuildings along the north side of Alscot The grounds of Alscot Lodge and the other Lane and give the conservation area much of houses and converted farmbuildings can be its character. The Coach House is also in seen over boundary walls and hedges in flint, as is the east wing of Alscot Lodge and places or through drive entrances or garden two of the listed former farmbuildings now gates. Some of these views are glimpsed, part of Southerndown. The flintwork is particularly in summer when the leaves are dressed in brick with bands and flush keyed on the trees and hedges but the visitor is very piers, brick eaves and quoins and window much aware of them as part of the whole. and door arches and jams. Trees and Vegetation

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Revised Draft Alscot Conservation Area Appraisal

In such a rural location and surrounded by minimum 50m belt along the northern open countryside, trees and vegetation make boundary of the conservation area. To the a very significant contribution to the south the green corridor should include the appearance and special character of the whole of the two fields to the south of Alscot Alscot Conservation Area. Lane, bounded by the public footpath to their south, whether the fields are included in the There are a large number of mature and conservation area boundary as specimen trees within and surrounding the recommended or not. grounds of Alscot Lodge, the species including a fine holm oak which overhangs Clearly the extent of the green corridor will the pavement along Longwick Road, horse need to take into account the setting of the chestnuts, limes, ashes, geans or wild cherry, conservation area and ensure an adequate yews, Scots pines, and black poplars. green buffer. Moreover the Princes Risborough Town Plan should set out positive Hedges are also significant in establishing the plans to conserve and enhance the historic conservation area’s rural character, mainly at rural setting of Alscot Conservation Area, the east end of the conservation area where avoiding or minimising any adverse impacts. there also a number of significant trees including beech, ash, yew and a walnut. CHAPTER 4 Many are in gardens or hedges and less Recommendations formal than the grounds of Alscot Lodge. 1 The Conservation Area Appraisal The extent of loss, problems and and possible boundary amendments: pressures The conservation area boundary has been re- At present there are no pressures on the assessed to see how robust it is and whether conservation area. However the draft Princes it clearly identifies the area of special Risborough Town Plan is considering architectural or historic interest and character residential development passing to both sides as required by the Act. of the hamlet with the potential to erode very considerably its character as a hamlet set in extensive farmland. The Plan, the subject of public consultation in early 2016, seeks to retain a green corridor passing to south and north of the conservation area to preserve some sense of rural and self-contained integrity.

This green corridor basically follows the course of the Crowbrook Stream and housing is set beyond this corridor. This corridor View south-west across south field should extend to protect the whole of the setting of the conservation area which could Between the westward curtilage of The be achieved reasonably by providing a Pightle and the wooded surrounds of the

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Revised Draft Alscot Conservation Area Appraisal former road diverted in 1820 are two At the west end of the lane it is also rectangular fields. These are shown on the recommended that the course of the old road enclosure map and the 1877 OS map, the south of Alscot Lane be considered for southern one narrower. The latter map shows inclusion. This is a sunken way that continues farmbuildings opposite Alscot Lodge and across the lane into the Grounds of Alscot roughly where the current field gate is Lodge and has archaeological, historical and situated. The west and south range had been evidential value in its own right. This sunken demolished by the date of the 1898 OS and way in its well-treed triangle of land plays an the east range after 1921. The northern and important part in the history of Alscot and its larger of the two fields had become an evolution in particular changes that took place orchard by 1898. in the earlier 19th century.

View across south fields from the public The old road looking east-south-east from footpath to their south Alscot Lane

It is considered that these two fields, the It is recommended that extending the southern one with the public footpath conservation area south of Alscot Lane be alongside contribute considerably to the subject to public consultation as part of this character of the conservation area. Views Appraisal. across to the Chilterns and views from the public footpath north and north-west are a 2 Buildings that make a positive material consideration, besides the openness contribution to the conservation area: of the fields. However this openness is A number of buildings have been identified on compromised by The Pightle’s modern the conservation area map that contribute outbuildings and storage yard that occupies positively to the character and appearance of the eastern section of the south field. the conservation area, by virtue of their age, design, massing, scale, and enclosure. These Bearing in mind the potential threat from buildings should be retained. development proposed in the Town Plan it is recommended that these two fields be 3 Proposals for the enhancement of considered for inclusion within the the Conservation Area conservation area. It is not considered that any enhancement of this superbly conserved village is necessary.

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Revised Draft Alscot Conservation Area Appraisal

CHAPTER 5 Areas guidance note is seen as a supporting Next Steps/further Information document to the plan.

1 Public Consultation and Community The Council will also have in mind the Involvement requirements of the National planning policy Following publication of the draft revised Framework (2012) which requires it to have Alscot Conservation Area Appraisal six special regard for the impact of proposals on weeks will be allowed for public consultation. the significance of a conservation area or a Each household within the conservation will listed building, and indeed on non-designated get a copy of the appraisal, including the heritage assets. appraisal map, and will have an opportunity to comment on the draft. Copies of the draft Appended to this document is a series of will be available on the Council’s website, and development guidelines, covering both new at other local public facilities. development and the protection of existing character. This forms the base of a Following the completion of the consultation management plan for the conservation area. period and the revision of the document to take account of public responses, the APPENDICES Conservation Area Appraisal will be formally adopted by Wycombe District Council. The Appendix A Conservation Area Map amended document will then be published on The attached Appraisal map illustrates and the Council’s website. clarifies the text and defines the extent of the area which is regarded as possessing those Public consultation could identify proposals qualities of special character, architectural or for preserving or enhancing the conservation historic interest which designation is intended area, and any further or detailed work that is to protect. It identifies particular areas, vistas, required in order to safeguard Alscot’s special views, buildings, etc. that are considered character. essential to that character.

2 Monitoring Listed buildings are shown on the Changes in the appearance and condition of designations map. If you own a listed building the Alscot Conservation Area should be and are considering undertaking alteration monitored regularly. A photographic survey works, please ensure that you contact the was undertaken at the time of the appraisal Conservation Officer at Wycombe District work, and this could be updated every two Council to find out whether they require listed years or so. building consent.

3 Design Guidance Where buildings are shown on the The policies and proposals of the Wycombe conservation area map as being of local District Local Plan are the primary source of importance, they are considered to make an reference for development control advice. In especially positive contribution to the historic addition the Council’s approved Conservation interest or architectural character of the conservation area.

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Revised Draft Alscot Conservation Area Appraisal

Preservation of existing character- The Appendix B Listed Buildings: maintenance of historic buildings in These are indicated on the conservation area Alscot Conservation Area map and listed in earlier pages. Further information on listed buildings can be 1 The use of traditional materials and obtained from the English Heritage website detailing can have a considerable www.english-heritage.org.uk positive effect in enhancing the conservation area. The owners of Appendix C Bibliography: historic and prominent properties Victoria County History of Buckinghamshire: should be encouraged to remove 1925 unsympathetic modern materials, such Buckinghamshire Gardens Trust: Alscot as concrete tiles and plastic rainwater Lodge 2015 goods, and to reinstate traditional materials such a plain clay tiles, Appendix D Acknowledgements painted timber windows and cast iron In particular this revision has been greatly guttering. assisted by the Buckinghamshire Gardens Trust’s excellent and thorough Report on 2 Repointing should only be carried out Alscot Lodge’s house and historic park and when structurally necessary, and kept garden. to a minimum. Variations in colour and the application of excessive amounts Appendix E Development Control of mortar in a non-traditional manner Guidelines: can detract from flintwork and The following guidelines have been drawn up brickwork and obscure it. for the management of change in the Alscot Inappropriate mixes can cause Conservation Area to allow for development brickwork to deteriorate rapidly. and alterations that keep the conservation area vital, without losing the characteristics 3 A variety of window types can be seen that make it special: across the conservation area including wooden sliding sashes and In conservation areas, the Council has an casements. They all add to the charm overriding and statutory duty to preserve or and character of the area. Original enhance the character or appearance of the windows should generally be retained area. Many seemingly minor alterations, if as they have a character of their own insensitively carried out, can have a which derives both from the cumulative and highly damaging effect on the proportions of the frames and glazing overall appearance of the area. Such bars and from the charm of old glass alterations not only damage appearance, but which can have a ‘wobbly’ or rippled also reduce the value of houses as historic effect. Original single glazed windows features and attractive areas, all of which are can be draught-proofed and upgraded highly desirable in today’s property market. by specialist companies and secondary glazing installed to improve heat retention. UPVC windows should

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Revised Draft Alscot Conservation Area Appraisal

not be installed as their proportions, Design Guidance for new development opening methods, modern shiny and extensions plastic or bogus ‘wood-grain’ foil 7 In the conservation area higher appearance and the reflection of the standards of design are required, as it double glazed units are all very much is the function of the planning authority at odds with the character of historic to consider all applications as to buildings. whether they preserve or enhance the special character as identified in this 4 The use of modern machine made roof appraisal. The sides and rear of tiles should be avoided as a buildings, where visible to the public, replacement for traditional handmade must be of equally good design and tiles. Concrete or artificial slate should materials. be avoided as these materials are visually detrimental. 8 Since 2006 most planning applications within the conservation area require The maintenance of trees and green Design and Access statements spaces accompanying them, in order for local 5 Trees make a significant contribution authorities to evaluate the impact of to Alscot’s special character and the scheme on the wider locality, and property owners should continue to understand the design process behind manage existing trees sensitively. the proposal. Applications for listed Within the conservation area, consent building consent also require a is requires to fell, lop or top trees. Heritage Asset Statement. Consideration should be given of important views into and out of the 9 Listed and other significant buildings village when planting or undertaking are identified on the survey map and tree works, as should the setting of their specific qualities are described in historic buildings. the text above. Any new development must not harm the buildings or their All trees in conservation areas are settings or any special architectural or protected and any new development historic features that they may contain. should recognise this and should not It should be recognised that new present a risk to their continued growth development may well not be and habit. acceptable in this rural conservation area. 6 The fields, gardens, parkland and incidental open space, whether 10 Applications for development adjoining publicly accessible or private, are key but beyond the conservation area to the character of Alscot as a boundary will be assessed for their conservation area. These areas are affect upon the conservation area’s valuable resources and will be character, appearance, and setting, protected. and may be refused permission if this affect is considered adverse. This is

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Revised Draft Alscot Conservation Area Appraisal

particularly significant for Alscot: its of the locality and villagescape, and setting is entirely rural and any show how the proposals have been development in these fields, however drawn up in relation to this (see Design well designed, could only be highly and Access Statements above). detrimental. 15 Where extensions to existing buildings 11 Special care must be taken to ensure are proposed, the extension should be that views looking into and out from subservient to the main buildings, with the conservation area are not spoilt or a lower roofline. compromised. Those of particular importance are marked on the survey Appearance, materials and detailing map. 16 The emphasis in conservation areas is to provide high quality design. Contextural design Conservation area status does not 12 Within Alscot any new development preclude good modern design such as extensions, ancillary buildings provided that it takes account of the or other proposals should respect the prevailing form of existing character of this small rural village and development, scale, density, height respond to the immediate and massing. Innovative modern environment, particularly in terms of design can be successfully integrated scale, density, form, materials and into historic areas and can provide detailing. Building works such as vitality and interest to the streetscene. extensions must be designed not as a Natural materials and high quality separate entity but relate to the original detailing should be incorporated into building. Care should be taken not to any proposals. fill gaps between buildings which then give the appearance of continuous 17 Where a more traditional approach is development. appropriate buildings should be designed in a traditional form 13 The intention of this guideline is (including plan form, roof spans and not that new development should pitches, etc) and include pitched roofs. automatically replicate buildings in the Dormers and rooflights should be locality but that important features set modestly sized. Use of historic out above should be taken into detailing such as stringcourses, eaves account where appropriate, especially details, fenestration pattern, etc, will be in relation to the individual acceptable if they are appropriate to circumstances of each case. the design of the new building. Such detailing, or a modern interpretation of 14 Development opportunities in Alscot it, can do much to break up facades of Conservation Area are limited indeed. buildings. Chimneys are essential in Proposals for new development and roofscapes and should be incorporated extensions within the conservation into designs. area should include a detailed analysis

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Revised Draft Alscot Conservation Area Appraisal

18 Materials for any new building works hedgerows indicated on the survey must be sympathetic to those map are an important element of the prevailing in the area. Where possible area’s character, and should be local traditional material should be retained and where possible enhanced used: good quality traditional sand- faced brick and/or, hand-laid random coursed flintwork for walling and sand- faced plain clay roof tiles, and slate. Public realm Modern interpretation and techniques 22 Street furniture, lamp posts, CCTV are not always visually successful and camera mountings and posts, should thus be used with care. Where telephone boxes and other public traditional materials survive they works which are beyond planning should be retained. control can have a disproportionate impact on the streetscape and 19 Inappropriate replacement windows character of the conservation area. and doors can damage the character However it is unlikely that much of this of the conservation area. Traditional sort of intrusion will come to such a natural materials should be used in rural and isolated conservation area. order to safeguard the special character of the conservation area. 23 Surfacing within domestic curtilages Windows should be timber, painted, for driveways, paths and not stained, and their design should hardstandings should be in keeping reflect local styles, usually sliding with the rural nature of this village. sashes or side-hung casements. If the Large areas of tarmac and concrete windows of unlisted buildings are to be are wholly out of place in this setting. double-glazed these should be a Gravel, whether loose or resin-bonded slimline type with a maximum depth of is infinitely preferable, particularly in 14mm (4mm glass and a 6mm inert large areas of parking such as the gas-filled cavity). Joinery details farmyard. Paths to front doors were should be submitted with planning historically surfaced with clay tiles or applications. Top hung lights and brick, and this is a tradition that could modern materials such as UPVC and be encouraged. aluminium are inappropriate in the conservation area. Doors should be 24 Satellite dishes and solar panels are traditional panelled ones or vertical unsightly especially when poorly sited matchboard on vernacular cottages. or on front elevations. Care should be taken to site these in the back garden Boundary treatments or on roof slopes that are not visible 20 Some agricultural hedges are from the lane or public views. Satellite protected by the 1997 Hedgerow dishes and solar panels are generally Regulations. The majority of hedges not acceptable affixed to listed are not covered by these Regulations. buildings and should be located on However in the conservation area the ancillary buildings out of public view.

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Revised Draft Alscot Conservation Area Appraisal

Further Information can be obtained on Wycombe District Council’s website or by contacting the Conservation Officer on 01494 421578.

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Revised Draft Alscot Conservation Area Appraisal

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