6 Conservation Management Policies Photo: Kings Weston Action Group© Historic Landscape Conservation Management Plan January 2014 (version 1.0) Kings Weston Estate City Design Group 111 6. Conservation Management Policies Conservation Themes and Policies Conservation Themes Conservation Policies and Priorities Historic Before defining the conservation management The conservation policies for managing Kings buildings policy recommendations it is useful to consider eight Weston’s historic significance are developed through underlying themes as an expression of the Kings understanding the history (Sections 2 and 3), the Weston landscape. These themes provide the basis present condition (Section 4), the Statement of for considering the key strengths, opportunities and Significance (Section 5) and the eight key themes. The Enjoyment Paths rides vulnerabilities of the estate. recommended conservation management policies are & drives defined at three scales: 1 Historic buildings 2 Paths, rides and drives a Estate wide policies and approaches 3 Gardens & courts b Character area policies 4 Avenues and woods c Specific policies for individual features 5 Grasslands 6 Key views Sustainable Gardens & 7 Enjoyment The priority of works and the timescale within which future Key themes courts 8 Sustainable future they should be undertaken are defined as follows: 1: high priority - next 5 years 2: medium priority - within 5-10 years 3: lower priority - 10-25 years Avenues & Key views woods Grasslands Historic Landscape Conservation Management Plan January 2014 (version 1.0) 112 Kings Weston Estate City Design Group 6. Conservation Management Policies Conservation Themes Theme 1: Historic Buildings Where possible, and subject to practical requirements compromised and degraded the historic relationship historic fabric would benefit from a more detailed arising from the level/type of use and erosion between the Vanbrugh buildings. Conservation conservation management assessment. This would The survival of the four Vanbrugh buildings at the control, the historic paths, rides and drives should management of these spaces should, where possible, help ensure that appropriate care is assured in the long heart of the estate are of the highest significance; be conserved as gravelled surfaces. Opportunities serve to reclaim the original clarity of the historic term, and that conservation work can be integrated providing the context within which all of the wider to restore and enhance lost historic paths should be setting around the main house and with the other within and support the school's curriculum conservation recommendations are set. Kings Weston considered. The historic path alignments, particularly Vanbrugh buildings. is one of the most complete collections of Vanbrugh Theme 4: Avenues & Woods those in Penpole Wood, require survey prior to hand buildings in the UK. Bristol is the only city outside Each of the four principal spaces around Kings Weston clearance of soil and leaf litter build up, and the re- The management of Kings Weston's woodlands of London to possess a building by Vanbrugh. The House requires a separate design approach based on laying of self binding gravel type materials. and avenues are key to re-establishing the historic collection of Vanbrugh buildings, augmented by the careful assessment and interpretation of the 1712, character of the estate. Echo Wood requires significant comlete survival of the Mylne gardens and stable The carriage drive between Shirehampton Road and 1720 and 1772 plans. No one phase of landscape woodland management to recover the historic visual complex has considerable significance and capital as a Kings Weston House is an important feature of the development survives intact; each successive phase link between Kings Weston House and The Echo. heritage and tourism asset. Great Avenue and should be restored as a pedestrian has modified and adapted the preceding garden route allowing for some limited, controlled vehicular layout. Of the seven phases, it is the Baroque layout of The 19C avenue of trees along The Walk, itself a Since the 1994 Nicholas Pearson report the buildings use for ceremonies and events. The visitor parking 1720, the Halett plan, that is most significant, survives replanting of an earlier 18C avenue, is lost within have been transferred into various leasehold and facilities at the Shirehampton Road end should be partly intact, and best represents the formal setting dense secondary woodland growth. What was once freehold arrangements, and have received varying provided in a new, low key car park alongside. appropriate to Vanbrugh's buildings. Conservation a visually impressive line of parkland trees crowning degrees of repair, restoration and maintenance. management to this phase need not necessitate the the ridge line has, between the Echo and Penpole This has come at a price; the loss of opportunities A general approach to de-cluttering should be wholesale removal of remnant features from later Wood, become a dense belt of trees screening both to recover shared historic setting, coupled with undertaken and maintained for the removal of traffic periods. Significant features from other phases should the topography and the sense of expansive parkland increasingly inappropriate landscape expression management boulders, logs, poor quality signage etc. be actively conserved within the framework. beyond. Restoring The Walk avenue would also help to around the buildings e.g. poor quality car parking A major opportunity also lies in the re-characterisation restore the character of the adjacent Home Park and arrangements, visually intrusive CCTV columns/ of the adopted highway corridors of Shirehampton The garden enclosures either side of the Mylne stable Shirehampton Park. access controls/ signage, and inappropriate domestic Road, Penpole Lane, Kingsweston Road and Kings block should, through vegetation management, be boundary detailing. Weston Lane. Appropriate traffic management repaired and conserved to a simple woodland garden Penpole Wood, with its Ancient Woodland and detailing, particularly to the front of the Estate lodges, form. This should be appropriate to the setting of designed features, has a special character and Until its demolition Penpole Lodge was such a key would help to reduce traffic speeds and signal entry to the stables as residential conversion with appropriate significance. The 1720 Halett plan shows a series landmark within the estate landscape that the long a historic parkland estate. management and resources to ensure the longer term of paths and glades or salons, although little more term objective should be for full reconstruction, future of these spaces. is known about the woodland structure and its subject to viable use and funding. Theme 3: Gardens & Courts management. The 1772 plan suggests a further phase The kitchen gardens are currently used by Kingsweston of ornamental design. Management proposals for the The garden and former courtyard spaces around Kings School and accommodate a range of school buildings Theme 2: Paths, Rides & Drives wood will require further specialist survey and analysis. Weston House provide the setting to the Vanbrugh and education uses. The School's ethos of outdoor With their associated avenue planting these have buildings. The 18C framework survives but has been learning fits well with the historic garden spaces. The woodlands along the flanks of Kings Weston always been key landscape features of the historic degraded through 19C planting, 20C development Supporting the school in the repair and conversion of Down represent the Picturesque phase of landscape estate, and the principal way in which visitors have (the QEH building), and poor vegetation management the pond lodges for appropriate school uses would development and help to tie the estate with toured the grounds. and maintenance. Collectively, these have seriously still seem to offer the optimum future. The surviving neighbouring Blaise Castle. Historic Landscape Conservation Management Plan January 2014 (version 1.0) Kings Weston Estate City Design Group 113 Conservation Themes Theme 5: Grasslands Whilst these external changes are unlikely to be Theme 7: Enjoyment Theme 8: Sustainable Future reversed it is important that future development The extensive grasslands of the Home Park, Kings Weston is a much loved local landscape. Its The present and future owners and stakeholders, within the area should consider and where appropriate Shirehampton Park, Kings Weston Down and Penpole visitors value and enjoy the landscape in various ways individuals and organisations alike, are custodians mitigate the physical and visual effect on the views Point require management and maintenance. At the and for different reasons, but there are a number of of Kings Weston’s heritage. Their aspirations and from and to the Kings Weston designated landscape. moment this is achieved through mechanical mowing common factors which contribute to their enjoyment: alterations affect the estate for generations, and during the growing season. A grazed management Key views should be the subject of a more intensive ͹ The availability of good visitor access and facilities should be planned and undertaken based on regime is desirable to help establish a diverse, close identification and analysis process than this report including public transport links, car parking, cafe appropriate information and understanding. On behalf sward. This can be difficult to implement in urban allows for, but an early