Bickerton Hill Settings Pilot
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Bickerton Hill Settings Pilot Second Draft, November 2015 Project Title: Bickerton Hill Settings Pilot Client: National Trust Version Date Version Details Prepared by Checked by Approved by Principal V1 29/01/15 First Draft K. Anderson K. Ahern K. Ahern K. Ahern v2 04/11/15 Second Draft K. Ahern K. Ahern K. Ahern Planning & EIA LUC LONDON Offices also in: Land Use Consultants Ltd Registered in England Design 43 Chalton Street Bristol Registered number: 2549296 Landscape Planning London NW1 1JD Glasgow Registered Office: Landscape Management T 020 7383 5784 Edinburgh 43 Chalton Street Ecology F 020 7383 4798 London NW1 1JD LUC uses 100% recycled paper Mapping & Visualisation [email protected] FS 566056 EMS 566057 Contents 1 Introduction 4 Purpose of the study 4 Definitions of setting 4 2 Bickerton Hill Context 6 PART 1: SETTING THE SCENE 7 3 Define the asset and understand significance 8 Step 1: Define the asset 8 Step 2: Understanding significance 8 PART 2: ANALYSIS OF ELEMENTS IN THE SETTING THAT CONTRIBUTE TO AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BICKERTON HILL10 4 Step 3: Analysis of elements that contribute to understanding the significance of Bickerton Hill 11 Landform and topography 11 History and archaeology 12 Views and visual setting 13 Landscape character 20 PART 3: DEFINING AND MANAGING THE SETTING 23 5 The setting of Bickerton Hill 24 Step 4: Defining the setting 24 Step 5: Managing the setting of Bickerton Hill 26 6 Summary and further work 28 Summary 28 Areas for further work 28 Appendix 1 Statement of Significance National Trust, the notion of setting can refer to all types of 1 Introduction property whether or not they include a heritage asset. 1.5 The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) defines the setting of a heritage asset as “The surroundings in which a heritage asset is experienced. Its extent is not fixed and may change as the asset and its surroundings evolve. Elements of a setting may make a positive or negative contribution to the significance of an asset, Purpose of the study may affect the ability to appreciate that significance or may be neutral”. 1.1 The National Trust commissioned LUC to prepare three pilot settings studies for properties at Bickerton Hill, Hughenden and 1.6 However, the NPPF also acknowledges that the surroundings can Plas Newydd. These studies form the basis of a ‘Settings Toolkit’ also contribute to the experience of other (non heritage) assets which sets out a consistent approach for the National Trust to including wildlife, geodiversity and landscape areas. prepare setting studies for different types of National Trust “Local planning authorities should set criteria based policies property. against which proposals for any development on or affecting 1.2 This study has been prepared to provide greater understanding of protected wildlife or geodiversity sites or landscape areas will be how the surroundings contribute to the significance of Bickerton judged.” para 113 Hill. The property forms part of the ‘Cheshire Countryside - 1.7 Setting is not only the physical and visual aspects, as the English Bickerton, Bulkeley, Helsby and Thurstaston CPI which includes Heritage guidance1 states: “The extent and importance of setting two landscape and settings features, with the second – wider is often expressed by reference to visual considerations. Although settings and views being pertinent to Bickerton. views of or from an asset will play an important part, the way in 1.3 It follows a streamlined approach to identify the baseline evidence which we experience an asset in its setting is also influenced by for understanding setting. It will serve as a basis for the National other environmental factors such as noise, dust and vibration; by Trust to carry out conservation and management to achieve the spatial associations; and by our understanding of the historic CPI objective for setting and as a foundation for further work. It is relationship between places”. intended to support meaningful conversations about the importance of the property’s setting and its contribution to The National Trust Approach significance, and to provide a useful evidence base for the National 1.8 Setting for the National Trust is more than simply ‘views’. The Trust, planning authorities and other bodies with responsibilities in National Trust offer experiences and these are built on a land use planning. The information should help manage change in combination of elements such as sound, smell and light, and also a way that conserves and enhances the significance of Bickerton the experience of ‘arrival’. The National Trust has a wider Hill. understanding of setting and while setting may relate to a heritage asset it may also apply to other properties, whether a heritage asset or not, and can contribute to the understanding of their Definitions of setting significance. 1.4 There is no formal definition of setting, although the NPPF defines 1 the setting of a heritage asset. It is important to note that for the English Heritage (2011). The Setting of Heritage Assets: English Heritage Guidance. October 2011. Bickerton Hill Settings Pilot 4 1.9 The National Trust’s working definition of a setting is: ‘The surroundings that add to the significance and experience of a defined asset’. 1.10 It is the role of the surroundings in contributing to understanding the significance of the asset (rather than the significance of the setting itself) that is the focus of this study. To this end, setting is not a defined spatial area which must be protected from change. Indeed change within a ‘setting’ can enhance or contribute to significance. The Setting of Bickerton Hill 1.11 This study defines the key elements of the surroundings that add to the understanding, experience, appreciation and significance of the whole National Trust property at Bickerton. The setting of Bickerton Hill encompasses both its visual relationship with its surroundings (how the views from and to the property contribute to its character and the way it is perceived and experienced) and its cultural and functional relationships with local communities, landscapes and other heritage assets. Bickerton Hill Settings Pilot 5 2.2 The hills are important for their nature conservation value, their 2 Bickerton Hill Context historical and cultural landscape significance and offer panoramic long-ranging views across the Cheshire Plain west towards the Welsh hills and mountains and north- west across the Mersey estuary towards Liverpool, and east to Manchester and the Pennine ridge, and south over the Cheshire Plain to the Shropshire Hills and beyond. Part of the 30 mile long Sandstone Trail crosses 2.1 Bickerton Hill is located in the west of Cheshire, spanning the along the top of the hill and is well used by walkers. Maiden districts of Cheshire East and Cheshire West and Chester. Castle, an Iron Age fort Scheduled Monument is located at the Bickerton Hill is part of a series of hills forming the distinctive highest point of Bickerton Hill. A large part of the area in National Sandstone Ridge which rises prominently out of the flat Cheshire Trust ownership is designated as SSSI for its important lowland Plain extending for roughly 30km from north to south. The heathland habitat. National Trust owns over 280 acres (113 ha) of land at Bickerton, in addition to two other properties in the same series of hills: Bickerton Hill forms part Bulkeley Hill and Helsby Hill. The location of the National Trust of the sandstone ridge, a properties in the wider context is shown in Figure 2.1. Figure chain of hills rising from 2.1: The context of Bickerton Hill the Cheshire Plain. Bickerton Hill supports one of the few remaining areas of lowland heathland habitat in Cheshire Bickerton Hill Bickerton Hill Settings Pilot 6 PART 1: SETTING THE SCENE STEP 1 Define Asset STEP 2 Understand Significance Bickerton Hill Settings Pilot 7 24 February 2016 3 Define the asset and Figure 3.1: Bickerton Hill – National Trust ownership. understand significance Step 1: Define the asset 3.1 The first task is to define the asset for which we are seeking to understand significance and setting. 3.2 The National Trust property boundary for Bickerton, is shown on Figure 3.1; it also shows its separate ownership nearby at Bulkeley Hill (which is expected to be the subject of a separate Settings Study in due course). 3.3 Bickerton forms a part of a more extensive sandstone ridge, with far ranging views. It is valued as an accessible rural landscape, and contains Maiden Castle, a Scheduled Monument (a heritage asset which will have its own setting). The hill is also part designated as an SSSI. 3.4 Change in the surroundings of Bickerton may impact on the significance of the property as a rural landscape, where people come for escape, and enjoy the tranquillity and rural views, as Step 2: Understanding significance well on the historically important hill fort. For the purpose of this study the National Trust property ownership boundary is taken as 3.5 An understanding of setting must be based on its contribution to the asset for which setting is considered. significance. The special qualities of Bickerton Hill are numerous, and are set out in the National Trust’s Statement of Significance (Appendix 1). These are summarised in Box 3.1. Bickerton Hill Settings Pilot 8 Box 3.1 The significance of Bickerton Hill Summary of significance of Bickerton Hill and relationship to setting • Dramatic landform rising above Cheshire Plain – extensive 360 degree panoramic views from the summit with hill itself