Three Mills Conservation Area Character Appraisal and Management Proposals Approved by Cabinet 14th December 2006 London Borough of Newham CONTENTS PART 1 CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL 1.1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................1 1.2 LOCATION AND SETTING.....................................................................................................................1 • Location ..............................................................................................................................1 • Boundaries ..........................................................................................................................2 • Topography and landscape setting .....................................................................................2 • Geology ...............................................................................................................................2 1.3 THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE THREE MILLS CONSERVATION AREA .........................2 1.4 SUMMARY OF SPECIAL INTEREST ....................................................................................................5 1.5 THE CHARACTER AND APPEARANCE OF THE CONSERVATION AREA ........................................... 6 • Current activities and uses ..................................................................................................6 • Character Areas ..................................................................................................................6 • Townscape analysis ............................................................................................................7 • Focal points, views and vistas ............................................................................................9 • Open spaces, landscape and trees ....................................................................................9 • Public realm ......................................................................................................................10 1.6 THE BUILDINGS OF THE CONSERVATION AREA ............................................................................10 • Building types ...................................................................................................................10 • Architectural styles and detailing ......................................................................................12 • Listed buildings .................................................................................................................12 • Locally listed buildings ......................................................................................................13 • Buildings of townscape merit ............................................................................................13 1.7 NEGATIVE FEATURES AND ISSUES ..................................................................................................13 PART 2 CONSERVATION AREA MANAGEMENT PROPOSALS 2.1 MANAGEMENT PROPOSALS ............................................................................................................14 2.2 MONITORING AND REVIEW ..............................................................................................................15 PART 3 APPENDICES 3.1 SOURCES OF FURTHER INFORMATION ..........................................................................................16 3.2 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................................. 16 MAPS MAP 1 LONDON IN 1741 - 3 BY JOHN ROCqUE (ExTRACT) .................................................................. ii MAP 2 TOwNSCAPE APPRAISAL MAP (2006 .........................................................................................17 London in 1741 - by John Rocque (extract) Page ii Three Mills Conservation Aea PART 1 CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL 1.1 INTRODUCTION special qualities of the conservation area (in the form of the ‘Appraisal’); The Three Mills Conservation Area was designated by the London Borough of Newham in November • Provide guidelines to prevent harm and achieve 1971. Conservation areas are designated under enhancement (in the form of a ‘Management the provisions of Section 69 of the Planning (Listed Plan’). Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, and a This document therefore provides a firm basis on conservation area is defined as ‘an area of special which applications for development within the Three architectural or historic interest the character or Mills Conservation Area can be assessed. It should appearance of which it is desirable to preserve or be read in context by reference to the wider adopted enhance’. planning policy framework produced by Newham Section 71 of the same Act requires local planning Council. These documents include: authorities to formulate and publish proposals i) The Adopted London Borough of Newham for the preservation and enhancement of these Unitary Development Plan. Adopted 2001. conservation areas. Section 72 also specifies that, in Specifically Chapter 3 making a decision on an application for development in a conservation area, special attention shall be ii) Environmental Policy, Conservation of the Built paid to the desirability of preserving or enhancing Environment – policies Eq2943 inclusive; the character or appearance of that area. iii) The London Borough of Newham Local In response to these statutory requirements, Development Scheme, published in July 2005, this document defines and records the special following submission to the Secretary of State architectural and historic interest of the conservation in March 2005. The LDS confirms that the area and identifies opportunities for enhancement. It Adopted UDP will be saved in its entirety until is in conformity with English Heritage guidance as September 2007. After this date particular set out in ‘Guidance on conservation area appraisals’ policies or proposals may be saved. The LDS (August 2005) and ‘Guidance on the management sets out the Local Development Documents of conservation areas’ (August 2005). Additional which the Council intends to produce. government guidance regarding the management 1.2 LOCATION AND SETTING of historic buildings and conservation areas is set out within ‘Planning Policy Guidance 15: Planning Location and the Historic Environment’ (PPG15). The Three Mills Conservation Area is located to This document seeks to: the south of west Ham in the London Borough of Newham, close to the Borough boundary with Tower • Define the special interest of the conservation Hamlets. The area is sited to the south of Stratford area and identify the issues which threaten the and to the west of west Ham and Plaistow within the lower Lea valley. Three Mills Conservation Aea Page 1 It forms part the southern most section of the Lee Geology Valley Regional Park. It is also within the area subject The geology of the area is composed of London clay to the London Thames Gateway Development which outcrops on higher ground to the north in Bow Corporation (Planning Functions) Order 2005. As a with localised areas of ferruginous gravels. These consequence, certain planning functions, including have been exploited to provide the only indigenous many related to listed buildings, are transferred from building material in Newham. Overlying the London the borough to the L.T.G. Development Corporation. clay is alluvial drift, deposited in low lying areas, It is stands in close proximity to the area earmarked carved through the clay by the River Thames and its for the 2012 Olympics. These factors bring new tributaries, particularly the River Lea. The southern regeneration opportunities to this area and the part of the Borough is rich in alluvial drift and marine surrounding land. It is important these are used to deposits from the quaternary Period, associated both preserve and enhance the conservation area with sea level change. These deposits include rich and its setting. organic deposits overlaid by marine clays alongside Boundaries the Thames. The deposits extend along the valleys of the Thames tributaries and, in particular, the Lea. The conservation area is bounded in the west by the River Lea and the Bromley-By-Bow bridge, to 1.3 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE the south by the Channelsea River (the eastern THREE MILLS CONSERVATION AREA branch of the River Lea) and to the north by Abbey East and west Ham were known collectively as Road and the ‘Greenway’ embankment containing ‘Ham’ during the Norman period, literally referring the northern sewage outfall pipeline (leading from to the low-lying pasture extending from Romford Hackney to Barking Creek). Road to Ham Creek on the Thames and divided by Topography and landscape setting Green Street. ‘Ham’ was part of the administrative Hundred of Becontree. The Domesday survey in The conservation area is set within the low lying 1086 recorded eight tidal watermills on the River Lea former marshland to the north of the River Thames, . The sites of five of these mills are recalled in the formerly known as Stratford and Abbey Marsh. The names of the Lea tributaries: Pudding Mill, City Mill, marsh was crossed by the braided channel of the waterworks Mill, Abbey Mill and Three Mills. During River Lea, as it meandered south to join the Thames. the fourteenth century Edward III encouraged the The Three Mills were sited at the point where the expansion of manufacturing