Wigginton & Hopwas Neighbourhood Plan – Historic Environment Map 1: Designated Heritage Assets The map identifies the designated heritage assets within the parish. There are two Conservation Areas: Hopwas and Wigginton. There are also 15 Grade II Listed buildings and structures and a further 14 buildings within Hopwas which have been identified as being of local importance following the Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Plan carried out by Lichfield District Council in May 2012 (http://www.lichfielddc.gov.uk/downloads/file/5037/hopwas_conservation_area_appr aisal_and_management_plan ). This document also provides detailed information on the significance and local character of the village. It should be noted that there are other historic buildings which are not designated which may be deemed to contribute to the local character of the parish and to the individual villages; this may include buildings within Comberford and Wigginton as well as the historic farmsteads (see below). Policy wording which seeks to protect and enhance the character of the settlements in terms of materials used, scale etc. may be appropriate to retain their local distinctiveness. Map 2: Sites of known archaeological interest (excluding buildings and structures) The map shows those sites recorded on the Staffordshire Historic Environment Record (HER), excluding buildings and structures, which are deemed to have an archaeological interest. The Staffordshire HER is a database which records all of the known archaeological sites and monuments as well as the historic buildings. It also incorporates information on archaeological work that has been carried out within the county and further information can be found at www.staffordshire.gov.uk/Historic- Environment-Record . The archaeological sites recorded within the HER as lying within the parish include the earthwork remains of ‘shifted villages’ to the north east of Wigginton and around Comberford (particularly to the south). These features suggest that both of these villages were either once larger or have shifted away from an earlier focus, which then remains as earthworks in the fields. These form an important part of the history of both places and retain a high potential for below ground archaeological remains to survive. The areas of ridge and furrow, which survive particularly well around Wigginton, are associated with medieval and later land management being evidence of arable cultivation whereby the plough was pulled by an eight-ox plough team (horses not being used until much later in history). The preservation of these features would enable them to be enjoyed by the current and future communities and you may wish to highlight them in your Neighbourhood Plan. There is also the possibility that a review of the Wigginton Conservation Area could incorporate these features within its boundary to ensure their longer-term survival. Other evidence, surviving as cropmarks visible on aerial photography in areas now being ploughed, includes possible prehistoric-Roman enclosures and settlement in the wider landscape around Comberford. Further undated enclosures and cropmark features (mostly to the south of Comberford and Hopwas) may also prove to date to these periods. In all these cases there is a high potential for below ground archaeological remains to survive which could contribute to an understanding of how people interacted with and managed the landscape of this area. The presence of these features also raises the potential for further currently unidentified archaeological remains to survive within the parish. Taking into account the high archaeological potential within the parish it may be worth considering a specific policy for archaeology along the lines of: “Development proposals should demonstrate that they have taken into account the potential to impact upon above and below ground archaeological deposits and identify mitigation strategies to ensure that evidence which could contribute to our understanding of human activity and past environments are not lost.” Alternatively, English Heritage have suggested the following wording to achieve a this aim: “New development must take account of known surface and sub-surface archaeology, and ensure unknown and potentially significant deposits are identified and appropriately considered during development. Lack of current evidence of sub- surface archaeology must not be taken as proof of absence and in all instances the Staffordshire Historic Environment Record (HER) held by the County Council should be consulted at an early stage in the formulation of proposals”. References for evidence base: Staffordshire Historic Environment Record (HER) information on this public resource can be found at www.staffordshire.gov.uk/Historic-Environment-Record The record is also available online via English Heritage’s ‘Heritage Gateway’ website: http://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/gateway/ Map 3: Historic Landscape Character (HLC) and historic farmsteads Two characterisation projects carried out by Staffordshire County Council also provide an insight into specific aspects of the historic environment of the parish; historic landscape character and a historic farmsteads survey (for further information http://www.staffordshire.gov.uk/environment/eLand/planners- developers/HistoricEnvironment/Projects/Historic-Environment- Projects.aspx#HistoricLandscapeCharacterisation ). In brief the Historic Landscape Characterisation (HLC) was a desk-based project which looked at modern and historic mapping to identify the historic components within the landscape in order to understand the processes that have affected the way Staffordshire looks today; this information is held within a Geographical Information System (GIS) and can be interrogated in a number of ways (cf. also map 5 which also uses this data). The HLC reveals that the landscape within the parish has been subject to centuries of change from the initial enclosure of the medieval open fields around Wigginton during the post medieval period (approximately AD 1485-1799). These post medieval field systems survive to the immediate west, north and extending east away from the village being identified as ‘Piecemeal Enclosure’ on map 3. These field patterns are closely associated with the ridge and furrow earthworks mentioned above and form part of the development of Wigginton’s agricultural history from the medieval period onwards; in general the evidence of both the enclosure and the surviving ridge and furrow reflects a change in focus from principally arable production to a pastoral stock-raising economy. To the south of Wigginton the fields reveal evidence for 18th-19th century change either the complete re-planning of the landscape by surveyors as part of an Act of Enclosure (1771) as ‘18th-19th Century Planned Enclosure’ or as the reorganisation of the post medieval ‘Piecemeal Enclosure’ where there is evidence of field boundaries being either re-laid or where fields were sub-divided with straight boundaries inserted and described on map 3 as ‘Early Reorganised Piecemeal Enclosure’ (also of 18th-19th century date). The hedgerows associated with ‘Planned Enclosure’ are often of a single species usually hawthorn or blackthorn. These large-scale changes, under the influence of surveyors, were usually funded by large estates and wealthy landowners during this period. Further change has occurred since the Second World War when fields were opened up to increase production (evidenced by the areas recorded as ‘Post-War Amalgamated Fields’ on map 3). Map 5 uses the results of the HLC project to look at the field systems and identifies the strength of the historic character across the parish by charting the number of fields lost since the late 19th century (by comparing modern and historic maps). The areas which retain the strongest historic character generally lie adjacent to the villages. The historic landscape character can be used to support ‘Section 4: Objectives’ of the Neighbourhood Plan which seeks to “preserve and enhance the landscape setting”. You may therefore also wish to include a policy regarding the landscape character of the parish, which incorporates the historic character. This may, for example, seek to preserve and enhance landscape components such as hedgerows which are an important element of the countryside around the villages (as indicated by map 5) the preservation and enhancement of hedgerows would also contribute towards strengthening biodiversity within the parish. Historic Farmsteads The Historic Farmsteads survey was a desk-based study which identified all of Staffordshire’s farmsteads which existed on historic mapping before circa 1900 and identified their plan form, condition and location. The plan form of the historic farmsteads also contributes to an understanding of the development of the farmed landscape. The survey identified that the parish was predominantly comprised of large regular courtyard farmsteads located both within villages and in isolated positions surrounded by their fields. The predominance of the regular courtyard plan form suggests that many of the farmsteads were either built new or substantially remodelled during the 18th-19th century in an aim to increase productivity within the landscape; a process often financed by large landowners. The plan forms of the farmsteads can, therefore, be seen to support the evidence of the historic landscape character which suggests that there was significant landscape change during the 18th-19th century. In total 16 historic farmsteads