HERITAGE STATEMENT In respect of: Replacement of rear single-storey range with new single-storey extension At: THE OLD HOUSE, 25 THE TERRACE, WOKINGHAM, BERKSHIRE, RG40 1BP On behalf of: Mr & Mrs Bowis November 2018 ELAINE MILTON HERITAGE & PLANNING LIMITED t: 07979 942042 e: [email protected] w: www.emhp.co.uk 0 Heritage Statement – The Old House, Wokingham CONTENTS 1.0 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................3 2.0 HERITAGE DESIGNATIONS .....................................................................5 3.0 DESCRIPTION .................................................................................7 4.0 HISTORY ................................................................................17 5.0 ASSESSMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE ........................................................22 6.0 PROPOSALS ................................................................................24 7.0 POLICY CONTEXT ................................................................................26 8.0 HERITAGE IMPACT ASSESSMENT ........................................................28 9.0 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................29 SOURCES USED IN THE REPORT ........................................................30 LIST OF FIGURES Fig.1: Location plan Fig.2: Map of the conservation area Fig.3: Numbers 27, 25 (The Old House) and 23 The Terrace Fig.4: Rear elevation Fig.5: Rear elevation Fig.6: Rear single storey building abutting garden wall Fig.7: View looking back towards the house from the end of the garden Fig.8: View from rear garden looking back towards the house Fig.9: Front door from within the hall Fig.10: Painted niche in living room Fig.11: Fireplace in living room Fig.12: Drawing Room with French doors Fig.13: Rear hall with stairs Fig.14: Timber framing in south wall of the kitchen Fig.15: View within kitchen looking towards the breakfast room 1 Heritage Statement – The Old House, Wokingham Fig.16: Breakfast room with lobby leading into utility room Fig.17: View looking north within passage to east side of house Fig.18: View inside single storey range abutting garden wall Fig.19: Underside of the roof joists Fig.20: Junction of Shute Road with Station Road Fig.21: 1875 (surveyed 1870) OS map Fig.22: 1899 OS map Fig.23: 1911 OS map Fig.24: Rear single storey range Fig.25: Proposed plans Fig.26: Northern wall of snug and adjacent utility room COPYRIGHT: The contents of this statement must not be copied or replicated in part or in whole without the express written consent of Elaine Milton Heritage & Planning Limited 2 Heritage Statement – The Old House, Wokingham 1.0 Introduction 1.1 This heritage statement accompanies an application for planning permission and listed building consent for the demolition of an existing rear single-storey flat-roofed range and its replacement with a new single-storey structure to form a new kitchen/dining room at The Old House, 25 The Terrace, a Grade II listed building. 1.2 Wokingham is a historic market town in Berkshire, located approximately 40 miles west of London and 7 miles south-east of Reading. Wokingham is on the Emm Brook, a tributary of the River Lodden, which in turn is a tributary of the Thames. 1.3 The Old House, 25 The Terrace, is located on a narrow road that runs parallel to Reading Road (before it intersects with Station Road and Shute End) near the centre of Wokingham. Fig.1: Location plan 3 Heritage Statement – The Old House, Wokingham 1.4 The report describes the heritage significance of The Old House and provides an assessment of the impact of the proposals in accordance with the requirements of the National Planning Policy Framework (the NPPF, July 2018) and in order to meet the council’s local validation checklist for applications affecting listed buildings and conservation areas. 1.5 The report was commissioned by the current owners, Mr and Mrs Bowis, and has been prepared by Elaine Milton BSc (Hons) MSc DipArchCons MRTPI IHBC. A site survey was undertaken on 19 October 2018. 1.6 Information on the history of the site has been drawn from a number of sources including historic map regression. A list of the sources is presented on p30. 4 Heritage Statement – The Old House, Wokingham 2.0 Heritage Designations 2.1 The Old House, 25 The Terrace was added to the List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest at Grade II on 12 November 1951. It is therefore deemed by Historic England to be a designated heritage asset of national importance and of special interest. The list entry for the cottage reads as follows: ‘Wealden hall house, now house. Mid C15, extended C17, altered and extended late C18 and C19. Part timber framed encased in brick, part brick, part render. Steeply pitched, hipped old tile roof; gabled at rear. Formerly L- plan of 3 x 1 bays; 2 bays in the front section remaining are the former hall and screens passage; parts of the bays either side of this survive from the C18 re-build. Extensions at rear. 2 storeys and basement. C16, inserted ridge chimney to left of centre, tall C19 chimney on right, on side roof slope; both with offset heads, and clay pots. Road front: 4 bays. Sash windows with glazing bars. 6-panelled entrance door to left of centre with brass lion head door knocker, in doorcase of pilasters, cut scroll brackets and open segmental pediment. Interior: - Mid C19 cast iron fireplace in dining room, with C18 niche to left with C18 painting of 3 female figures in soffit. 2 other early C19 cast iron fireplaces in 2 bedrooms. Queen strut roof with clasped purlins and reducing principal rafters. Centre hall truss, chamfered brackets and collar only, all soot blackened. Curved wind braces.’ 2.2 The Old House is not noted in the list entry as being of group value with other listed buildings, however, the majority of houses that form The Terrace (numbers 3 through to 41 odd, with the exception of number 27), are listed, including the adjacent Queen’s Head Public House (number 23). 2.3 The house is located within the Wokingham Town Centre Conservation Area, which was first designated by the local authority in 1970 and subsequently reviewed and boundary changes made in 1986 and 1996. The Wokingham Town Centre Conservation Area covers the historic core of the town, its boundary delineating the ‘old town’. Langborough Road Conservation Area, which abuts Wokingham Town Centre Conservation Area, covers a later Victorian extension to the town. 5 Heritage Statement – The Old House, Wokingham The Terrace Fig.2: Map of the conservation area 6 Heritage Statement – The Old House, Wokingham 3.0 Description Exterior 3.1 The Old House is a two-storey brick house, constructed in Flemish bond, with a plain tiled steeply pitched hipped roof with two brick chimney stacks (visible from The Terrace) one through the ridge and the other on the eastern gable. The ground floor has three large 16-pane timber sash windows (without horns) and a fielded panelled door set within a door case formed from pilasters and over sailed by a curved open canopy supported on decorative corbels. The first floor has four 16- pane timber sash windows (without horns) with gauged brick arch lintels (as per the ground floor). The composition is pleasingly regular. 3.2 To the right of The Old House is a fence and gate abutting The Queens Head Public House (also listed). To the left is a single-storey brick building in Flemish bond, with an arched brick opening, recess and modern door. It has two 16-pane sash windows (with horns) and a modern slate roof. This building forms number 27 The Terrace which is not listed and is a separate residence. No.25 The Old House No.23 No.27 Fig.3 Numbers 27, 25 (The Old House) and 23 The Terrace 3.3 The terrace is elevated in relation to the main road, with the houses occupying the north side of the terrace. Opposite, and running the full length of The Terrace, is a low post and chain fence, separating The Terrace from a wide sloping grassed bank. The grassed bank is bordered by a low stone wall along the main road and has five sets of stone steps, at regular intervals, leading from the road up to The Terrace. 7 Heritage Statement – The Old House, Wokingham 3.4 To the rear of the house is a two-storey extension formed of three gables. The gables are of differing pitches, with one of the gables stopping short of the other two. The extensions are constructed of red brick with the ground floor of two of the gabled extensions being painted brick and the upper half of the third (shorter) gable also being painted brick. The widest of the three gabled extensions has a double- height flat-roofed bay window facing the garden. There is a mix of window styles but all are of a small-pane pattern. Fig.4 Rear elevation 3.5 Attached to the shorter of the rear gabled extensions, is a single-storey brick extension with a mono-pitched roof, covered in slate with an inset conservation- style rooflight and a tall chimney which penetrates the roof and abuts the central gabled extension. The wall facing the garden is constructed in red brick in Flemish bond and has a three-light small pane painted timber casement window. 3.6 Attached to this single-storey extension, is a further small flat-roofed extension. It is constructed from red brick laid in English bond with a felt roof. 8 Heritage Statement – The Old House, Wokingham Fig.5 Rear elevation 3.7 Attached to the rear of the single-storey extensions, and running back parallel with the eastern garden wall, is a low single-storey range. The back wall of the structure is formed from the garden wall on the eastern side (the wall is 2.5 metres high and constructed in a red brick laid in garden wall bond).