Great Gaddesden Conservation Area Character Appraisal & Management Proposals Acknowledgements This document was produced by the Conservation & Design Team, Dacorum Borough Council. Dr James Moir researched and wrote the document and took the photographs. Emma Adams, SallyAnn Hirst and Laurie Humphries all provided useful guidance and advice. Produced by Dacorum Borough Council Great Gaddesden Conservation Area Character Appraisal & Management Proposals c Published 2010 No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the prior permission of Dacorum Borough Council Cover photographs: (Main picture) – view of Church Cottages, Church and School Images left to right – View of Church Farm, former Cock and Bottle Inn, Barn at Church Farm, The Glebe House, The School Contents Part 1 Conservation and Character Appraisal Page No. 1 Introduction 1 2 Location and Setting 4 · Location 4 · Boundaries 4 · Topography and Landscape Setting 4 · Geology 5 · Archaeology 5 3 The Historical Development of the Village 6 4 Surviving Historical Features within the Conservation Area 8 · Summary of historical features 8 · Street pattern and building plots 8 5 The Character and Appearance of the Conservation Area 11 · Analysis 11 · Summary of settlement features 13 · Current activities and uses 13 · Focal points, views and vistas 14 · Open spaces, landscape and trees 17 · Public Realm: Floorscape, street lighting and street furniture 19 6 The Buildings of the Conservation Area 20 · Architectural styles and detailing 20 · Boundaries 24 · Listed buildings 24 · Locally listed buildings 24 7 Negative Features and Issues 25 Great Gaddesden Conservation Area Character Statement Contents Part 2 Page No. Conservation and Management Proposals 27 Further Reading and Sources of Information 38 Appendices Appendix : Listed Buildings in Great Gaddesden Conservation Area 39 Appendix 2: Locally Listed Buildings in Great Gaddesden Conservation Area 39 Appendix 3: Historic Environment Record: Herts County Council 39 Appendix 4: Great Gaddesden Conservation Area - updated boundary 2011 40 Maps Map 1: Great Gaddesden Conservation Area 1 Map 2: 1878-1892 10 Map 3: 1889-1901 10 Map 4: 1924-1926 10 Map 5: 1962-1979 10 Map 6: Great Gaddesden Conservation Area: Character Analysis 14 Map 7: Proposed extensions to Conservation Area 34 Map 8: Revised Conservation Area boundary (Appendix 4) 40 Great Gaddesden Conservation Area Character Statement Part 1 Conservation Area Character Appraisal 1 Introduction Great Gaddesden Conservation Area comprises Conservation Area, not least where land the core of the built settlement of Great ownership and the need to preserve the views Gaddesden. It sits within the Chilterns Area of over the Gade Valley from Gaddesden Place Outstanding Beauty. The Conservation Area is have historically restricted development. 7.33 ha in extent and comprises the relatively tight nucleated settlement around the church, Great Gaddesden contains all the ingredients of close to the Gade valley bottom, with a small a classic village – a fine medieval church, outlying group of houses up Piper's Hill. substantial Victorian Vicarage, school, former pub, farmhouse and farm buildings, timber- Although not incorporated within the framed and brick cottages. The buildings Conservation Area, estate influences have incorporate a wide palette of Chiltern vernacular played a key role in shaping the character of the materials, and their respective scale and styles Map 1: Great Gaddesden Conservation Area Primary School War Memorial Church St John the Baptist’s Cottages Church Cock & Bottle (former Inn) PIPERS HILL Sibden The Glebe The House Nursery The Piper’s Vicarage Cottage The Old Vicarage N 0 50 100m c Crown copyright. All rights reserved. Dacurum Borough Council 1000 18935:2007 Great Gaddesden Conservation Area Character Statement Page 1 mutually reinforce the village character of the Conservation Areas) Act 1990. A conservation Conservation Area. Trees play a very important area is defined as “an area of special role too in maintaining its rural, sylvan aspect. architectural or historical interest, the character The village is quite permeable with footpaths or appearance of which it is desirable to playing a key role in bedding the settlement into preserve or enhance.” the surrounding, relatively open countryside. There are some particularly good views of the Section 71 of the same Act requires local village from the Leighton Buzzard Road. planning authorities to formulate and publish proposals for the preservation and enhancement The village should be one of the most attractive of these conservation areas. Section 72 also in Dacorum, and yet a number of factors specifies that, in making a decision on an combine to undermine the character of the application for development in a conservation Conservation Area. These are identified in the area, special attention should be paid to the Appraisal and Management Proposals. desirability of preserving or enhancing the character or appearance of that area. The Great Gaddesden Conservation Area was first designated in 1974. Conservation Although new development and change will areas are designated under the provisions of always take place in conservation areas, the Section 69 of the Planning (Listed Building and main purpose of designation is to ensure that Aerial View 2005 N 0 50 100m Great Gaddesden Conservation Area Character Statement Page 2 any proposals will not have an adverse effect Policy 120.1 Designation as a conservation area upon the overall character and appearance of an provides the opportunity to preserve or enhance area. Part 1 (The “Appraisal”) highlights the an area of architectural or historic interest by special qualities and features that underpin Great controlling building demolition and the design, Gaddesden's character and justify its scale and proportions of extensions and new designation. Guidelines provided in Part 2 development, as well as the type and colour of (“Management Proposals”) are designed to materials used. prevent harm and encourage enhancement. This type of assessment conforms to English Heritage Policy 121.1 There is a need to control Guidance and to Government Advice (PPS 5). It inappropriate types of permitted development also supports and amplifies those policies aimed which would be detrimental to a conservation at protecting the overall character of conservation area. areas and forming part of Dacorum Borough Council's Local Development Plan Framework: [Dacorum Borough Local Plan 1991-2011] Great Gaddesden Conservation Area Character Statement Page 3 2 Location and Setting Location Topography and Landscape Setting The rural settlement of Great Gaddesden is Great Gaddesden is situated in the Chiltern Hills, situated in the Borough of Dacorum Borough in a landscape which is designated as of approximately 3.3 miles north-west of Hemel national importance for its outstanding natural Hempstead. There is only one principal road beauty (as an AONB). To the north-west is the through the conservation Area, Pipers Hill, with Chiltern escarpment and beyond that, the spurs leading off to Church Cottages and Aylesbury plains, while to the south east lies the Church Meadow Cottages. Thames valley and the sprawling conurbation of London. The Landscape Character Assessment Boundaries for Dacorum (2004) identifies Great Gaddesden as part of the Higher Gade Valley (Area 123) The conservation area is a relatively square which incorporates the hamlets of Water End, area. The southern boundary strongly defines Piccotts End and Hudnall Corner as well as the built settlement and equestrian paddocks Great Gaddesden. from the agricultural open countryside beyond. The northern boundary is roughly parallel with The area covers a broad v-shaped valley, one of this and principally follows the northern extremity a series of north-west, south-east valleys of the Church graveyard together with the draining down the Chiltern dip slope and flanked School playground on the east side, and by parallel ridges. These valleys were formed as continues to the west along the line of a former a result of the peri-glacial erosion of the chalk. field boundary. The uneven western end The Gade Valley has a broad and gently boundary cuts across the road just below the undulating valley floor, although the additional fork towards the crest of Pipers Hill then runs effects of springs in the Upper Chalk have round the back of Pipers Hill Cottage and along created steep sides in places. the rear boundary of the grounds of the Old Vicarage. The eastern boundary skirts along the The area largely comprises mixed farmland,, eastern edge of the road serving Church used predominantly for arable cultivation on the Meadow Cottages, then crosses the road and valley slopes and grazing pasture on the valley dog legs slightly to follows the footpath that runs floor, although this pattern is influenced by the alongside Sibden. remnants of parkland of Gaddesden Place which overlooks the valley from the neighbouring C20th development to the north of the historic plateau. The valley slopes are mostly cultivated core, the hamlet of St Margarets to the west, and with an occasional discrete woodland block or the area between the river and the A4146 are fragment of chalk downland/beech hangar, not included in the Conservation Area. particularly towards the western scarp of the Chilterns - the surrounding countryside to Great This appraisal has identified four potential areas Gaddesden is therefore more open than the