PROPOSED ALTERATIONS & COVERED SEATING AREA EXTENSION TO EXISTING GROUND FLOOR CAFÉ; FLOATING PONTOON SEATING AREA AND CONVERSION OF FIRST FLOOR TO CREATE SELF-CATERING HOLIDAY ACCOMMODATION FROGHALL WHARF | FOXT ROAD | STAFFORDSHIRE PROPOSED REINSTATEMENT OF TWO FORMER GLASSHOUSES CONSERVATION DESIGN & ACCESS STATEMENT incorporating a HERITAGE STATEMENT September 2016 Clerk Bank House Clerk Bank LEEK Staffordshire ST13 5HE tel: 01538 373 477 fax: 01538 386 503 [email protected] www.ctdarchitects.co.uk architects | historic building advisors project managers | landscape and urban designers _______________________________________________________ Froghall Wharf | Foxt Road | Froghall | Staffordshire Conservation Design & Access Statement _______________________________________________________ Proposed alterations & covered seating area to existing Café; floating pontoon seating area and conversion of first floor to create self-catering holiday accommodation ________________________________________________________________ CONTENTS 1.0 History & Statement of Significance 3 2.0 Conservation Philosophy 13 3.0 Design & Access Proposals 15 4.0 Bibliography & References 17 NAS_Admin:PROJECTS:2016:1618 Froghall Wharf:(D)consents:(Db)planning-LBC:1618 DRAFT CDAS comp.doc _______________________________________________________ Froghall Wharf | Foxt Road | Froghall | Staffordshire Conservation Design & Access Statement _______________________________________________________ Proposed alterations & covered seating area to existing Café; floating pontoon seating area and conversion of first floor to create self-catering holiday accommodation ______________________________________________________ Page 2 of 17 NAS_Admin:PROJECTS:2016:1618 Froghall Wharf:(D)consents:(Db)planning-LBC:1618 DRAFT CDAS comp.doc _______________________________________________________ Froghall Wharf | Foxt Road | Froghall | Staffordshire Conservation Design & Access Statement _______________________________________________________ Proposed alterations & covered seating area to existing Café; floating pontoon seating area and conversion of first floor to create self-catering holiday accommodation ______________________________________________________ 1.0 HISTORY & STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE _______________________________________________________ History and ‘Froghall Wharf warehouse’ is the modern name given to the surviving c.1785 Corn Store Background: building at Froghall Basin at the far eastern terminus of the Caldon Canal, which together with an adjoining stables and pair of cottages, was originally part of a thriving industrial valley and interchange centred on the processing of limestone – grinding, crushing & lime burning. The 17.25 mile long Caldon Canal was completed in May 1777 as a branch of the Trent & Mersey Canal from Stoke-on-Trent to serve the limestone quarries at Caldon Low. Limestone was transported down the 667 feet from the quarries by railway, and later in 1803 by tramway on three big inclined planes which followed the contours of the hillside, linked by flat stretches at Froghall, Whiston and Upper Cotton. The tramway was replaced with a railway in 1849 until 1920 when it closed. The canal ‘new wharf’ at Froghall was constructed in 1784 when the canal was extended by a tunnel from the ‘old wharf’ under the Ipstones road to terminate at Froghall basin (fig.1). The limestone activity pre-dates the construction of the extensive Bolton Copper Works from 1885, and the iconic chimney built in 1889, by Thomas Bolton & Sons Ltd. to the west of the wharf, following Bolton’s purchase and development of the Cheadle Brass Company at Oakamoor from 1852 (figs.2 & 11). Fig.1 Caldon Canal Estate Plan of 1816 showing the original 1778 ‘old wharf’ in the bottom left, the 1785 ‘new wharf’ with basin and lime kilns to the top, and the 1811 Uttoxeter Canal joining the Caldon just before the Foxt Road bridge no.55 on the diagonal (British Waterways, after Jeuda p.9) Page 3 of 17 NAS_Admin:PROJECTS:2016:1618 Froghall Wharf:(D)consents:(Db)planning-LBC:1618 DRAFT CDAS comp.doc _______________________________________________________ Froghall Wharf | Foxt Road | Froghall | Staffordshire Conservation Design & Access Statement _______________________________________________________ Proposed alterations & covered seating area to existing Café; floating pontoon seating area and conversion of first floor to create self-catering holiday accommodation ______________________________________________________ The Corn Store and stables, to the east side of the Foxt Road bridge no.55 (later no.52), severed the welfare of the canal horses and donkeys and the heavier Shire horses that worked the wharf (figs.3 & 4). William Eli Bowers1 was a lime burner and tenant at the Wharf, possibly in one of these cottages(?), from 18582 trading as Bowers & Thorley (a family from Cheadle) from c.1894 until the closure of the Caldon railway line in 1920. The lime kilns are still a dominant feature of Froghall Wharf today (figs.8 & 9), built into the south side of the embankment which received the incline cable railway of 1847 coming down from the quarries at Caldon Low to the northeast (figs.5, 6 & 7). Much of the limestone from Caldon went on by narrow boat to the steel works and iron furnaces in south Staffordshire via the Uttoxeter Canal completed in 1811 (and closed in 1849) which joined the Caldon Canal south of the new wharf (fig.1). Limestone also went on to the salt and chemical works in Cheshire and to the iron and steel works in Stoke-on-Trent via the Churnet Valley Railway. In 1905 the wharf supplied limestone (as much as 1,000 tons a week) by narrow boat to Brunner Mond’s chemical and salt works at Winnington and Sandbach, Cheshire (fig.4). Tar macadam was also produced at Froghall from the limestone by the Froghall Stone Crushing Company who operated from the new wharf from c.1878 to around 1902. The stone grinding shed being located at the end of the canal basin, just southeast of the surviving Corn Store building (figs., 5, 6 & 7). Fig.2 1880 OS First Edition map showing Froghall before the construction of the Bolton Copper Works in 1891 which would soon occupy the centre of this map. The Corn Store, stables & cottages and the railway/tramway interchange at Froghall Wharf are clearly evident at the top. The line of the former Uttoxeter Canal became the Froghall Junction Branch 1 Lead, p.36 2 Jeuda, p.107 Page 4 of 17 NAS_Admin:PROJECTS:2016:1618 Froghall Wharf:(D)consents:(Db)planning-LBC:1618 DRAFT CDAS comp.doc _______________________________________________________ Froghall Wharf | Foxt Road | Froghall | Staffordshire Conservation Design & Access Statement _______________________________________________________ Proposed alterations & covered seating area to existing Café; floating pontoon seating area and conversion of first floor to create self-catering holiday accommodation ______________________________________________________ Fig.3 1895 OS map showing the extent of the limestone-based industrial activity at Froghall Wharf, with the Corn Store, stables and pair of cottages highlighted; the 2.5 ton crane which stood next to the canal basin in front of the Corn Shed; the stone crushing shed, stone stacks and lime kilns; and the extent of the railway and tramway interchange and canal transhipment activity. Note: the Foxt Road bridge is now no.52 (after Jeuda p.106) Fig.4 View looking towards the Foxt Road bridge no.52 in 1905 showing the horse drawn narrow boats laden with limestone destined for The Potteries in Stoke-on-Trent and the Corn Store and adjoining stables and whitewashed cottages hidden behind the later two brick buildings in the centre. The stone crushing shed can be clearly seen to the left of the Corn Store and the stone stacks in front of the lime kilns to the right (J R Hollick/Manifold Collection, from Lead p.48) Page 5 of 17 NAS_Admin:PROJECTS:2016:1618 Froghall Wharf:(D)consents:(Db)planning-LBC:1618 DRAFT CDAS comp.doc _______________________________________________________ Froghall Wharf | Foxt Road | Froghall | Staffordshire Conservation Design & Access Statement _______________________________________________________ Proposed alterations & covered seating area to existing Café; floating pontoon seating area and conversion of first floor to create self-catering holiday accommodation ______________________________________________________ Fig.5 View looking from the Foxt Road bridge no.52 in 1905 showing the narrow boats being loaded with limestone; the Corn Store projecting hoist canopy is just on the right of the picture and the stone crushing shed and stone stacks to the left and right (J R Hollick/Manifold Collection, from Lead p.49) Fig.6 View of Froghall Wharf c.1905 showing the railway and tramway interchange and canal basin with the 2.5 ton crane in front of the Corn Store. The adjoining stables and cottages are behind the tar macadam plant in the centre (Lead p.50) Page 6 of 17 NAS_Admin:PROJECTS:2016:1618 Froghall Wharf:(D)consents:(Db)planning-LBC:1618 DRAFT CDAS comp.doc .