Heritage Statement Relating to a Planning Application for a new Warehouse extension to an existing factory unit: Doric Crimped, Bowden Park, Bowden Lane, Chapel-en-le-Frith High Peak Derbyshire SK23 0JX. Planning Application submitted by: NBDA Ltd. The Old Church Palmerston Street Bollington Cheshire SK10 5PW June 2015 Heritage Statement Doric Crimped, Bowden Park, Chapel-en-le-Frith Contents 1. Introduction 2. Existing Site Context Current Site Description Existing Structures 3. Existing Site Photographs 4. Historical Site Context General Peak District Tramway Description 5. Peak District Tramway Bowden Park Peak District Tramway Trail 6. The Proposals & Impact Development Proposals Potential Development Impact Mitigation Heritage Statement Doric Crimped, Bowden Park, Chapel-en-le-Frith Introduction This document relates to: Doric Crimped, Bowden Park, Bowden Lane, Chapel-en-le-Frith High Peak Derbyshire SK23 0JX. Grid Reference: SK 06050 81386 This Heritage Statement has been prepared to support a Planning Application for the construction of a 10,000 sq.ft. warehouse extension to an existing factory unit. Commissioned by the applicants, this Heritage Statement will: Existing Site Plan • Assess the past use of the site, based on readily available records in order to provide an understanding of the history of the place. • Identify any heritage assets which may be impacted by a proposed development and describe its significance, including any contribution to that significance that may be made by the asset’s setting. The level of detail should be proportionate to asset’s significance and should allow the planning authority to understand potential impacts to that significance. • Consider whether any further specialist work is required. The site, which lies within an allocated Primary Employment Zone, contains an existing factory building with associated car parking and services. Bowden Park also contains part of the historic route of the Peak Forest Tramway which ran along the southern edge of the site. This is a designated heritage asset (Derbyshire HER 99011) and dates from 1796. This application does not effect: Any Scheduled Monuments; Or Archaelogical Notification Area; Or Listed Buildings; Or Conservation Areas; Or Historic Parks & Garden. Proposed Site Plan with development area highlighted Heritage Statement Doric Crimped, Bowden Park, Chapel-en-le-Frith Existing Site Context Current Site Description The site contains an existing commercial building with associated car parking and servicing areas. There are extensive areas of open land within the site to the south and west of the building. The western area has become overgrown with immature trees and scrub. The site is elevated above the main A624 road to the north which increases in height towards the west where the new building is proposed. There is a steep embankment along this boundary which has been heavily planted with trees in the past and which provides a relatively effective screen. Aerial photograph of the site area. The site is to the north of a residential development which is set at a lower level. There is a dense group of trees that lie between the existing building on the site and these houses, most of which are subject to a Tree Preservation Order. The site also contains the route of an historic tramway which ran at the base of an embankment. This area is now covered by trees and scrub planting. Also beyond the site, to the south and west, runs the Black Brook watercourse. Due to the raised level of the site and the brook’s distance away this does not constitute a flood risk. Existing Structures The site contains the existing two storey factory building which is functional is appearance, this was constructed in 2000. The unit contains office, storage and manufacturing uses associated with the business. The office accommodation and parking is located facing the Bowden Lane entrance. The existing building is functional in appearance with metal clad walls, profiled metal roof and large roller shutter doors for materials access. Existing photos looking towards houses on Brook Fold. (The bottom of the bank is the presumed route of the tramway. ) Tramway Route Along the south and west of the site the ground level falls away to a trough which follows the boundary edge of the site. This is the original route of the route of the Peak Forest Tramway which ran along the edge of the site and dates from 1796. This area of the site is heavily wooded with mature trees and scrub planting. Along this edge of the site, the boundary line is marked with a dry stone wall. There is no indication that this wall is original to the tramway. The original route of the tramway has been broken outside the boundary of the site by the later installation of main roads: the A624 Ferodo Link Road (Forsters Way) and Bowden lane. Heritage Statement Doric Crimped, Bowden Park, Chapel-en-le-Frith Existing photos looking towards houses on Burnside Avenue. Existing Site Photographs Existing photo at the west-end of the site (from public footpath) towards No.3 Burnside Avenue Existing photos looking towards houses on Burnside Avenue. Existing photo looking towards houses on Brook Fold. Heritage Statement Extracts from Historic Ordnance Survey plans Doric Crimped, Bowden Park, Chapel-en-le-Frith Historical Site Context General From reviewing historical map information the site and surrounding area appears to have been an open and/ or wooded area. Between 1796 and 1925 the south and west edges of the site were used as part of the Peak Forest Tramway . This was used for the transportation of lime and limestone by a metal railway with wagons drawn by horse or by gravity on some sections. In the 1980s the Forsters Way (Ferodo Link Road) was constructed to link to the A6 dual carriage way. Since 1990 this site has been used for light industrial purposes. Tramway Development To the north of the site, on the opposite side of the A624, a historic landfill “In 1803 the tramway was made double-track, with the exception of Stodhart Tunnel and below Buxton Road Bridge, using the same site was located. The existing building is protected by gas protection method of fixing the rails.” measures to vent any gas build-up. “The most important surviving features of the tramway are the elevated tramway branch at Bugsworth Basin, Stodhart Tunnel and the self-acting inclined plane at Chapel-en-le-Frith, known as the Chapel inclined plane. The elevated tramway branch forms part of the Scheduled Ancient Monument of Bugsworth Basin.” [2] The Stodhart Tunnel is Grade II* listed and is believed to be one of oldest Peak Forest Tramway railway tunnels in the world. Only one portal of the tunnel survives after the other was destroyed by a road re-alignment in 1949. The aspect of the site which has historical significance is the original route of the Peak Forest Tramway. This is a designated heritage asset (Derbyshire HER 99011) and dates from 1796. General Description “The Peak Forest Tramway was an early horse- and gravity-powered industrial railway (or tramway) system in Derbyshire, England. Opened for trade on 31 August 1796, it remained in operation until the 1920s. Much of the route and the structures associated with the line remain. The western section of the line is now the route of the Peak Forest Tramway Trail. The tramway was originally planned to be about 4 miles (6 kilometres) long from Chapel Milton to Dove Holes. However, it was decided to start the tramway at Bugsworth (now called Buxworth) and, as built, it was about 6 miles (10 kilometres) long. Its purpose was to carry limestone from the vast quarries around Dove Holes down to Bugsworth Basin via Chapel-en-le-Frith and Chinley, where much of it was taken by boat along the Peak Forest Original Sleeper blocks at Bugsworth Basin Canal and the Ashton Canal to Manchester and beyond. The remaining limestone was put into lime kilns at Bugsworth where it was converted into "Bugsworth 058063" by RHaworth. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons. quick lime (or burnt lime).”[1] Stodhart Tunnel portal in 2012 [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_Forest_Tramway (19th March 2015) "By Dave.Dunford (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_Forest_Tramway History (19th March 2015) (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons Heritage Statement Doric Crimped, Bowden Park, Chapel-en-le-Frith Peak District Tramway The route of the original tramway network. Bowden Park Bowden Park is situated near the middle of the Peak Forest Tramway route. To the north-west of the site (near the Hayfield Road and the A6 flyover ) is the Stodhart Tunnel. The tramway then wound its way towards the Townend Ironworks, just of Sheffield Road, near the centre of Chapel-en-le-Frith. The location of the original tramway route is apparent by grading of the ground down to a sunken trackway on the south and west boundaries of the site. On the site boundary a dry stone wall is visible between the domestic properties and the Bowden Park site. There is no indication that this dry stone is original to the Bowden Park tramway. (approx. location) The trackway may contain originally elements of infrastructure such as: sleeper blocks, retaining walls and squeeze stiles. However, it is apparent from the site photographs that elements which do exist will be buried beneath scrub planting and the mature trees which have grown up along the route. The tramway in the area of the site follows the natural gradient of the land and does not contain features such as: elevated sections; tunnels or self-acting gravity lifts as seen at Chapel Inclined Plane.