Wallingford Conservation Area Appraisal Adopted April 2018 Wallingford Conservation Area Appraisal Acknowledgements Contact Copyright This document has been produced with Conservation and Design Team All maps are reproduced from, or based thanks to The Conservation Studio who South Oxfordshire District Council upon, Ordnance Survey material with the produced a thorough draft of the area in 135 Eastern Avenue permission of Ordnance Survey on behalf of 2012. Their draft has formed the basis for this Milton Park the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery amended and updated document. OX14 4SB Office. © Crown copyright. Tel: 01235 422600 Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown Email: [email protected] copyright and may lead to prosecution or civil www.southoxon.gov.uk proceedings. South Oxfordshire District Council 100018668 2012 Wallingford Conservation Area Appraisal Adopted April 2018 2 Wallingford Conservation Area Appraisal Contents 1. Introduction and Policy Context ……………………......4 6. Character Analysis …………………………….....…………...37 Character Area 1: Victorian Suburbs: Croft Road and St Johns Road 2. Summary of Special Interest ………………………...…..8 Character Area 2: The Saxon Embankments: Kinecroft and Bullcroft 3. Assessment of Special Interest ……………….……..….10 Character Area 3: Western Town Wall Infill: Goldsmiths Lane environs Location and Geography………………………………………. Character Area 4: High Street General Character and Plan Form……………………………. Character Area 5: Market Place, St Marys Street and St Martins Street Listed Buildings…………………………………………………. Character Area 6: Eastern Town Wall Infill: Wood Street environs Local Interest Buildings………………………………………... Character Area 7: Riverside: Thames Street Landscape Setting……………………………………………... Character Area 8: Wallingford Castle and Meadow Character Area 9: Northern Approach: Castle Street 4. Historic Development and Archaeology......................19 Character Area 10: Southern Approach: Reading Road and Squires The origins and historic development of the area…………... Walk…………………………………………………………………… Archaeology…………………………………………………….. 7. Boundary Changes ………………………..…….……….…....76 5. Spatial Analysis ……………………….……………….....24 8. Future Management of the Conservation Area …….…….78 Street Pattern and Layout……………………………………... 9. References and Useful Information ……...……….………..82 Building Plots…………………………………………………... 10. Listed Buildings …………………………………….……….....83 Activity and prevailing or former uses……………………….. Views and Vistas………………………………………………. Appendix A: Local Interest Buildings Trees, Landscape and open spaces ……………………….. Appendix B: All Maps Biodiversity Value……………………………………………... Public Realm…………………………………………………... Wallingford Conservation Area Appraisal Adopted April 2018 3 Wallingford Conservation Area Appraisal Introduction and Policy Context A conservation area is an area of special What does Conservation Area architectural or historic interest, the designation mean? character or appearance of which it is Conservation Area designation provides desirable to preserve or enhance (Planning extra protection in the following ways: [Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas] Act 1990, Section 69). Local Authorities have general control over most complete demolition of The responsibility for designating buildings within conservation areas; conservation areas lies with the Local Local Authorities have additional Planning Authority. Local Authorities have a control over some minor development; statutory duty to review their Conservation Areas from time-to-time. Special provision is made to protect trees within conservation areas. Wallingford Conservation area was designated on 22nd January 1969 and a When assessing planning applications, boundary review was carried out in 1988. A Local Authorities have a statutory duty to draft Conservation Area Appraisal was pay special attention to the desirability of researched and produced by consultants, preserving or enhancing the character The Conservation Studio, on behalf of the and appearance of the conservation area. council from 2005 to 2012 and included a boundary review. In addition to statutory controls, both national policy and the Local Authority The draft Conservation Area Appraisal policies in the Local Plan help preserve produced by The Conservation Studio has the special character and appearance of subsequently been revised and updated by conservation areas and their setting the council’s Conservation/Design Team in where it contributes to its significance. 2017 incorporating further proposed boundary changes, updated Local Plan policies and government guidance. A view down St Mary’s Street from Market Place Wallingford Conservation Area Appraisal Adopted April 2018 4 Wallingford Conservation Area Appraisal What is the purpose of a conservation Planning Policy Context Consultation area appraisal? The development plan currently Consultation is an important part of the The aim of this Appraisal is to: comprises the South Oxfordshire Core designation process. Local views were Identify the special architectural or Strategy 2012 and the saved policies of sought prior to the alteration or historic interest and the changing the South Oxfordshire Local Plan 2011. designation of the conservation area needs of the conservation area; Other material planning considerations and suggestions and comments Define the conservation area include the National Planning Policy welcomed. The consultation period for boundaries; Framework 2012 (NPPF), Planning this document and the revised boundary Increase public awareness and Practice Guidance (PPG) and the ran from 11 October to 22 November involvement in the preservation and emerging South Oxfordshire Local Plan 2017. A public exhibition open day was enhancement of the area; 2032. held at Centre 70 on 8 November 2017. Provide a framework for informed Notice of a newly designated or altered planning decisions; Full details of the enabling legislation, conservation area is publicised in the London Gazette, a local newspaper and Guide controlled and positive local development management policies management of change within the and effects of conservation area registered in the Local Land Charges conservation area to minimise harm designation can be found on the Council’s Register. and encourage high quality, website and in the advisory documents contextually responsive design. listed in Section 9. The Boat House pub on the riverfront: identified as a local interest building 9-11 Castle Street, 20th century terraced houses (left) within historic street scene Chalmore House on the west side of Reading Road proposed for inclusion within the conservation area Wallingford Conservation Area Appraisal Adopted April 2018 5 Map 1 Conservation Area Boundary Not to scale Conservation Area Boundary Wallingford Conservation Area Appraisal Adopted April 2018 Map 2 Designaons and constraints Not to scale Conservaon Area Boundary Listed Buildings Scheduled Monument Tree Preservaon Orders N.b. Tree Preservaon Orders are subject to change. Please check with the Local Planning Authority for up-to-date informaon. Wallingford Conservation Area Appraisal Adopted April 2018 Wallingford Conservation Area Appraisal 2. Summary of Special Interest Evidential value: high (national The primary significance of Wallingford importance) conservation area is as a town located on an important river crossing over the River There is high evidential value in the Thames. It became a major historical archaeological remains of Wallingford which military strategic site under the Saxons and consists of both the below-ground has the best-preserved town plan of this archaeological remains and its buildings. period in England complete with 11th There is yet more to be discovered in terms century motte and bailey castle. Wallingford of below and above ground archaeology also developed as an important market with archaeological reports emerging with centre with exclusive trade links via river new information regularly. St Lucians (rear elevation), listed at grade II* and road from early times. Significant archaeological investigation was Historical value: high (nationally This assessment of significance follows the carried out during the early 21st century important) framework set out in Historic England’s encapsulated by the Wallingford Burh to 2008 document Conservation Principles: Borough Research Project. This discovered Wallingford conservation area has high Evidential value: the potential of a place large numbers of finds both within and out historical illustrative value from pre-historic to yield evidence about past human activity. of the Saxon town walls and supported the and Roman times to the present day. This is understanding that the Saxon town was represented in the town’s evolution and Historical value: the ways in which past initially designed as a fortress rather than as form; the persistence of ancient routes, the people, events and aspects of life can be a town. remarkable survival of the Saxon street connected through a place to the present - it plan, defensive earthworks, the moated tends to be illustrative or associative. Large numbers of finds were discovered castle site and the range of buildings from and dated in the areas outside of the Saxon Medieval times to the present day which Aesthetic value: the ways in which th defences and particularly in the area to the includes the urban expansions of the 19 people draw sensory and intellectual and early 20th centuries. stimulation from a place. south suggesting that there was settlement