DISEWORTH CONSERVATION AREA APPRAISAL AND STUDY APRIL 2001 PREFACE The Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 requires that Conservation Areas are kept under review (Section 69(2)) and that local planning authorities in exercising their planning powers, pay special attention to the desirability of preserving or enhancing the character or appearance of Conservation Areas (Section 72). Having regard to these requirements and the advice contained in the English Heritage guidance notes 'Conservation Area Practice' and 'Conservation Area Appraisals', the District Council produced a draft Appraisal/Study of the Diseworth Conservation Area in April 2000. The draft document included proposed alterations to the boundaries of the designated Conservation Area (of February 1974). The draft document was the subject of consultation and publicity over a six week period between 17 April and 29 May 2000. Having considered the various representations and recommended amendments the District Council's Executive Board of 3 April 2001 resolved the following :- (1) to approve alterations to the boundaries of the Conservation Area as outlined in the Executive Board report. (2) that subject to the amendments outlined in the Executive Board Report the Conservation Area Appraisal/Study document be adopted as supplementary planning guidance to the policies of the North West Leicestershire Local Plan. As supplementary planning guidance the Conservation Area Appraisal/Study document whilst not having the same status as an adopted plan policy may be taken into account as a material consideration in the determination of planning applications. CONTENTS Page No. List of Plates - List of Maps - 1. INTRODUCTION 1 2. LOCATION, POPULATION AND TOPOGRAPHY OF DISEWORTH 2 3. ORIGINS AND HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF DISEWORTH 3 4. FACTORS CONTRIBUTING POSITIVELY TOWARDS THE 7 CHARACTER OF THE CONSERVATION AREA Character Statement 7 Building Materials and Local Details 9 Architectural and Historic Quality of Listed and Unlisted Buildings 15 Boundary Treatments and Ground Surfaces 15 The Archaeological Significance and Potential of the Area 16 The Contribution of Green Spaces and Natural Elements 17 The Character and Relationship of Spaces 18 The Relationship Between The Area and the Surrounding Landscape 22 5. THE EXISTENCE OF NEUTRAL AREAS 23 6. FACTORS HAVING A NEGATIVE IMPACT ON THE CHARACTER 24 OF THE CONSERVATION AREA Buildings at Risk and Vacant Buildings 24 Buildings and Land of Poor Visual Quality 25 'Wirescape' and Poor Views from the Conservation Area 26 Permitted Development Rights 27 CONTENTS (Continued) Page No. 7. FUTURE OPPORTUNITIES FOR PRESERVATION 28 AND ENHANCEMENT Planning Policies 28 The Removal of Permitted Development Rights ? 29 Environmental Enhancements and Repairs to Historic Building Fabric 30 8. APPENDICES A. Buildings of Timber Framed Construction in the Area 31 B. Buildings With Thatched Roofs in the Area 32 C. Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest 33 in the Area D. Unlisted Buildings of Architectural or Historic Interest which 34 Make a Positive Contribution to the Streetscape of the Area E. Policies of the North West Leicestershire Local Plan 36 In Respect of the Historic Environment 9. BIBLIOGRAPHY 39 List of Plates Page Nos. 1. St. Michael's and All Angels Church, Clements Gate 4 2. Former Smithy to the front of Lilly's Cottage, No. 54 Hall Gate 4 3. Elongated Window Opening : No. 50 Hall Gate 6 4. Residential Barn Conversion at Hall Farm, Hall Gate (Badger Barn) 6 5. Diseworth Baptist Chapel, Lady Gate (1752) 8 6. Methodist Church, Hall Gate (1887) 8 7. Timber Framed Cottage : No. 3 Grimes Gate 10 8. Lillys Cottage, No. 54 Hall Gate 10 9. Old Hall Farmhouse, Grimes Gate 11 10. Rubble Stone Plinth and Boundary Wall : No. 50 Hall Gate 11 11. Yorkshire Sliding Sash Window Unit : No. 31 Hall Gate 13 12. Vertical Sliding Sash Window Units : No. 1 Lady Gate 13 13. View Northwards along Grimes Gate from 'The Cross' 19 14. View Eastwards along Clements Gate from 'The Cross' 19 15. View Southwards along Lady Gate from 'The Cross' 20 16. View Eastwards along Hall Gate Towards 'The Cross' 20 17. View on the Southern Approach to 'The Cross' along Grimes Gate 21 18. Rubble Stone Boundary Walls along The Bowley 21 19. Late Twentieth Century Residential Infill Development : Lady Gate 23 20. Lady Gate Farmhouse, No. 11 Lady Gate 25 21. Car Parking Area to the rear of the Bull and Swan Public House 26 List of Maps Between Page Nos. 1. The Boundaries of the Diseworth Conservation Area 1 and 2 2. The Individual Factors Considered To Have A Positive Impact 8 and 9 On The Character of the Conservation Area. 3. The Individual Factors Considered To Have A Negative Impact 24 and 25 On The Character of the Conservation Area 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Conservation Areas are defined as “areas of special architectural or historic interest, the character and appearance of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance“ (Section 69(1)(a); Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990). The Diseworth Conservation Area was originally designated by the former Leicestershire County Council in February 1974, at which time the village was within the administrative area of Castle Donington Rural District Council. The village was incorporated within the District of North West Leicestershire in April 1974. In April 2001 the Conservation Area boundaries were revised by the District Council and the existing designated boundaries of the Area are shown on Map 1. 1.2 This Conservation Area Appraisal/Study document aims to fulfil two key roles. The Appraisal outlines the historical development of the settlement and defines the special interest, character and appearance of the built and natural environment within and surrounding the Conservation Area boundaries. The Study identifies future opportunities for the preservation and enhancement of the Area. (The numbers in bold in paragraphs refer to an associated photograph/plate). 1.3 The Diseworth Village Design Statement prepared by local residents will also be a material consideration in the determination of any future development proposals. The Design Statement was adopted by the District Council's Executive Board as supplementary planning guidance to the policies of the Local Plan on 3 April 2000. The Statement covers issues affecting the whole village as well as those directly relating to the Conservation Area. Copies of the Design Statement are available from the Planning and Environment Division. 1 2. LOCATION, POPULATION AND TOPOGRAPHY OF DISEWORTH 2.1 Diseworth, a village of some 671 residents*, is located 14 km to the north-west of Loughborough and 2.5 km to the south-east of Castle Donington. The settlement is within the Parish of Long Whatton and Diseworth. 2.2 Diseworth lies within an undulating agricultural landscape and occupies a shallow valley created by the Diseworth Brook as it flows eastwards before becoming Long Whatton Brook and proceeding to its confluence with the River Soar. The soil, although a heavy red clay, is fertile and sustains arable as well as pastoral farming. 2.3 In the second half of the twentieth century East Midlands Airport was developed less than one kilometre to the north of the village and the M1 motorway constructed some 1.5 km to the east. These developments and their associated facilities have had a significant impact on the surrounding landscape and have altered the pattern of the local road network. The Airport severed the former link northwards from Grimes Gate in the village towards Castle Donington, Hemington and Lockington. 2.4 The four principal streets of the village - Grimes Gate, Hall Gate, Clements Gate and Lady Gate - meet at ‘The Cross’; a staggered crossroads close to the Church of St Michael’s and All Angels. Page Lane runs parallel to Lady Gate. The Green running along the southern edge of the settlement gives access into Hall Gate - via The Bowley - and into Lady Gate. Diseworth Brook flows to the south of Hall Gate and is joined by tributaries to the east of Shakespear Close and near Town End. * Mid-1998 Estimate - Source : Leicestershire County Council 2 3. ORIGINS AND HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF DISEWORTH 3.1 Diseworth had been established by the sixth century and the cross shaped pattern of the principal streets had been formed by the end of the tenth century (DLHS,1996, p6). The Church of St Michael’s and All Angels, with sections of eleventh century built fabric in evidence, is the oldest surviving building in the village (1). The earliest secular buildings are of the late medieval period. The grouping of farmhouses, their outbuildings and tied cottages in the core is a typical pattern in settlements established before the Parliamentary Enclosures of the Georgian/Victorian period. In some parishes enclosure led to the dispersal of farmsteads into the surrounding countryside, however, following the Diseworth Enclosure of 1794, the majority of farmsteads remained within the village. 3.2 The ownership of farmhouses and their associated land within Diseworth was dominated from the beginning of the sixteenth century into the twentieth century by two outside bodies; Christ College, Cambridge and the owners of the former Langley Priory estates (Brompton and Hening, 2000, pp1-4). 3.3 To support the agricultural economy, wheelwrights and blacksmiths operated in the village (White, 1846, p336) and a former smithy building remains along the Hall Gate frontage of Lilly’s Cottage (2). Shops were also established, although the only shop that now remains in the settlement is the Village Store/Post Office constructed after the Second World War on Hall Gate. The former shop and bakery at No. 4 Grimes Gate is now in solely residential use. The shop window in the nineteenth century brick built extension to the dwelling at No. 50 Hall Gate belies its former use.