Gerrards Cross Buckinghamshire Historic Towns Assessment Report 1-6 Station Parade, Gerrards Cross Gerrards Cross Historic Town Assessment The Buckinghamshire Historic Towns Project was carried out between 2008 and 2012 by Buckinghamshire County Council with the sponsorship of English Heritage and the support of South Bucks District Council © Buckinghamshire County Council 2011 Report produced by David Green and Ruth Beckley Historical documentary report by Matt Tompkins, Leicester University Acknowledgement This report has benefited tremendously from research undertaken and published by Julian Hunt and David Thorpe. The County Council is grateful for their permission to make use of this work All the mapping contained in this report is based upon the Ordnance Survey mapping with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationary Office © Crown copyright. All rights reserved 100021529 (2011) All Historic Photographs are reproduced courtesy of the Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies unless otherwise stated. Copies of this report and further information can be obtained from: Buckinghamshire County Council Planning, Advisory and Compliance Service, Place Service, Buckinghamshire County Council County Hall Aylesbury Bucks HP20 1UY Tel: 01296 382656 Email: [email protected] 2 Summary .................................................................................................................................................. 5 I DESCRIPTION................................................................................................................................... 8 1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 8 1.1 Project Background and Purpose ............................................................................................ 8 1.2 Aims ......................................................................................................................................... 8 2 Setting ............................................................................................................................................... 9 2.1 Location, Topography & Geology ............................................................................................ 9 2.2 Wider Landscape ..................................................................................................................... 9 3 Evidence.......................................................................................................................................... 15 3.1 Historic Maps.......................................................................................................................... 15 3.2 Documentary Evidence .......................................................................................................... 15 3.3 Built Heritage.......................................................................................................................... 15 3.4 Archaeological Evidence........................................................................................................ 18 3.5 Environmental Evidence ........................................................................................................ 20 4 Archaeological & Historical Development................................................................................... 22 4.1 Prehistoric and Roman periods (to AD 410) .......................................................................... 22 4.2 Saxon and Medieval Gerrards Cross (AD 410 – 1536) ......................................................... 24 4.3 Post Medieval Gerrards Cross (1536 – 1800) ....................................................................... 27 4.4 Late 18th century to 1900 ...................................................................................................... 30 The Coming of the New Town (1900-Present) .................................................................................... 34 II ASSESSMENT ............................................................................................................................. 45 5 Designations................................................................................................................................... 45 5.1 Conservation Areas (CA) ....................................................................................................... 45 5.2 Registered Parks and Gardens.............................................................................................. 45 5.3 Scheduled Monuments .......................................................................................................... 45 5.4 Archaeological Notification Areas .......................................................................................... 45 6 Historic Urban Zones..................................................................................................................... 48 6.1 Introduction............................................................................................................................. 48 6.2 Historic Urban Zones ............................................................................................................. 48 6.3 Archaeological Assessment................................................................................................... 48 6.4 Heritage Values...................................................................................................................... 51 6.5 Modern Settlement................................................................................................................. 53 Zone 1: Gerrards Cross Common.................................................................................................... 53 Zone 2: Packhorse Road.................................................................................................................. 54 Zone 3: Marsham Way..................................................................................................................... 55 Zone 4: Dukes Wood Estate ............................................................................................................ 56 Zone 5: Camp Road Estate.............................................................................................................. 56 Zone 6: Cannon Meadow................................................................................................................. 57 III RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................................................................................ 58 7 Management Recommendations .................................................................................................. 58 8 Research Agenda ........................................................................................................................... 58 8.1 Prehistoric .............................................................................................................................. 58 8.2 Roman.................................................................................................................................... 58 8.3 Medieval................................................................................................................................. 58 8.4 Post Medieval......................................................................................................................... 58 9 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................... 59 10 Addresses ................................................................................................................................... 60 1 Appendix: Chronology & Glossary of Terms .............................................................................. 61 1.1 Chronology (taken from Unlocking Buckinghamshire’s Past Website).................................. 61 1.2 Glossary of Terms.................................................................................................................. 61 2 Appendix: HER Records................................................................................................................ 62 2.1 Monuments HER Report ........................................................................................................ 62 2.2 Landscapes HER Reports...................................................................................................... 64 2.3 Find Spots .............................................................................................................................. 64 2.4 Listed Buildings ...................................................................................................................... 67 3 Appendix: Trade Listings and Population Data .......................................................................... 69 4 Appendix: Historical Consultancy Report................................................................................... 71 Gerrards Cross Historic Town Assessment List of Illustrations Figure 1: Urban Character Zones for Gerrards Cross............................................................................... 6 Figure 2: Gerrards Cross in location ....................................................................................................... 10 Figure 3: Geology of town (BGS) 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