Hadleigh’s Local List

INTRODUCTION

The built heritage of the nation is given legal protection in various forms ranging from international protection to more local protection, such as in designated Conservation Areas.

Current national planning policy, contained in the National Planning Policy Framework ( NPPF July 2018), provides the policy lead in how heritage assets ought to be identified and protected in the event of proposals that may affect them. These national protections are generically defined as Designated Heritage Assets and include:-

Thus whilst there exists protection for buildings, monuments, and areas recognised as having a national significance, there are many other aspects of the physical heritage that, whilst contributing to the historic, architectural or cultural character of the country, do not enjoy any form of legislative protection.

This omission can be compensated, to a degree, by compiling what is known as a Local List of Non-Heritage Assets for an area. Local Lists can play an essential role in building and reinforcing a sense of local character and distinctiveness in the historic environment, as part of the wider range of designations. They enable the significance of any building or site on the list to be better taken into account in the application of planning policies and planning applications that affect the building, or site, or its setting.

Local Lists thus complement national designations in building a sense of place and history for localities and communities. Local heritage listing is intended to highlight heritage assets which are of local heritage interest in order to ensure that they are given due consideration when change is being proposed.

These local heritage properties are defined as Non-Designated Heritage Assets and a Local List can include:-

(i) A building, in whole or part.

(ii) The curtilage or outbuildings of a locally or nationally listed building.

(iii) A group of buildings.

(iv) An archaeological site.

(v) A designed landscape, park, or garden.

(vi) A site or landscape with exceptional local or national historic connections.

(vii) An outdoor artistic feature.

(viii) A memorial or monument.

(ix) An item of outdoor furniture or signage.

(x) A landmark.

CHOOSING PROPERTIES FOR INCLUSION IN THE LOCAL LIST

To ensure a general uniformity of merit for inclusion of a building or structure in a Local List, criteria have been adopted which all entries to the Local List must meet. The selection criteria chosen are based on those in the Good Practice Guide for Local Heritage Listing by Historic England (first published 2012, update May 2016), and those used by other Local Planning Authorities in their adopted Local Lists.

The principal aspects recommended by Historic England to be taken into account when considering items for a Local List are:-

i. Age

ii. Rarity

iii. Group Value

iv. Archaeological Value

v. Archival Interest

vi. Historic Association

vii. Designated Landscape Interest

viii.Landmark Status

ix. Social and Communal Value

The above aspects have often been grouped by many Local Authorities into five main selection categories of;-

1. Survival and Originality

2. Architectural and Design Merit

3. Historic/Social Interest

4. Archaeological Interest

5. Designed landscape Interest

The aim of the selection criteria is to give recognition to the wide variety of historic buildings in Hadleigh with a view to recognising their intrinsic qualities where development is proposed. The heritage interest of a building should however normally be publicly visible; building interiors would not normally be included in the Local List.

To ensure that entries have sufficient quality to make them meaningful and worthy candidates, entries have to meet one criterion from Category 1, and then in regard to architectural and or historic merit meet at least one criterion from Categories 2 or 3. Any building or structure which did not clearly meet these requirements was not normally considered for inclusion in the Hadleigh Local List. For Archaeological or Landscape assets they had normally to meet at least one criterion from Category 4 or 5 . The detailed criteria for the five categories are set out here.

The list of potential Local List properties were compiled from the public’s recommendations, street walking surveys, and examination of local history records. As national Lists of Listed Buildings generally focus on pre-1840 properties the properties identified in the Local List are not unsurprisingly primarily drawn from the Victorian period through to 1945, though not exclusively. It resulted in an initial identification of about 200 candidate properties ranging from schools, and Victorian terraces to cemetery headstones and green open spaces.

In compiling the final Local List the properties have been are grouped into four relatively homogeneous parts of Hadleigh and its surrounding countryside. These four zones are:-

1. Northern Hadleigh – essentially that part of the town on the north bank of the River Brett and set around Friars Road and Gallows Hill.

2. The Old Town – embraces the original Medieval area of the town grouped along and around Angel Street, George Street and most of the High Street

3. Southern Hadleigh – covers areas principally along Benton Street and Station Road.

4. Rural Hadleigh-includes all the countryside areas outside the main built up parts of Hadleigh wherein are dotted a few cottages and farmsteads.

In regard to the age of properties identified, as national Listing of buildings has generally concentrated on buildings built before 1840, it is not unsurprising that the majority of eligible properties identified in this Local List are post 1840, with most dating between the mid or late Victorian period, although it does include a few Georgian and earlier buildings as well as some in the mid and late 1900s. The final Local List selection contains 92 entries covering 174 individual properties. The entries are generally confined to a single page and contain photographs of the property, and a brief description of its main architectural features and/or historical facts associated with the property. Each entry will have footnotes that indicate, where appropriate, if the property is in the Hadleigh Conservation Area, the specific qualifying Selection Criteria it meets, and references/sources of information used in composing the entry.